Research Assistantship Program (RAP)

Opportunity for USA doctoral students to participate in a research program related to the field of criminal justice. This professional development program enables full-time research assistants to gain valuable applied and practical experience while funding their salaries, health insurance, and tuition remission. Eligible students may be working in a degree program toward a doctor of philosophy, public administration, social work, or public health.

The NIJ Research Assistantship Program (RAP) offers highly qualified doctoral students the opportunity to bring their expertise to NIJ to work across offices and program areas to obtain a practical and applied research experience. The RA program is a research focused professional development opportunity for doctoral students. We welcome students from all academic disciplines to apply who wish to connect their research to the criminal justice field. This unique assistantship is an opportunity to learn and contribute to the breadth and depth of science research in which NIJ engages. NIJ provides funds to participating universities to pay salaries and other costs associated with research assistants who work on NIJ research activities.

NIJ and each participating university establish an agreement through which NIJ provides funds to pay research assistants’ salaries, health insurance and tuition remission (via a memorandum of understanding and inter-agency or cooperative agreement). Research assistants are “full-time graduate research assistants” nominated by their universities and approved by NIJ.

Research assistants perform a range of research-related duties and must work effectively as part of a larger research team. Research assistants plan and schedule their work based on defined objectives, tasks and priorities with the review and approval of the RAP manager, relevant NIJ staff and the university’s Graduate Program Director (GPD).

Duties of research assistants include, but are not limited to:

• Compiling, summarizing or making use of complex, technical or specialized literature.
• Assisting in research design strategies (such as developing and modifying research proposals, procedures or instruments).
• Extracting and compiling a range of data from written sources, individuals (through questionnaires or interviews) or databases.
• Interpreting and summarizing data analyses.
• Conceptualizing and drafting publications (such as government reports, peer-reviewed journal articles, NIJ publications and trade magazine articles).
• Assisting with outreach activities that include research dissemination (such as meeting presentations, press releases, talking points, articles and Web pages).
• Drafting and giving presentations at conferences, where funding permits and as approved by the research assistant’s university.
• Assisting with the coordination and collaboration of NIJ federal partners, and regional, state, local and tribal stakeholders.
• Working effectively as part of a larger research team.

Research assistants will comply with the general workplace conditions applicable to other individuals who regularly work on-site at NIJ, including security requirements, dress code, and business hours.