Research Professor in Data Science for Social Sciences and Public Policy

The Opportunity

We are recruiting a Research Professor whose work sits at the intersection of data science and public affairs — someone equally comfortable designing a machine-learning pipeline, a large-scale simulation model, an agent-based model of a complex social system or a natural-language-processing study, and translating the results into insight for policymakers and public debate.

The position will serve primarily the Government and Public Transformation program (LTP) either in Monterrey or Mexico City campus depending on the candidate’s preference of location, with significant secondary contributions to Economics (LEC) and International Relations (LRI). We welcome candidates whose substantive expertise touches any of our four Broad Areas — governance and public management, economic development, democracy and global affairs, or regulatory and legal innovation — provided their methodological core is rigorous, data-intensive, and computationally sophisticated.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct and publish frontier, high-impact research (Scopus/Web of Science Q1–Q2) applying data science, computational, and quantitative methods to consequential social and public-policy questions.

• Design and lead externally funded research programs, securing competitive grants from multilateral organizations, foundations, government agencies, and industry partners.

• Contribute to undergraduate and graduate teaching and mentoring within the LTP program, with cross-listed courses for LEC and LRI.

• Collaborate across the School's research infrastructure — the Data Science Center, Decision-Making Theaters, and Strategic Initiatives — and with international academic and policy networks.

• Translate research into public-facing tools, platforms, or policy products that inform decision-making in government, multilateral institutions, and civil society.

• Contribute to the School's path toward the Top 100 of the QS World University Rankings by Subject, including doctoral supervision and research leadership as the position matures.

• The Ideal Candidate

• Ph.D. in a relevant field (e.g., computational social science, complex systems, political science, economics, public policy, sociology, data or computational science, or a related discipline), with a demonstrably interdisciplinary orientation toward social science and public affairs.

• This is a genuilly open-rank search. We welcome candidates at all career stages- from recent Ph.D. graduates with an outstanding research trajectory to established scholars at the Associate or Full Professor level, or an equivalent research position in academia, a think tank, or a multilateral institution.

• A strong record of frontier research, evidenced by publications in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals and a clear trajectory of continued scholarly influence.

• A proven, verifiable track record of attracting competitive external research funding from national or international sources, such as research councils, multilateral development banks, foundations, or government agencies.

• Demonstrated technical fluency in data science methods — machine learning, large-scale causal inference, natural language processing, agent-based or simulation modeling, or advanced geospatial analysis — applied to social science or public-policy questions.

• Experience designing or contributing to decision-support tools, platforms, or products used by governments, multilateral organizations, or the public.

• Excellent written and spoken English; Spanish is an asset but not required at hiring.

• Preference will be given to candidates holding degrees from, or with substantial academic experience at, institutions ranked within the Top 200 of the QS World University Rankings (QSWUR).

• The Kind of Work You'll Join

A sense of the frontier, data-driven research our School is already leading:

• SISEPUEDE — an open-source simulation platform for decarbonization pathway analysis across Latin America and the Caribbean, developed with RAND and the Inter-American Development Bank.
• Ciudad Finita — a public data platform diagnosing urban sprawl, housing, and mobility challenges in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area, funded by Fundación FEMSA.
• A Complexity Index for the Mexican Economy — an economic-complexity analytics tool informing industrial and productive-diversification policy.
• Regional net-zero pathways — decision-making-under-uncertainty advisory work spanning 27 countries, with the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank.
• The Subnational Politics Project — a multi-institutional data infrastructure, built with American University, Universidad Católica de Chile, the University of Maryland, and the Hertie School Berlin, that tracks political institutions and territorial inequality across Latin America's federal systems over four decades.
• The BBVA-Tec Center for Trade Policy and Global Value Chains — measuring state- and municipal-level institutional capacity to attract investment, supporting SME integration into nearshoring-driven supply chains from automotive to semiconductors, and advising federal and state governments on trade policy in real time.

What We Offer

• Internationally competitive compensation, commensurate with experience and track record.
• Relocation support.
• Full access to the School's research ecosystem: the Data Science Center, Decision-Making Theaters, Public Opinion and Behavioral Research Lab, Law Clinics, and Strategic Initiatives.
• A collaborative, multi-campus community based in Monterrey and/or Mexico City, with strong ties to RAND Corporation, the IDB, the World Bank, CAF, Wellcome Trust, and leading global universities such as MIT, Stanfo