Research Assistant, Privacy and Security on Mobile Devices for Older Adults (PSAC-RC) - Applied Computer Science *Work-Study Program*

### **NOTE:** **Students must be approved for the 2026-27 Work-Study program in order to be hired for this position. The Work-Study Student Application form is available online here: Work Study Program | Awards | The University of Winnipeg: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/awards/work-study-program.html** **Please include confirmation of your approval to participate in the Work-Study Program with your application.** **Work-Study Project Title:** Privacy and Security on Mobile Devices for Older Adults **Competition Number:** WS01.26 **Date Posted:** November 10, 2026 **Department:** Applied Computer Science **Researcher:** Dr. Mary Adedayo **Position Vacancies:** 1 **Salary:** $17.22 - $20.10 per hour plus 6% vacation pay Research Assistants are normally students, in a University of Winnipeg undergraduate program, employed to assist with tasks related to research. Work is performed within defined guidelines and under supervision of a more senior researcher or faculty member. **Position Overview:** The student will work as an assistant on a research project aimed at addressing privacy and security concerns related to the use of mobile devices and applications among older adults. The assistant will be involved in various aspects of the research, including the development of resource materials for educating older adults, reviewing literature, analyzing digital artifacts in mobile phones (specifically Android phones), and disseminating results at three retirement homes within Winnipeg. The research project involves three main objectives: 1) to evaluate the usability of mobile security and privacy technologies among older adults; 2) to create simple guidelines and sustainable educational resources to improve mobile security and privacy awareness among older adults; 3) to develop and test prototypes of security mechanisms that address some of the challenges that we have identified in our earlier study. The assistant will provide support in achieving the objectives of the project and assist in the production of research materials and outputs. **Duties:** * The selected candidate will be required to provide support in extending ethics approval and conducting usability tests with research participants. They will be required to create online forms for data collection. The candidate will perform qualitative and quantitative analyses of the collected data to determine usage patterns among research participants. * The assistant will be required to support the creation of educational resources, such as videos, pamphlets and a website to enhance security and privacy awareness among older adults. Based on our analysis, the assistant will be required to undertake research that involves working with mobile devices, particularly Android and iPhone devices. * They will be required to read technical documentation of applications and literature to answer research questions that emanate from the usability study. The assistant will also be required to work o