Research-Oriented Virtual Assistant (AI / Machine Learning / Academic Collaboration Outreach)

Job Overview We are seeking a highly organized, research-oriented Virtual Assistant to support academic and applied AI collaboration outreach. The role focuses on identifying ongoing AI research projects and papers in Computer Vision, Healthcare AI, NLP, and Machine Learning, profiling the founder’s technical background, and managing professional outreach and email communication with researchers, labs, and project leads. This is not a generic administrative role. The ideal candidate understands AI research culture, academic collaboration norms, and professional communication in research environments. ⸻ Core Objective The primary objective is to identify, initiate, and manage collaboration discussions for legitimate co-authorship and contribution opportunities in ongoing AI research projects, and to shortlist confirmed projects that align with the founder’s expertise and interests. ⸻ Key Responsibilities 1. Profile & Positioning • Study and understand the founder’s: • Academic background • Technical skill set (ML, CV, Healthcare AI, NLP) • Research interests and applied AI focus • Convert this information into: • A concise research collaborator profile • Short and long versions for different outreach contexts • Ensure positioning is ethical, accurate, and contribution-driven (no ghost authorship). ⸻ 2. Research Opportunity Discovery • Actively search for ongoing AI research projects and papers, including: • Pre-submission works • Workshops, special issues, and active lab projects • Open collaboration calls • Platforms to be used (but not limited to): • Google Scholar • ResearchGate • Academia.edu • AMiner • Conference workshop pages (NeurIPS, MICCAI, CVPR, ICCV, EMNLP, AAAI, etc.) • University lab websites • Relevant mailing lists and research forums • Focus domains: • Computer Vision • Medical / Healthcare AI • NLP • Multimodal AI • Applied Machine Learning ⸻ 3. Outreach & Email Management • Draft high-quality, personalized outreach emails, including: • Introduction • Clear value proposition • Specific contribution angles (experiments, modeling, evaluation, writing) • Handle: • Initial outreach • Follow-ups • Back-and-forth communication professionally • Maintain professional academic tone (not sales-like, not generic). • Adapt messaging depending on: • Professor vs PhD student vs industry researcher • Academic vs applied research context ⸻ 4. Point-of-Contact & CRM-Style Tracking • Maintain a structured tracker (Google Sheets / Notion / Excel) containing: • Researcher name • Institution / Lab • Research topic • Contact details • Outreach status • Response status • Confirmed collaboration interest (Yes / No / Pending) • Ensure clean documentation and traceability. ⸻ 5. Shortlisting & Reporting • Prepare weekly or bi-weekly reports summarizing: • Outreach conducted • Responses received • Confirmed collaboration opportunities • Shortlist validated, confirmed research projects with: • Topic summary • Expected contribution scope • Timeline • Target venue (journal / conference) • Final deliverable: a curated list of real, active research projects the founder can choose from. ⸻ Required Skills & Background Mandatory • Strong written English (academic/professional level) • Excellent research and information synthesis skills • Ability to understand technical concepts at a high level • Experience with email outreach and professional communication • Strong organizational and documentation skills Highly Preferred • Background or exposure to: • Machine Learning / AI • Academic research or publishing • Prior experience: • Working with researchers, PhDs, or startups • Academic virtual assistance or research coordination • Familiarity with: • Research collaboration etiquette • Authorship ethics and contribution norms ⸻ ⚠️ Ethics & Boundaries (Important) • No ghost authorship • No pay-to-publish schemes • No unethical journal practices • All collaborations must be contribution-based and legitimate • Quality over quantity is expected Apply tot his job