Research Assistant Faculty of Social Work jobs

Senior Research Assistants are normally graduate students, or University of Winnipeg undergraduate students, employed to assist in the execution and evaluation of research projects in their area of study. The positions may oversee Research Assistants in areas such as the use of proper techniques, analysis, and documentation.

Senior Research Assistants work under the general supervision or direction of more senior researchers or faculty members, and are expected to exercise judgment in prioritizing, planning and organizing their own work within defined parameters.

Position Overview:

The Sr. Research Assistant will support a community-engaged research project focused on homelessness prevention, housing instability, service disengagement, safety, and the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in social-service settings. The project aims to develop evidence-informed and ethically grounded AI approaches to help identify patterns of homelessness service disengagement and support timely, human-supervised outreach for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
The Sr. Research Assistant will work with the research team and community partners to support activities such as literature review, data preparation, qualitative and/or quantitative analysis, AI model development or evaluation, documentation, ethics and governance materials, and knowledge translation. The position involves working with homelessness service data, reviewing research on AI for health and social services, supporting the development of predictive or decision-support models, preparing summaries for community and policy audiences, and contributing to reports, presentations, and academic outputs.
This role is well suited for a student or early-career researcher interested in applied AI, homelessness, health and social inequities, or responsible data science. The successful candidate will be expected to work carefully with sensitive topics and data, maintain confidentiality, and contribute to AI-supported research that is transparent, equity-oriented, human-supervised, and useful to service providers and communities.

Duties:

• Prepare and organize research materials for the artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled homelessness service disengagement project, including literature review files, data dictionaries, analysis logs, model evaluation templates, and Research Data Centre (RDC) documentation.
• Conduct literature reviews on homelessness prevention, housing instability, service disengagement, victimization, homicide, mortality, responsible AI, machine learning, Indigenous data governance, and the First Nations principles of Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP®).
• Assist with preparation, cleaning, documentation, and analysis of de-identified Homeless Individuals and Families Information System (HIFIS)/Mozaics data and approved Statistics Canada RDC datasets.
• Support quantitative analysis, statistical modelling, machine learning model development, model validation, fairness auditing, and interpretation of findings under the supervision of the Principal Investigator (PI) and research team.
• Assist with development and evaluation of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and multi-agent AI workflows for homelessness service disengagement detection and decision support.
• Maintain clear research records, including data-processing notes, analytic decisions, code/output logs, meeting notes, progress updates, and disclosure-vetted RDC output documentation.
• Assist with preparation of ethics, governance, funding, and partner-reporting materials, including documents related to confidentiality, responsible AI, and Indigenous data governance.
• Contribute to manuscripts, technical reports, conference presentations, plain-language summaries, partner briefings, and knowledge-mobilization materials.
• Help coordinate communication with project partners, including Siloam Mission, Let’s Give Together (LGT)/Mozaics, Main Street Project, research collaborators, and RDC/Statistics Canada contacts as appropriate.
• Support routine project administration, including scheduling meetings, preparing agendas and minutes, tracking deadlines, organizing files, assisting with budget tracking, and performing other research-related duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Completion of, or current enrolment in, a graduate program is preferred. Strong senior undergraduate students may be considered if they have relevant research or data-analysis experience.
• Preferred areas of study include computer science, data science, statistics, public health, social work, sociology, criminology, psychology, Indigenous studies, health sciences, public policy, or a related field.
• Coursework or demonstrated training in research methods, statistics, data analysis, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), social policy, community-based research, or Indigenous data governance is an asset.
• Experience with quantitative research, qualitative research, literature reviews, or applied data analysis is preferred.
• No minimum grade in a specific course is required, but applicants should demonstrate strong academic standing and the ability to work independently on research tasks.
• Experience with data analysis software such as R, Python.
• Strong skills in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and reference-management software such as Mendeley.
• Familiarity with quantitative research methods, statistical modelling, data cleaning, data documentation, and reproducible research workflows.
• Experience in machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), model evaluation, fairness auditing, and predictive analytics is an asset.
• Familiarity with literature review methods, policy document analysis, or knowledge synthesis is an asset.
• Ability to work with sensitive data and follow confidentiality, ethics, Research Data Centre (RDC), and data-governance requirements.
• Strong written communication skills, attention to detail, organizational skills, and ability to document research decisions clearly.
• Experience with homelessness, housing, health, social-service, justice, or administrative data is an asset.

Condition(s) of Employment:

• Must be legally entitled to work in Canada.

The period of work will be from September 1, 2026 - August 31, 2027, and the estimated total hours of work will be 1560 hours.

Note: This position is represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada - Research Capacity Unit.

Note: The work described in this posting will be conducted in-person.

The University of Winnipeg is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and recognizes that a diverse staff and faculty benefits and enriches the work, learning and research environments, and is essential to academic and institutional excellence. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals and encourage women, racialized persons, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQ+ persons to confidentially self-identify at time of application.

The University of Winnipeg is committed to ensuring employment opportunities are accessible for all applicants. If you require accommodation supports during the recruitment process, please contact human_resources@uwinnipeg.ca.

The personal information of applicants is collected under the authority of the University of Winnipeg Act and 36(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. All personal information collected via the recruitment process is used to assess the applicant’s suitability, eligibility, and qualifications for employment, and to otherwise support recruitment activities. This information will be provided to participating members of the recruitment process. Questions regarding the collection of your personal information may be directed to the Director, HR Services, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2E9 or human_resources@uwinnipeg.ca.