Job Description
The Tech & Society Lab at NYU Stern, led by Jonathan Haidt and managed by Zach Rausch, is the research home of one of the most influential bodies of work on technology, adolescent mental health, and social behavior. The Lab sits at the intersection of rigorous academic research and real-world impact — generating the evidence base that drives policy, shapes public discourse, and informs the work of The Anxious Generation Movement organization. We are in an active growth phase, expanding our research agenda, team, and institutional footprint.
The Tech & Society Lab is seeking a Senior Research Scientist to lead our work on gambling, gaming, pornography, and new emerging technologies. This person will lead the Lab’s work on gambling, gaming, and pornography, helping define its strategic direction, identify the most important research questions, and build a rigorous evidence base on how these technologies are affecting childhood and adolescence. This role also includes a secondary cross-cutting focus on behavioral addiction and developmental neuroscience. In addition, this person will support ongoing lab projects as needed. The Lab is especially interested in careful research that distinguishes between typical use, problematic use, developmental risk, clinical harm, and population-level effects.
This is a senior research role. The ideal candidate is a strong quantitative researcher with excellent judgment, broad intellectual range, and the ability to translate complex research into clear conclusions for academic, policy, and general public audiences. They should be able to move fluidly between original data analysis, evidence synthesis, study design, public-facing writing, and strategic agenda-setting.
The person in this role will report to Chief Researcher Zach Rausch and work closely with Jonathan Haidt, internal team members, and external collaborators to shape major arguments about technology’s impact on society and to advance the goals of the Tech & Society Lab.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the Lab’s Gaming, Gambling, and Pornography Research Pillar
- Serve as the Lab’s primary lead on gaming, gambling, and pornography (GGP)
- Develop and refine the strategic direction for the GGP research agenda.
- Identify the most important unanswered questions about GGP and schools, youth mental health, learning, social development, and child well-being.
- Track emerging developments in GGP.
- Help the Lab determine which debates, datasets, studies, and policy questions deserve priority.
- Support the Lab's growth, including mentoring and potentially directly managing team members.
- As appropriate and at the discretion of the Chief Researcher, communicate to media and other stakeholders on behalf of the Lab on background and/or public-facing materials
- Contribute to the Lab’s Cross-Cutting Work on Addiction and Developmental Neuroscience
- Serve as the Lab’s primary lead on behavioral addictions and digital technology
- Develop and refine the strategic direction for understanding behavioral addiction and its neural correlates
- Identify the most important unanswered questions about brain changes and digital technology use, especially during sensitive periods of development.
- Conduct Original Quantitative Research
- Conduct original analyses using large-scale datasets related to technology use, education, mental health, child development, and well-being.
- Analyze survey, longitudinal, cross-sectional, and quasi-experimental data where available.
- Produce clear, rigorous findings that can inform academic publications, policy reports, public essays, and internal strategy.
- Develop visualizations and statistical summaries that make complex findings understandable to broad audiences.
- Lead Evidence Synthesis and Reviews
- Lead or collaborate on systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and evidence reviews related to GGP, addiction, youth development, and mental health.
- Synthesize complex and sometimes conflicting literature into clear, balanced conclusions.
- Evaluate the quality, limitations, and policy relevance of existing research.
- Translate research findings into briefs, white papers, academic papers, and public-facing essays.
- Provide Methodological Oversight and Quality Assurance
- Provide methodological guidance across GGP projects and related Lab initiatives.
- Review analyses conducted by team members, contractors, students, and external collaborators.
- Help ensure that Lab outputs meet high standards of statistical rigor, transparency, and interpretive caution.
- Identify weaknesses in methods, measures, causal claims, or statistical interpretation before publication.
- Work on ad-hoc lab projects and collaborate on other projects led by other members of the team.
- Write and Co-Author Academic and Public-Facing Outputs
- Contribute to academic manuscripts, white papers, policy briefs, reports, and research memos.
- Draft methods and results sections for academic publications.
- Collaborate with Lab leadership to translate quantitative findings into accessible public-facing outputs.
- Support essays, Substack pieces, op-eds, and other public communications that explain the implications of research on GGP.
In compliance with NYC’s Pay Transparency Act, the annual base salary range for this position is $100,000-$250,000. New York University considers factors such as (but not limited to) the specific grant funding and the terms of the research grant when extending an offer.
Qualifications
Required:
- PhD in psychology, sociology, education, economics, public policy, statistics, or a related field, or equivalent research experience.
- Strong quantitative and analytical skills.
- Experience working with large datasets.
- Proficiency in R, Python, Stata, SPSS, SAS, or equivalent statistical tools.
- Strong understanding of research design, statistical inference, and the interpretation of observational data.
- Excellent writing and communication skills.
- Ability to translate complex research findings for academic, policy, and public audiences.
- Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple projects at once.
- Excellent judgment about which research questions matter most and how evidence should be interpreted.
Preferred:
- Familiarity with gambling, gaming, and pornography research
- Background in youth mental health, child development, education research, or school policy.
- Experience with international or large-scale datasets such as PISA, OECD, WHO, Gallup, NCES, CDC, or similar sources.
- Experience with survey research, longitudinal analysis, quasi-experimental methods, or policy evaluation.
- Experience conducting systematic reviews or meta-analyses.
- Familiarity with addiction science, neuroscience, and related fields
- Prior experience coordinating multi-institution research collaborations or external research partnerships.
- Ability to engage with fast-moving public debates while maintaining scholarly rigor and caution.
Application Instructions
Apply via Interfolio by uploading a cover letter, CV, and two letters of reference.
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