This is an internal page for CEGA faculty affiliates. It should answer many of your questions about what it means to be an affiliate, how one becomes an affiliate, and how to get the most out of your CEGA affiliation. If you have additional questions, please contact Lauren Russell, CEGA’s Director of Operations, at laurenrussell@berkeley.edu.
Q: What does it mean to be a CEGA faculty affiliate?
CEGA faculty affiliates are academic researchers that CEGA has formally invited to become a part of our network. Affiliates are faculty members at universities along the West Coast of North America (United States and Canada) who conduct rigorous impact evaluations in international development. Faculty hail from multiple disciplines, including economics, agricultural & resource economics, public policy, public health, political science, psychology, business, engineering, computer science, and information. See here for a current list of CEGA affiliates.
Q: How does one become a faculty affiliate?
Twice per year, CEGA invites current faculty affiliates to nominate new affiliates. Nominations are reviewed by a Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) consisting of Faculty Directors Ted Miguel and Josh Blumenstock, CEGA’s Executive Director, and faculty leads of major CEGA research initiatives (otherwise known as “Scientific Directors”). To be approved, nominees must meet all of the following criteria:
- Completed a Ph.D. at least one year prior to nomination.
- Currently affiliated with an academic unit at a university in California, Oregon, Washington, or British Columbia.
- Strong commitment to empirical research on social and economic development, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. In particular, the nominee should: (a) conduct field work involving micro-level data in developing countries, or work with governments to access existing micro-data; and (b) have consistently demonstrated technical rigor in prior empirical research; and (c) have an original research article from a rigorous, policy-relevant impact evaluation published (or forthcoming) in a leading peer-reviewed journal.
- Demonstrated interest in joining the CEGA network (by attending events, communicating and collaborating with staff, etc.) and willingness to serve as good citizens of CEGA once accepted. This includes willingness and desire to actively participate in policymaker outreach, events including conferences, training courses or workshops, and peer-review for grant programs managed by CEGA.
Nominees are not contacted or made aware of their nominations until they are formally approved. New CEGA affiliates will receive a signed letter granting them a five-year renewable term, after which the FAC will review the affiliate’s research record and renew if the affiliation criteria are still met. New affiliates are invited to join an onboarding phone call with a CEGA program manager working in one of their areas of interest.
Q: What are the benefits of CEGA affiliation?
Being a CEGA affiliate confers a number of benefits to faculty including:
Funding
- Eligibility for a number of “closed” CEGA’s research grant competitions. (Not all competitions are strictly limited to CEGA faculty, but many are)
- Opportunities for PhD students to compete for research funding administered by CEGA
- Consultations with seasoned CEGA staff on grant proposals (for junior faculty only)
Leadership Development
- Opportunities to provide intellectual leadership for new research initiatives and general Center direction (as desired)
- Opportunity to serve on the Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) or as scientific directors
- Plan research events and other activities that advance your work and generate public goods for others
Dissemination and Partnerships
- Dissemination of your research to policy‐makers and funders through CEGA’s communication channels including: social media, website, working paper series, policy briefs, events, monthly newsletter, press engagement
- Invitations to participate in and speak at CEGA workshops, conferences, and dissemination events
- Links to potential collaborators through partnerships with visiting scholars, research institutes, NGOs, governments, and development banks
- Curated listservs featuring new funding, event, partnership, and other opportunities.
- Hiring help: Affiliates can post a job description to CEGA’s careers page and direct applicants to apply through a submittable form, if they wish. To post a job, and for guidance on job descriptions, reach out to Lauren Russell (laurenrussell@berkeley.edu). For positions based at UC Berkeley, applicants must apply through the UC Berkeley job site.
Q: What does CEGA expect of our affiliates?
- As an affiliate of CEGA, we request that you:
- Participate periodically in core center activities, such as peer review (for grant‐making), partnership development, mentoring visiting scholars, and/or presenting research at CEGA-hosted events & workshops.
- Join our one-day faculty research retreat, R^2, held at UC Berkeley in November each year.
- Maintain a high standard of research integrity (see our Research Transparency & Reproducibility policy).
Q: What does it mean to lead a CEGA initiative?
CEGA builds portfolios of research organized by sector or theme. These, in turn, house coordinated research initiatives — such as the Agriculture Technology Adoption Initiative (ATAI), the Digital Credit Observatory (DCO), and the East Africa Social Science Translation (EASST) Collaborative, among others — that address specific, policy-relevant questions. CEGA initiatives are funded by government agencies, private foundations, and philanthropists.
Faculty leadership is critical to the success of CEGA’s research initiatives. Affiliates who provide intellectual vision, contacts, and expertise to the design and implementation of initiatives are called “Scientific Directors” (see Guidance to CEGA Scientific Directors for more information).
If you are interested in leading a CEGA research initiative, or have an idea for a new initiative, please reach out to us and we’d be happy to brainstorm with you.
Q: What makes CEGA unique?
CEGA exists within an ecosystem of research organizations–including J-PAL, IPA, 3ie, IDInsight, and others–that have similar objectives. Our “sister centers” differ slightly in approach and funding structure but have mutually shared goals and frequently collaborate with us. So what makes CEGA different?
- We take an interdisciplinary approach that is agnostic to specific method. This means that our networks include computer scientists as well as policy researchers, and we fund rigorous research in all forms—not just randomized experiments.
- We invest heavily in capacity building for researchers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and encourage affiliates to conduct research in partnership with LMIC researchers from low- and middle-income countries whenever possible, as part of our Global Networks programs or not.
- We focus on the role of technology and measurement in poverty reduction and prioritize the use of novel technologies and (novel applications of existing technologies) to promote development and measure outcomes.
- We recognize that for research to be deemed credible, it must be conducted in a transparent and reproducible manner. Research projects funded or carried out by CEGA adhere to our transparency guidelines. Read the full policy.
Q: What is CEGA’s organizational structure?
CEGA is governed by two Faculty Directors (Edward Miguel and Joshua Blumenstock), an Executive Director (Carson Christiano), and a Director of Operations (Lauren Russell). The Center receives strategic input from a 6-8 member Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) as well as a 10-12 member external Advisory Board. Each sector, program or theme is run by a Program Manager, often with the support of a Program Associate. We often hire Postdoctoral Scholars, Graduate Student Researchers (GSRs), and interns to carry out special projects. A centralized Operations team provides support on matters related to financial management, HR, events, and communications across the Center. Please reference our Organizational Chart and our staff page for more information.
Resources for Affiliates
CEGA Presentation Templates (We have powerpoint, latex, and google slides)
