Research Assistant Jobs

Project title: Social Entrepreneurship in Pursuit of Modern Slavery Legislation for Aotearoa New Zealand
Commences/Duration: December 2025 – end of February 2026
Estimated hours: 100 hours
Location: Remotely
Closing date: 5pm Monday 1 December
The project
In recent years, various stakeholders have called for modern slavery legislation to be introduced in New Zealand (NZ). While the previous government proposed legislation, the National-NZ First-ACT coalition government, which came to power in November 2023, has stated that legislation is not a priority. Notwithstanding, domestic and international pressure on the government to introduce legislation remains strong.
The research focuses on two key areas: 1) how social policy reform occurs through processes of social entrepreneurship (SE), and the focus for this work, 2) the role and dynamics of leadership and grassroots organising in driving such reform. The research will analyse the ways in which individual and collective actors engage in leadership work within a social movement aimed at social policy change. The study operates across multiple levels of analysis, identifying processes and practices of SE and leadership which catalyse movement and progress. It also aims to understand what happens when things pause or stop, and the social and organising processes that follow. This is novel territory for leadership scholarship and would provide insight on the progress (or lack thereof) of modern slavery legislation in New Zealand.

The outputs from the research include articles and a multi-media teaching case, designed primarily for leadership development. The case will focus on leadership capabilities needed for effective engagement in complex, evolving environments of social reform.
This project is being led by Dr Rhiannon Lloyd, Associate Professor Christina Stringer, and Dr Brent Burmester.
The role
You will be required to carry out tasks related to an academic literature review with a particular focus on responsible leadership. Your role will involve curating an annotated reading list of academic articles spanning responsible leadership, sustainability leadership, social movement leadership, and related social entrepreneurship and governance disciplines. You will advise the research team on literature themes as well as potential research gaps in the literature.
You don’t need to have knowledge of the anti-modern slavery legislation movement in NZ on commencing the role – but building knowledge in this area will be helpful in determining pertinent literatures as you go.
Key skills/attributes
You will need to have experience in building a literature review, show competence with internet and database searches (for example, organisation websites, databases like EBSCO and Newztext), summarising key information from sources, and building a library of relevant resources. You will also need to have good organizing skills to manage a diverse range of articles, and an ability to synthesize literature drawing from different theoretical approaches.
It would be beneficial to have an interest in one or more of the research areas, like the social context of business, social movements, social responsibility, and/or leadership, but it is not essential.
Contact details and application process
Please send your CV and an expression of interest to Nicola Russell (n.russell@auckland.ac.nz) to be considered.

We have created a dedicated sheet for you to view profiles of PhD students who have registered their interest in Research Assistant opportunities. Each profile details the student’s specialties, skills, and areas of interest, making it easier for you to identify a strong match for your RA vacancies. Please follow the link below to browse the candidate listings.

To enhance the connection between PhD students and Research Assistant opportunities at our Business School, we have developed a registration form to streamline the process. This initiative aims to assist academic staff in efficiently identifying suitable candidates for available RA roles.

The registration form collects essential information about your research interests, expertise, and availability. The data will contribute to our Business School database, enabling academic staff to consider candidates who align with their project needs as opportunities arise.

We encourage all PhD students interested in RA positions to complete the registration form to ensure their details are included in this resource.