Irregular Warfare Data Nexus

The Unconventional and Asymmetric Threats Division of START is seeking motivated interns with an interest in irregular warfare, asymmetric threats, and emerging challenges to support multiple research projects in support of the Irregular Warfare Center of Excellence. Interns will be responsible for collecting, cleaning, and coding relevant data, as well as contributing to the production of analytical reports and data visualization products. This internship requires strong attention to detail, a solid understanding of data management processes, and effective collaboration with analytical teams to ensure the delivery of high-quality outputs in assessing emerging threats and irregular warfare dynamics. Interns will gain practical experience in dataset development, data analysis, and creating practitioner-oriented products.

Supervisors: Megan Rutter (mrutter@umd.edu)

Deadline: October 24, 2024 at 11:59pm ET

Required application materials: Resume, cover letter, and unofficial transcripts 

U.S. Citizenship Required: Yes

Team Meeting Times: Tentatively Tuesday a.m.

In-person Days: Tentatively Tuesday, Wednesday, and/or Thursday

Internship Start Date: February 17, 2025 (work 12 hours each week)

Internship position contingent on project funding

Responsibilities: 

1. Data Collection on incidents relevant to Irregular Warfare (subject dependent on project funding):
   
   • Gather and compile data relevant to irregular warfare, including insurgent activities, asymmetric conflicts, and asymmetric threats, ensuring the data is sourced from reliable academic, private industry, and governmental repositories.
   • Track and update ongoing incidents, emerging conflict zones, and evolving tactics associated with irregular warfare.
2. Data Cleaning:
   
   • Review and clean collected data, removing inconsistencies, duplicates, and errors to ensure data integrity and accuracy for subsequent analysis.
   • Standardize data formats to maintain consistency across datasets, enabling seamless integration for analysis.
3. Data Coding for Irregular Warfare Datasets:
   
   • Code cleaned data into predefined irregular warfare datasets, ensuring that all entries are categorized according to established classification systems and analytical frameworks.
   • Ensure proper tagging and labeling of data to facilitate efficient retrieval, organization, and use in analytical processes.
4. Assist with Data Analysis:
   
   • Collaborate with analysts to support data-driven research, providing cleaned and coded datasets for use in the analysis of irregular warfare and cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure.
   • Assist in generating reports, visualizations, and summaries that highlight key trends and insights from the data.

Required/minimum qualifications:

• Experience or coursework related to international affairs, international security, irregular warfare, unconventional threats, or a related program
• Coursework or experience with open-source research and social science research methods
• Knowledge of systematic literature reviews and social science datasets
• Excellent attention to detail and organizational skills
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and Google Workspace

Preferred/Ideal qualifications:

• Functional expertise in a relevant topic (e.g., insurgent activities, asymmetric conflicts, unconventional threats, emerging technology, cybersecurity, etc.)
• Experience with social science coding schemes and codebooks
• Previous experience working with large datasets
• Experience conducting systematic literature reviews
• Relevant and applicable technical expertise (e.g., data science, dataset management, complex system modeling, R, Python, SQL, etc.)