Faculty/Department Johnson Shoyama Graduate School Unit Johnson Shoyama Graduate School Employee Group CUPE 2419 CUPE 5791 Job Family N/A Category Student Number of Vacancies 1 Position Summary

The research team is seeking a detail‑oriented and analytically strong Research Assistant to support a municipal finance research project focused on Saskatchewan’s local governments. The role involves compiling, cleaning, and analyzing approximately 10–20 years of municipal financial statement data for all Saskatchewan municipalities, with the goal of producing a long‑term financial trends paper.

This position is ideal for a graduate student in public policy, economics, public administration, accounting, or a related field who is comfortable working with financial data and enjoys uncovering patterns in financial datasets.

Key Responsibilities:

• Ability to collect and compile annual financial statements for Saskatchewan municipalities from publicly available sources (e.g., Ministry of Government Relations, Taxpayers Federation archive, municipal websites).
• Extract, standardize, and organize 10–20 years of financial data into a consistent Excel format.
• Build a clean, analyzable dataset that includes (but is not limited to) fiscal health metrics.
• Conduct descriptive analysis and identify trends related to:
  • Infrastructure investment cycles
  • Economic cycles
  • Population changes
  • Provincial policy shifts
  • Long‑term fiscal sustainability
• Prepare summary tables, charts, and preliminary insights for use in a research paper.
• Communicate progress regularly and flag data gaps or inconsistencies.

Position Requirements

Required Qualifications:

• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including:
  • Pivot tables
  • Lookup functions (VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP)
  • Data cleaning and transformation
  • Basic charting and visualization
• Experience working with financial statements or public sector financial data.
• Excellent attention to detail and ability to maintain consistent formatting across large datasets.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multi‑year data.
• Preferred / Bonus Skills:
  • Experience with statistical or data tools such as Stata, SPSS**, R, or Python.**
  • Familiarity with municipal finance, public budgeting, or public sector accounting.
  • Experience scraping or automating data collection (not required but an asset).
  • Understanding of Saskatchewan’s municipal sector or interest in local governance.
• Work Arrangement:
  • Remote, flexible hours.
  • Contract length and compensation to be discussed based on scope and experience.
  • Ideal for a graduate student or early‑career researcher looking to build applied research experience in municipal governance and finance.

Physical Demands

Must be available to begin immediately. Applicants must provide a cover letter, a CV and two reference contacts.

Pay Grade As Per CUPE 2419 Salary Range As per CUPE 2419 Collective Agreement Status Term Work Hours

10 hours per week

Course Modality Course Dates and Time Duration (if Term/Temporary) 18 weeks Full-Time/Part-Time Part Time Preference Posting No Preference Target Posting Not Targeted

Additional Information

Contact Information

Job Open Date

05/12/2026

Job Close Date

05/19/2026

Open Until Filled

No

Special Application Instructions

Please send a brief message outlining your interest, relevant experience, and any examples of past data or research work (if available), along with a CV.

If you require further information regarding this competition please contact the faculty/department you are applying to.

Under Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Regulations the University of Regina is required to verify that International Students are eligible to work on campus prior to being hired. To confirm this eligibility, International Students are requested to contact UR International – Student Services to obtain a “Verification of Academic Status for the Eligibility to Work on Campus” letter that must be provided to the hiring manager prior to hiring. These letters must be updated each semester and/or as circumstances change.

Applicants must be legally entitled to work in Canada, and the work associated with this position must be performed within Canada.

Diversity Statement

The University of Regina is committed to an inclusive workplace that reflects the richness of the community that we serve. The University welcomes applications from all qualified individuals, including individuals within the University’s employment equity categories of women, persons with disabilities, members of visible minorities, Indigenous persons, individuals of diverse gender and sexual orientation and all groups protected by the Human Rights Code.