Organisation: Land Conflict Watch

Location: New Delhi / Remote

Engagement: Full-time

Duration: One-year contract, renewable

Remuneration: Competitive and commensurate with experience, expertise and prevailing market standards

Application deadline: September 4, 2026 — applications reviewed on a rolling basis

Manage and strengthen India's most comprehensive database on land and natural-resource conflicts

Land Conflict Watch (LCW) and NutGraph Social Data Lab are looking for an experienced Database Editor/Lead to oversee the quality, integrity and continued development of LCW's national database of land and natural-resource conflicts.

LCW works with a distributed network of 35+ researchers across India who identify, research and document conflicts involving land, forests, commons, infrastructure, conservation, industry and natural resources. Each conflict is documented through a detailed case study and structured data covering its social, legal, economic, environmental and geographic dimensions.

As LCW's work expands, its field-verified data is also being combined with other datasets and methods, including geospatial analysis, remote sensing and machine learning, to support research on land use, infrastructure, energy transition, natural resources and communities.

The Database Editor/Lead will be the custodian of the LCW database: ensuring that its data remains rigorous, consistent and current; that its public-facing conflict case reports meet high editorial standards; and that the database continues to evolve in ways that make it useful for new research.

The Opportunity

Rather than being a conventional database-management role, this position sits at the intersection of interdisciplinary research on land and natural resources, datasets design and analysis, editing and fact-checking, and field-research coordination.

You will move between individual conflict cases and the larger patterns they reveal: interrogating evidence and narratives at the case level, while using the database to spot trends, gaps and inconsistencies across hundreds of conflicts. You will also help think critically about what our existing data captures and what it misses.

As LCW's data is increasingly used for new research, you will work with research teams to translate new questions into meaningful data parameters and collection frameworks, and help connect LCW's field-verified evidence with geospatial, computational and other datasets.

Key Responsibilities

Database Integrity and Editorial Quality (40%)

Oversee the substantive and editorial review of new land-conflict case studies and their associated structured data, ensuring that evidence, interpretation and data are rigorous and consistent.
Maintain strong fact-checking standards across field evidence, government records, legal documents, company disclosures, research reports, media sources and other credible sources.
Ensure consistency in how conflicts, stakeholders, impacts and other variables are interpreted, classified and coded across the database.
Maintain high editorial standards for headlines, summaries and case narratives, ensuring accuracy, simplicity, clarity and consistency with LCW's editorial stylesheet.
Review complex or sensitive cases, resolve significant questions around evidence, interpretation and publication, and strengthen LCW's data-quality, editorial and fact-checking protocols.

Database Maintenance and Development (25%)

Oversee the publication and updating pipeline, ensuring that new and existing cases move through research, review and publication in a timely manner.
Establish systems for tracking conflict case updates through news, community networks and legal, policy or project developments.
Identify geographic, thematic and sectoral gaps that require new documentation.
Maintain and evolve the database's parameters, definitions and data-collection protocols to ensure that they remain consistent, relevant and useful.
Work with NutGraph's project and research leads to translate new research questions into meaningful data parameters, data requirements and additional field-research needs.
Support the integration of LCW data with other datasets and analytical approaches, including geospatial, remote-sensing and machine-learning work.

Field Researcher Network (20%)

Oversee and strengthen LCW's nationwide network of 35+ part-time researchers and the systems through which their work is commissioned, reviewed and published.
Set priorities for new conflict documentation and updates, and guide researchers on complex questions of evidence, sourcing, interpretation and writing.
Oversee recruitment, assessment and onboarding of field researchers, and help build an engaged network through mentoring, feedback and regular interaction.
Ensure a steady pipeline of high-quality new cases and updates.

Data Systems and Research Support (15%)

Work with NutGraph's technology team to identify and prioritise improvements to backend systems, database workflows, data-quality mechanisms and data access.
Oversee periodic analysis of the database and contribute substantive interpretation of trends, anomalies and emerging patterns.
Contribute data, methodological inputs and analysis to research reports, newsletters and other public-facing outputs where required.

What We're Looking For

Essential Qualifications And Experience

At least five years of professional experience in social-science research, journalism, editing, public policy or related work involving environmental, developmental or socio-economic issues.
Strong understanding of, or substantial experience engaging with, land, environment, natural resources, rural development in India.
Demonstrated ability to conduct, review or supervise rigorous research, work critically with evidence from multiple sources, and maintain accuracy and consistency in structured data or research datasets.
Strong editorial and fact-checking skills, with the ability to turn complex research into clear, accurate and accessible writing. Experience in editing research or journalistic work would be a strong advantage.
Experience in working with structured data or designing research methodologies, taxonomies, questionnaires or data-collection frameworks, with an ability to think critically about what data captures, how it is structured and how it can answer research questions.
Experience managing or coordinating researchers, reporters, contributors or distributed teams, with strong organisational skills and the ability to provide substantive feedback and oversee multiple workflows.
Strong leadership skills and ability to lead and oversee database verification and management and researcher coordination.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English are essential. Proficiency in one or more additional Indian languages would be an advantage.

Desirable Experience

Familiarity with land and environmental laws, government records, court documents, regulatory processes and corporate disclosures.
Familiarity with infrastructure development, project finance, corporate disclosures or investment-related data.
Experience designing research methodologies, taxonomies, questionnaires, structured datasets or other data-collection frameworks.
Experience combining qualitative research with quantitative, geospatial or computational analysis.
Experience producing data-led journalism, research reports, publications or other public-facing research.

Why Join LCW & NutGraph?

Take responsibility for the quality and evolution of one of India's most significant longitudinal datasets on land and natural-resource conflicts.
Shape the systems and standards through which a nationwide network of field researchers produces rigorous public data.
Work with granular field evidence and emerging analytical methods to uncover patterns often missing from conventional datasets and research.
Help build evidence that can inform better decisions and planning around land, infrastructure and natural resources, with the aim of making development more inclusive, equitable and just.
Contribute to research and evidence used by journalists, academics, policymakers, civil-society organisations and other institutions.
Be part of a small, dynamic and ambitious team that values rigorous research, editorial independence, autonomy and good ideas.

How To Apply

Please email contact@nutgraph.in with the subject line:

Application for Database Editor/Lead

Please Send

A brief note explaining why this role interests you and why you think you would be a strong fit.
Your current CV or résumé.
Links or attachments to relevant research, journalism, data projects, publications or other work, wherever applicable.
A short description of one project in which you had substantial responsibility for research quality, editorial judgement, data integrity or managing other researchers. Briefly explain the work, your specific responsibility, an important judgement or decision you had to make, and the principal outcome or learning.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until September 4, 2026. Early applications are strongly encouraged.

Who We Are

NutGraph Social Data Lab supports organisations and institutions in identifying trends, informing policies and advancing actionable research. We collect and aggregate micro-level field data and translate it into evidence-based insights.

Our flagship and award-winning initiative, Land Conflict Watch (LCW), is India's leading public database and research platform on land and natural-resource governance. LCW's work is widely cited by academia, policymakers, media and civil society, and has shaped national and international conversations on land use, commons and development planning.

Nutgraph – Social Data Lab

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