Postdoctoral Research Officer in Modelling Social Dynamics at the LSE

Postdoctoral Research Officer in Modelling Social Dynamics at the LSE

This full-time research officer position is to work with Eleanor Power as part of her Research Leadership Award, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, titled 'Reputational Poverty Traps' and the Reproduction of Social Inequality in South Asia and the World.

This post will involve developing mathematical and agent-based models of reputation dynamics on evolving social networks. This will be done in close collaboration with Dr Power, as well as researchers who have conducted experimental and ethnographic research in communities in South Asia and elsewhere around the world. The research officer will develop computational models that translate and quantify this empirical evidence (of social connections, reputational evaluations, and cooperative decision-making) to explore possible mechanisms fuelling social inequality. These models will likely draw on (evolutionary) game theory to posit a range of decisions and strategies and explore their individual and collective outcomes. The exact form that the models take will be driven in large part by the research officer.

The successful candidate will:

have successfully completed or be close to completing a PhD in a relevant discipline by the post-start date

have experience in creating mathematical and/or agent-based models of social dynamics

have experience with database management, version control, and programming in R and/or Python

have a commitment to collaborative, open, interdisciplinary research

More details on the project can be found here: