Careers & Fellowships
Join us in deepening our understanding of Asia, exploring possibilities for innovation, and advancing important initiatives that will affect millions of lives in the region.
The Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia is a global and values-driven community that believes diverse perspectives are paramount to better understand and address key problems affecting Asia today. In fostering an environment of rigor, curiosity, and integrity, we value and respect different opinions, lived experiences, and diverse research and policy areas and approaches. We actively seek candidates who share our commitment and values.
Fellowship Opportunities
The Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia selects fellows in a highly competitive process that brings scholars, practitioners, and political leaders to the School for term appointments with a host of opportunities to pursue independent research projects, enhance their professional skills, and network with their peers.
Learn more about:
Staff Opportunities
Note that applicants to staff openings (excluding research assistant and research fellow positions) must apply through the Harvard Human Resources online system, which can be found here.
Program Assistant
The Program Assistant for Global Vietnam Wars Studies Initiative and Unseen Legacies of the Vietnam War Project at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia is responsible for the administrative and operational success of several projects. Candidates must demonstrate organizational skills and consistent attention to detail, experience working in a fast-paced environment, and willingness to approach problems with creativity and collegiality. The Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia sits within the Ash Center, a global and values-driven community that believes diverse perspectives are paramount to better understanding and addressing real-world problems. In fostering an environment of rigor, curiosity, and integrity, we value and respect different opinions, lived experiences, and diverse research and policy areas and approaches. We actively seek candidates who share our commitment and values.
The Global Vietnam Wars Studies Initiative (GVWSI) is establishing a state-of-the-art digital humanities platform, based on oral history interviews from all sides of the Vietnam War, to advance multi-disciplinary war studies and foster intellectual and institutional exchange across communities, generations, and nations to promote reconciliation and healing. The Unseen Legacies of the Vietnam War Project is the first systematic review of documents from multiple archives and other sources in the U.S. and Vietnam, designed to facilitate the location and identification of Vietnamese war dead.
Learn more about the position and apply here.
Student Opportunities
Research Assistant
The Unseen Legacies of Vietnam War and GVWSI are seeking motivated and detail-oriented Research Assistants to join our research team and play a crucial role in database development and various program support.
As a research assistant, you will be responsible for:
- Data Cleaning and processing
- Standardize data formats and values to maintain data integrity.
Employ preprocessing techniques to remove inconsistencies, errors, and outliers from raw data. - Identify duplicate records and data entries to remove or handle as required.
Check the accuracy of extracted metadata from a large number of digitized historical records. - Perform further data processing tasks as required.
- Standardize data formats and values to maintain data integrity.
- Metadata Tracking during 25TB Oral History Cloud Upload
- Extract essential information from each oral history interview for use as metadata in the database.
- Manage the successful upload of a substantial 25TB video collection to cloud storage.
- Transcription of Oral History videos
- Reviewing transcriptions of oral history interviews produce from AI transcription tool
Required Skill set
- Fluency in writing, speaking, and reading Vietnamese
- Detail-oriented, Strong organizational skills, attention to detail and demonstrate experience handling multiple tasks and prioritizing them to changing needs.
- Experience working with and processing large amounts of data in Excel
Additional skills preferred
- Experience working with research data, database or archives
- Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team and independently as needed.
Job Details
- Fee: This is an hourly position paid at rate of $17-21hour, no benefits
- Estimated hours required: Approximately 10-15 hours per week for the Spring Semester with potential to extend for another academic year.
- Project dates: Immediate start date – May 31
About our Programs
Unseen Legacies of the Vietnam War
The Unseen Legacies of the Vietnam War Project is the first systematic review of documents from multiple archives and other sources in the U.S. and Vietnam, designed to facilitate the location and identification of Vietnamese war dead. This information is provided to the U.S. Department of Defense along with personal ephemera and verifying documentation that can provide closure and healing to Vietnamese families.
Global Vietnam Wars Studies Initiative
The Global Vietnam Wars Studies Initiative (GVWSI) is a breakthrough in the race to rescue and study untold stories and hidden memories from all sides to foster scholarship, healing, and truth-telling about the wars and beyond through the collection of Oral Histories.
Project
Both Programs led by Professor Tony Saich and Director Hai Nguyen are in the process of developing databases and eventually a full digital archive within the Harvard University Library system.
Interested?
To apply, please reach out to Researcher, Chi Ha at chi_ha@hks.harvard.edu with:
- A short description of your related work experience and availability (in terms of specific hours a week).
- A resume and any other materials that highlight your experience/expertise and represent your ability to serve as an RA for these projects.