Research Executive (1 Year Contract)

About the role

Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) is seeking a Research Executive on a one-year contract to support the university’s research agenda through a mix of research, coordination, administrative, and operational work. The role is ideal for someone who is highly organised, comfortable handling several priorities at once, and able to support both project delivery and institutional processes.

Research coordination and operations

• Arrange and coordinate meetings, calendars, and engagements connected to research projects and initiatives.
• Draft meeting agendas, briefing notes, and presentation materials for discussions and reviews.
• Record minutes, monitor follow-up actions, and keep track of outstanding deliverables.
• Serve as a point of contact to keep communication flowing between internal stakeholders and external partners.
• Help plan and run research committees, workshops, and engagement sessions.

Procurement and administrative support

• Submit and process purchasing requests in line with university procurement procedures and systems.
• Support the preparation of work scopes, collection of quotations, and vendor evaluation activities.
• Liaise with vendors and service providers such as survey companies, transcription vendors, and other research support providers.
• Track procurement progress, deliveries, and payment status to help ensure smooth and timely completion.
• Maintain complete and accurate records for procurement and administrative matters.

Research administration and ethics

• Assist with preparing and submitting Institutional Review Board (IRB) or ethics applications, including drafting and compiling supporting documents.
• Monitor submission schedules, approvals, amendments, and renewal timelines.
• Keep research records well organised, accurate, and ready for audit in line with governance expectations.

Research design and data collection

• Support the creation of research tools such as surveys, interview guides, and study protocols.
• Help with participant recruitment, scheduling, and coordination of data collection activities.
• Assist with both quantitative and qualitative data collection in accordance with approved protocols.
• Carry out data cleaning and preparation before analysis.

Analysis, literature review, and reporting

• Conduct supervised basic analysis, including descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and thematic coding.
• Search and review both academic and grey literature relevant to the project.
• Summarise and integrate findings into structured research deliverables.
• Support the use and interpretation of causal inference methods, including identifying confounders and assisting with experimental or quasi-experimental designs under supervision.
• Help draft research reports, policy briefs, presentations, and technical documents.
• Assist with writing, editing, formatting, and preparing materials for dissemination to internal and external audiences.

Other duties

Any additional research, administrative, or project-related tasks may be assigned as needed.

Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree in economics, statistics, or another applied social sciences discipline, along with a strong grounding in causal inference and quantitative methods.
• Understanding of regression analysis, experimental or quasi-experimental research designs, confounding, and identification.
• Good organisational ability and the capacity to manage multiple tasks and deadlines.
• Awareness of procurement workflows, or a willingness to learn them.
• Interest in or prior exposure to research, policy, or data-focused work.
• Strong command of R is mandatory; knowledge of Python and/or Stata will be an advantage.
• Exposure to LaTeX for academic writing would be beneficial.
• Ability to assist with IRB or ethics submissions, or a willingness to learn this area.
• Strong analytical, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Careful attention to detail, sound judgment, discretion, and the ability to handle sensitive information.

Additional information

This is a contract role based in Singapore, Singapore. The university highlights that it was named one of Singapore’s Best Employers 2026.