About the Project:

Better Bricks is a multi-country research and implementation program focused on improving the environmental, economic and social performance of informal brick kilns in South Asia. Led by researchers at Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and UC Berkeley, and, in partnership with icddr,b, Greentech Knowledge Solutions Pvt. Ltd. and the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, the program has achieved landmark results in Bangladesh including a randomized controlled trial demonstrating that a no-capital-cost operational intervention called Zigzag 2.0 reduces CO and PM2.5 emissions by 20%, cuts energy use by 26%, and increases kiln owner profitability.

The Indo-Gangetic region is the most heavily polluted in the world and air pollution presents an enormous social and economic cost. Building on our past success, Better Bricks is now expanding to India, where as many as 50,000 brick kilns present an enormous chance for environmental impact. West Bengal is the primary entry point for this expansion,



given its close operational similarity to kilns in Bangladesh. Over the next three years, the India workstream will encompass stakeholder and government engagement, a systematic situational assessment of the brick manufacturing landscape, adaptation and piloting of the Zigzag 2.0 intervention in West Bengal and a second state in the Indo-Gangetic region, and the development of a state- specific scale-up roadmap.

About the Position:

To support this effort, we are seeking a Senior Research Associate who will support a comprehensive situational assessment of brick manufacturing in West Bengal as a prelude to piloting and a larger scale RCT of the modified Zigzag 2.0 intervention. This assessment will inform our understanding of the local operational, market, and policy landscape, ensuring the intervention is customized for the local context. This position will report to an India-based Senior Project Manager, as well as the remot

📌 Senior/Research Associate (New Delhi)
🏢 Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
📍 New Delhi