Volunteer Academic Researcher to Join Small Global Team for Consults and Projects of Ashoka Fellows with Ashoka

This is an opportunity to work with an Ashoka Staff
This is an unpaid, volunteer opportunity
About The Affiliated Organization
Founded in 1980, Ashoka pioneered the field of social entrepreneurship. We are now the largest association of leading social entrepreneurs in the world, a network of 4000+ Ashoka Fellows in 99 countries at work creating systemic change on the most pressing social and environmental issues of our time. We find, support and collaborate with our Fellows to help scale their solutions across nations and continents and work with a wide range of partners to create an "Everyone a Changemaker" world, one in which we all can find and develop our power to create meaningful change for the good of all.
For more information, please visit www.ashoka.org
Job Description
Ashoka is looking for senior-level professionals in specializing in academic qualitative and quantitative research who can provide our staff and Fellows with professional consults and project based engagement. These skillsets are highly valued by Ashoka Fellows, especially in academic fields in which they are working.
We are creating an elite team of 10-12 members from different world regions (to reflect cultural contexts and language) in this field and in nine others of similarly high-value skillsets. We are calling these members Professional Support Partners (PSPs) rather than "volunteers" to reflect the expertise and commitment to impact you will bring to our global community.
As an Ashoka Support Partner your expertise will be promoted to staff and Fellows over the course of two to three months. If there is a need that meets your interests and availability, an introduction will be made so that you can learn more details about the support partnership and ways that you can contribute. Until that time your name and contact details will be held confidentially to protect your privacy.
Please let us know today if you'd like to join us!
Volunteer Logistics
Estimated hours required per week: Flexible and Variable depending on project
The estimated duration of the project is: 1-3 months
This position is Virtual (Remote)
Language Requirements
English plus
Desired Skills And Experience
Candidates should combine advanced methodological expertise with strong social-entrepreneurship literacy, systems-change evaluation experience, and the ability to translate complex evidence into actionable learning for diverse, globally distributed innovators.
Core Qualifications And Experience
Advanced degree in a relevant field (e.g., Development Economics, Public Policy, Statistics, Social Sciences, Epidemiology, Data Science, or Health Economics); master’s preferred, with 6-8 years of research experience.
Mixed-methods expertise: strong command of both quantitative (panel data, statistical inference, quasi-experimental designs such as difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity, synthetic control, interrupted time series) and qualitative methods (case studies, theory of change validation, participatory approaches).
Social-impact and systems-change evaluation: experience evaluating social entrepreneurship, nonprofit programs, or systems-change initiatives; familiarity with proxy indicators, longitudinal tracking, and attribution challenges typical of early-stage ventures.
Technical tools: fluency in statistical software (Stata, R, or Python), advanced Excel/Sheets, and data visualization tools; ability to write defensible methodology sections and produce donor/investor-ready impact reports.
Ashoka-specific competencies
SROI and cost-effectiveness: experience with Social Return on Investment (SROI), ROI, or cost-effectiveness analysis is highly valued, especially for Fellows needing investor- or partner-ready evidence.
Global and intercultural fluency: ability to work across 95+ countries, adapt methods to varied contexts, and communicate clearly in English (additional languages like Spanish, French, Hindi are a plus).
Capacity strengthening: skill in coaching Fellows and local teams to design lean, credible measurement systems that fit early-stage resource constraints while still producing decision-useful evidence
Soft Skills And Working Style
Analytical writing and storytelling: ability to synthesize complex findings into concise briefs, dashboards, and narratives for Fellows, partners, and institutional donors.
Collaboration and empathy: comfort partnering with entrepreneurial leaders who may be measurement novices; ability to balance rigor with pragmatism and maintain a “do no harm” ethics stance in sensitive contexts.
Learning orientation: commitment to embedding learning loops (not just reporting) so Fellows can iterate on strategy based on evidence.

Work arrangement
Yes