Mapping historical military and conflict databases

Faculty lead: Roya Talibova, Sultan of Oman Assistant Professor of Public Policy

This project explores historical patterns of military engagement, administrative governance, and political violence through the development of a novel, structured database of historical military and administrative records. By systematically scraping and processing datasets from archival websites and digitized government records, we aim to map and analyze key historical events and administrative shifts across various regions and time periods. The research will also involve geocoding spatial data to provide a nuanced, geographic understanding of these patterns, supporting the study of long-term impacts on political stability, militarism, and governance structures. The products of this research will include multiple research papers on historical legacies of warfare, military governance practices, persistence of political violence, and army organization, contributing to studies in historical political economy and state formation.

Roya Talibova is seeking a highly motivated and skilled Research Assistant to contribute to multiple research projects focused on the historical political economy of conflict and development. The successful candidate will play a critical role in collecting and organizing data from searchable database websites, supporting ongoing research initiatives.

This RA position is for the 2024-25 Academic Year. It is primarily remote with an anticipated schedule of approximately 5-7 hours/week.

Skill Requirements

The ideal candidate should be able to develop and implement Python scripts to scrape and extract data from searchable database websites; clean, process, and structure the extracted data for analysis; troubleshoot and optimize code for efficiency and accuracy. This position requires strong programming skills in Python, with a focus on web scraping; proficiency in relevant Python packages (BeautifulSoup, Scrapy, Selenium, and pandas); familiarity with handling complex HTML structures, dynamic content, and APIs; and experience in processing and cleaning large datasets. Familiarity with and knowledge of geospatial data and geocoding is also desirable.

Candidate Qualifications

All Harvard employees, including student employees, must work from a Harvard Registered Payroll State: Massachusetts, CT, GA, IL, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, RI, VA, VT, or WA State. If you are in the US on a visa and plan to work from a Harvard Registered Payroll State other than Massachusetts, you must first contact Harvard International Office (HIO) to find out if it is allowed.

Must be a current Harvard undergraduate student with at least half-time student status in PeopleSoft. We welcome Harvard Extension School students, but please note you must be formally enrolled in a degree program and have “student status” in Harvard’s PeopleSoft system in order to be considered for this position. If you are unsure of your status, we can check this for you prior to scheduling an interview.

To Apply

Please send your CV and any relevant project examples or code samples to roya_talibova@hks.harvard.edu. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.