News

Lead: Dr Christopher Hartt Research Coordinator/ Supervisor: Ashley MacDonald
Posting Date: April 1st, 2022
Application Deadline: April 22nd, 2022
Position Length: 35 hours per week for 14 weeks, flexible between May – August 2021

Location: Hybrid (flexible in-person and virtual scheduling) Pay Rate: $15.93-17.23 per hour (+4% vacation)

The Agricultural Sustainability Studies for Economic and Social Success Research Team is a group based in the Business and Social Science department. We are working to connect sustainable production practices across all commodity groups with producers and government groups to promote informed decision-making and success across all three pillars of sustainability. We specialize in qualitative and mixed methods of data collection and analysis including:

• financial feasibility and cost of production studies, • systematic literature reviews and knowledge synthesis, • focus groups, interviews, and surveys, and • statistical modeling of environmental, financial and survey data.

We are looking to build our team and provide mentorship, training, and resources to interested students.

There are currently two paid internship positions available. Additional positions may become available pending funding availability.

Job Description:
The research team currently has two ongoing two projects, with additional projects in development. Successful candidates will provide support for these projects, assist in the development of new project proposals and grants, and help preparing materials for knowledge mobilization or publication.

The first project is focused on the successfulness of small-scale dairy farms in the Atlantic region (primarily New Brunswick). This project conducted a systematic literature review and producer interviews to develop a survey, which is to be delivered this Spring. The outcome of this project will support producers in identifying success factors and how information and data can be used to make support sustainable decision-making.

The second project is determining the cost of production, competitiveness, and opportunities for success of the Atlantic Canadian Beef industry. This project used scoping review and secondary data to complete a meta-analysis and develop a Cost-Benefit model, integrating environmental • Secondary data collection • Data entry/organization • Financial or economic analysis • Creating presentations, infographics, videos, etc. for knowledge mobilization Necessary training on research methodologies, analysis, and academic writing will be provided.

Qualifications:
• Dalhousie student (enrolled for 2022-23) with minimum two years of academic background/experience. Preference for students in following programs: International food business, agricultural business/economics, environmental science, animal science.

• Independently motivated and comfortable working with limited supervision.

• Reliable access to internet and a computer when working virtually.

• Strong communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills.

• Proficient in academic writing with understanding of APA citation style.

• Strength in editing, grammatical and proofreading would be an asset.

• Understanding of introductory statistics (familiarity with Stata, SPSS, or SAS considered an asset).

Student outcomes:
Students will work with researchers, assisting in conducting literature reviews, collecting and operationalizing secondary data, and knowledge mobilization.

Students will develop valuable hands-on skills in research methods and receive training in advanced qualitative and mixed method research software.

Students may have the option to continue working with the research team and using the data collected during this position for the completion of their fourth-year honours thesis.

To apply for the above position, please send a cover letter, resume, and the names of two references to by April 22nd at 4 pm (AST) Ashley MacDonald, ASSESS Research Coordinator assess@dal.ca