Sovereign Debt Forum Research Assistant

Location: Law Center, United States of America

Georgetown University comprises two unique campuses in the nation’s capital. With the Hilltop Campus located in the heart of the historic Georgetown neighborhood, and the Capitol Campus, just minutes from the U.S. Capitol and U.S. Supreme Court, Georgetown University offers rigorous academic programs, a global perspective, and unparalleled opportunities to engage with Washington, D.C. Our community is a close-knit group of remarkable individuals driven by intellectual inquiry, a commitment to social justice, and a shared dedication to making a difference in the world.

Requirements

Job Overview

The Sovereign Debt Forum’s #PublicDebtIsPublic initiative (#PDIP) is dedicated to the principle that public debt must be robustly accountable to the public. This means that information on government borrowing and lending—including sovereign debt contracts, legal and institutional frameworks—and capacity development tools should all be readily available and free to the public. To advance this principle, the #PDIP initiative aims to shift debt transparency norms and practices to create a presumption in favor of public disclosure of both legal and financial terms of public debt in a format that is publicly accessible, intelligible, and comparable.

The #PDIP project is the creation of the first centrally collated data repository where three types of sovereign debt data and documentation will be open-sourced: (i) full-text sovereign debt contracts, fully searchable and tagged on a term-by-term basis, (ii) domestic laws and regulations governing borrowing and authorization procedures and debt disclosure, and (iii) an interactive capacity-building platform, including web-based courses, short and long-form tutorials produced by  Sovereign Debt Forum participants and affiliates as well as legal analysis and guidance materials to complement existing public debt management capacity-building programs from official, private, and civil-society sources.

This data repository will provide governments in countries with limited resources, civil society in borrowing and lending countries, and official and private creditors a shared source of current and authoritative information on sovereign borrowing, lending and restructuring terms. The #PDIP platform was officially launched in Oct 2025, developed jointly by the Sovereign Debt Forum and Georgetown University’s Massive Data Institute, and generously supported by a grant from the Gates Foundation.

The Sovereign Debt Forum is a collaboration between the Institute of International Economic Law at Georgetown and the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS) at Queen Mary University of London, established in 2019 to advance interdisciplinary legal research in sovereign debt, to serve as a platform for convening public debt stakeholders from government, market, civil society, and academic institutions around the world, and to support capacity building in public debt management, especially in low- and middle-income countries, countries facing debt distress, and those new to international borrowing and lending. Sovereign Debt Forum affiliates include leading academics and practitioners in the field of sovereign debt.

The Sovereign Debt Forum is looking for a research assistant to assist in gathering full-text sovereign debt contracts, tagging key clauses in these contracts, and gathering information about the domestic borrowing framework of different jurisdictions. Research assistants should have experience with contract analysis and familiarity with the legal system of a non-US jurisdiction.

Work Interactions

This position will report directly to the SDF Co-Director, Head of Research and SDF Fellow at the Law Center. The research assistants will work with a team of 2-5 other research assistants implementing the subsequent phases of PDIP in a remote capacity.

Requirements and Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree required; JD, LLM and/or other graduate training, law practice and/or management experience strongly preferred

Requires analytical, written and verbal communication, and organizational skills; a collaborative attitude, and an ability to adapt to the challenges of an ambitious start-up.

Understanding research process and knowledge of appropriate research protocols

Experience in planning and delivery of work allocation, to agreed timescales and quality standards

Experience in a research environment

Experience working with a collaborative team to achieve a common goal/objective

Experience in maintaining accurate and up to date records

Experience in collating, maintaining and deploying datasets to produce, interpret and present data reports and analysis.

Effective verbal communication skills

Experience using Microsoft Office packages (Word and Excel)

Advanced IT, numeracy and analytical skills with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail

Willingness to work flexibly to achieve the demands of the research program

Self-motivated and able to work without close supervision

Work Mode Designation

This position has been designated as Telework. Please note that work mode designations are regularly reviewed in order to meet the evolving needs of the University. Such review may necessitate a change to a position’s mode of work designation. Complete details about Georgetown University’s mode of work designations for staff and AAP positions can be found on the Department of Human Resources website:https://hr.georgetown.edu/mode-of-work-designation

Pay Range

The projected salary or hourly pay range for this position which represents the full range of anticipated compensation is:

$18.40 - $27.33

Compensation is determined by a number of factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s individual qualifications, experience, education, skills, and certifications, as well as the University’s business needs and external factors.

Current Georgetown Employees

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