Research Assistant (Master's Thesis Student), Digital Economic Security Lab DIESL

Start date: Flexible, autumn/winter 2026–27 Duration of employment: 6 months Salary: 2,620.59 € per month in full-time work (or proportional to part-time work, if you are completing studies simultaneously) Workplace: Aalto University, Department of Computer Science, room A238

Digital Economic Security Lab (DIESL) is recruiting research assistants to investigate the global political economy of digital infrastructures. Research assistants are expected to be Master's students in their final year at the Department of Computer Science or related fields (e.g., Information Networks), who will write their Master's thesis as part of their duties. The supervising professor will be Vili Lehdonvirta, and in addition, members of the laboratory will supervise Master's theses according to the agreed topic.

Research assistants belong to the multidisciplinary DIESL group ( http://diesl.eu/ ), where diverse expertise combines with an open and constructive research environment. DIESL members investigate digital infrastructures and how economic and political forces shape them globally. The group studies the changing geography of these infrastructures and how it is shaped through the interaction of technology companies' traffic interests and states' economic and security interests.

Master's thesis topics

The research assistant will prepare a thesis addressing a research question relevant to DIESL's goals, to be selected together with the supervisor and instructor. Possible topics include, for example:

• Data center research: A survey on citizens' attitudes toward data centers    - Analyzing a large-scale survey collected with external partners, aimed at mapping views on the construction and operation of data centers in Finland    - Required skills: Multivariate analysis and regression modeling; R, Python, or Stata; Basic knowledge of survey design and implementation

• Global adoption of cloud services: Expanding previous research (see Kilpi, 2025) and tools    - The focus could be, for example:       • Identifying the use of Chinese hosting services, enabling more precise classification of hosting services       • Expanding public sector data with private sector information       • Classifying different administrative sectors and identifying these hosting dependencies    - Required skills: machine learning/statistics using the Python language, basic knowledge of Internet architecture

• Russian sanctions: A case study on the effects of post-2022 sanctions on Russia's digital infrastructure    - Utilizing trade and internet measurement data (OONI, Censored Planet, etc.) to assess the boundaries of disruption, adaptation, and technological decoupling. The research framework and methodology are flexible.    - The focus could be:       • Changes in digital infrastructure       • Changes in Internet traffic       • Changes in Russia's domain infrastructure       • Changes in semiconductor trade and supply chains       • The research assistant's own topic related to the subject area    - Required skills: Basic econometrics with R/Python languages, descriptive time-series analysis, processing network measurement data. Proficiency in Russian is an advantage.

• Own research idea related to the research group's topics

Selection criteria

Essential selection criteria (all of these must be met)

1. Strong interest in researching technology from the perspectives of international trade and world politics 2. Attention to detail 3. Skills related to a specific research topic (see above) 4. Ability to write fluent academic English

Additional selection criteria (some of these should be met)

1. Basic knowledge of multivariate statistics (e.g., multiple regression analysis, logistic regression) 2. Basic skills in statistical software (R, Python libraries, etc.) 3. Basic knowledge of political decision-making, industrial policy, and technology governance

Application

Submit your application by October 18th via Aalto's online application system. In your cover letter, state which topic or topics you are interested in. Attach the following to the application:

1. CV 2. A cover letter in which you respond point by point to how your profile matches the selection criteria listed above (maximum 800 words) 3. One writing sample demonstrating your academic writing skills in English; the topic of the writing sample does not need to relate to the research topic, e.g., a course paper (preferably 1000–6000 words)

If your application is selected for the next stage, you will be contacted to arrange an interview.

Send unofficial questions in English by email to kunhan.li@aalto.fi (copy otto.kassi@aalto.fi , jaakko.kilpi@aalto.fi , vili.lehdonvirta@aalto.fi ) or in Finnish to jaakko.kilpi@aalto.fi (copy otto.kassi@aalto.fi , vili.lehdonvirta@aalto.fi ) and write "DIESL thesis" in the subject field.

Related literature

Lehdonvirta, V. Wu, B., and Hawkins, Z. (2025). Weaponized interdependence in a bipolar world: How economic forces and security interests shape the global reach of U.S. and Chinese cloud data centres. Review of International Political Economy. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4670764

Kilpi, J., Kässi, O., and Lehdonvirta, V. (2025) Most Finnish digital public services hosted by U.S. cloud providers. DIESL blog. https://diesl.eu/most-finnish-digital-public-services-hosted-by-u-s-cloud-providers/

Kässi, O., & Lehdonvirta, V. (2026). The Heterogeneous Impact of Data Transfer Restrictions on Data Centre Geography. Working paper available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7429402

Hawkins, Z., Lehdonvirta, V. and Wu, B. (2025). AI Compute Sovereignty: Infrastructure Control Across Territories, Cloud Providers, and Accelerators. Working paper available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5312977

Lehdonvirta, V. Wu, B., and Hawkins, Z. (2024). Compute North vs. Compute South: The Uneven Possibilities of Compute-based AI Governance Around the Globe. 7th AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society. San Jose, CA, October 21-23, 2024. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/8yp7z

Previous Master's theses

Kilpi, J. (2025). Detecting digital dependence: Inferring public-sector hosting arrangements from Internet infrastructural records, https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202512179426

Liukkonen, K. (2025). Competing clouds: U.S.-China tech rivalry and the geoeconomic turn, https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202506174870

Ngo, L. (2025). Regulating the cloud: Cross-border data transfer regulation and the geography of hyperscale cloud infrastructure, https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202601221897