EMD Research Fellow- Predicting Social Unrest and Instability Using Big Data

Barings' dedicated Emerging Markets team manages over $15 billion in assets across corporates, sovereign, local debt and blended strategies. An integrated team of 24 seasoned portfolio managers, analysts and traders analyses the sovereign debt of over 75 countries and the corporate debt of over 600 companies.

INTERNSHIP TOPIC

The Emerging Markets Sovereign team is looking for a graduate student for the summer of 2022 to be based in Boston or London to work on the following topic: Predicting Social Unrest and Instability Using Big Data The main objective of the summer internship is to explore the applications of Big Data or other innovative techniques to create an in-house high frequency indicator of social discontent for selected emerging market countries. Big Data techniques can be particularly useful to explore how high the frequency social media, macro/microeconomic, and consumer data can indicate increasing tensions or discontent in a political environment. Recent cases of social unrest in South Africa, Chile and Kazakhstan provide examples of the importance of understanding the roots of these movements and determining their effects on the political stability and social progress in a country. Key considerations for this fellowship will include the relationship between social media and government censorship, trends across protest movements over the past few years, and reliable social indicators in this domain to be used in ESG (environmental, social, governance; sustainability) analysis. The fellow will aim to answer the question: “is it possible to predict social unrest?” using big data and potentially a case study approach.

SKILLS

The candidate should have extensive training in macroeconomics and sophisticated big data techniques. Knowledge of the literature in emerging markets and of relevant databases would be a plus.

PROCESS

Only graduate applicants will be considered. Deadline for application is Friday, 21 February 2022. Shortlisted applicants will be contacted shortly after that for interviews. Applying to more than one fellowship is possible- please apply to each position of interest.