Employment Opportunity:

York University Student
Data Scientist / Programmer

The Refugee Law Lab and Access to Algorithmic Justice are looking for a student with strong Python, data scraping, and data wrangling skills to help with several natural language processing (NLP) projects involving legal data.

One part-time position is open to York University undergraduate students in data science, computer science, software engineering, or related disciplines.

The Refugee Law Lab (RLL), based at York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies and Osgoode Hall Law School, is devoted to research and advocacy related to new legal technologies and their impact on refugees, other displaced communities, and people on the move. We develop datasets and legal analytics that enhance transparency in refugee law processes, critique the use of artificial intelligence and other technologies in the migration field, and build open-source legal technology to advance the rights and interests of marginalized communities.

Access to Algorithmic Justice (A2AJ) is a research project co-hosted by York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School and Toronto Metropolitan University’s Lincoln Alexander School of Law. We research and advocate for a fairer, more accessible justice system as technology reshapes the law, and we are building legal datasets, AI benchmarks, and open-source legal tech tools to improve access to justice for marginalized and low-income communities in Canada.

To assist with RLL & A2AJ projects, the successful candidate will:

  • Participate in brainstorming and planning meetings
  • Program automated processes for legal data collection from online sources
  • Undertake data wrangling to clean collected data
  • Help build infrastructure for research assistants to undertake data labeling
  • Assist with applying NLP categorization, extraction and summarization tools on the data

Qualifications & Competencies:

  • Currently enrolled York undergraduate student in a relevant discipline (e.g., data science, computer science, software engineering)
  • Strong Python programming skills
  • Data scraping / data wrangling experience is an asset
  • Experience with natural language processing is an asset
  • French language skills are an asset
  • Lived experience with forced migration or being a member of an equity seeking group is an asset
  • Open to students in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year

Place of work: Remote

Salary: $24.50/hr

Time Commitment: Approximately 5–7 hours per week throughout the Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 Terms. Hours are flexible, and we can accommodate periods of non-availability.

Eligibility: Must be eligible for Research @ York (RAY) positions.

What You’ll Gain:

  • Further develop Python, data scraping, and data wrangling skills
  • Learn to apply cutting-edge NLP tools to legal data
  • Gain domain knowledge related to legal processes and technology in Canada
  • Experience in team-based scholarly research
  • Integration into the RLL & A2AJ research communities, with opportunities for learning and networking alongside computer scientists, software engineers, law students, and a law professor

Application Deadline: September 12, 2025, 11:59 PM

Application Method: Apply online

Supervising Faculty: Professor Sean Rehaag, RLL Director & A2AJ Co-Director