Volunteering

As an idea of some of the kinds of volunteer projects that would be interesting for us, you can see some potential research topics below.  These topics might be out of date though, so no need to get too sold on any one idea - it's there to give you an example of the kind of work we tend to focus on. Whilst we only list research ideas below, if you want to volunteer with us in a different capacity (e.g. communications or operations) please let us know.

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1. What are some examples of unusual messengers (e.g. doctors, nurses, teachers, etc) being very influential in shifting policy / public opinion, and how important is this factor?

2. What are some examples of policy backlash, and what causes this to happen? e.g. in the US, only 3 states have banned gas stoves, but 20 have banned the ban of gas stoves, which is definitely not the intended outcomes for advocates working on this. Why did this happen, can we predict if it'll happen for other issues and how do we stop it happening?

3. What criteria make an issue a good fit for a large grassroots social movement? E.g. why do we have large mobilisation around climate change but not global poverty?

4. How does the financial allocation of different social movements differ? For example, how much do they spend on policy, movement building, education, campaigns, and other priorities? It might look similar to this analysis on animal advocacy spending, but instead, provide a comparison across a range of issues.

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To apply for a volunteer position, please send your CV as well as a short letter of motivation to mabli@socialchangelab.org. We welcome volunteers with various backgrounds and skills who are interested in social movement research. Before applying, we would like to ask you to familiarize yourself briefly with our research and encourage you to sign up for our newsletter.

 

Volunteering with us entails:

• Committing to a minimum of 2 hours per week (ideally around 5)

• Working in a small team; most volunteers work closely with one supervisor

• Working remotely; our meetings are held online, we use Slack and similar online tools to keep in touch and collaborate on projects

• Helping us with research projects, such as literature reviews, surveys, experiments, data analysis

 

What you get out of it:

• Research experience by studying social movements and social change in an empirical and objective way

• Learning opportunities in the fields of social movement research, civil disobedience, experimental design, statistical analysis or Effective Altruism.

• Having an impact by working on timely and pressing problems regarding how we can do the most good