ai-anthropology

Scaffold a new anthropological research project by guiding the user through each phase of the research lifecycle

Use this agent when a user needs help with academic career materials for anthropology — job applications, career statements, or teaching materials. This agent orchestrates the job-materials, career-statements, and teaching-materials skills to provide comprehensive career development support. Covers the full range from CV formatting to syllabus design. <example> Context: A PhD candidate is preparing applications for tenure-track positions. user: "I'm going on the job market this fall and need to prepare my full application package — CV, cover letter, and statements." assistant: "I'll use the career-advisor agent to help you build your complete application package, coordinating across your CV, cover letter, research statement, teaching statement, and diversity statement for a coherent narrative." <commentary> Job market preparation requires coordinated materials that tell a consistent story. The career-advisor ensures all components reinforce each other. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: An assistant professor is preparing their tenure file. user: "I need to write my tenure narrative and update my CV for my third-year review." assistant: "I'll use the career-advisor agent to help you draft your tenure narrative and recalibrate your CV to emphasize the trajectory and impact that tenure committees evaluate." <commentary> Tenure materials require different framing than job market materials — the agent calibrates to career stage and evaluation context. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: A new faculty member is designing their first course. user: "I'm teaching Introduction to Cultural Anthropology for the first time next semester. I need a syllabus and some lesson plans." assistant: "I'll use the career-advisor agent to help you design your course using backward design principles, create a syllabus, and develop lesson plans for key class sessions." <commentary> Course design is a career development task — new faculty often need structured guidance on syllabus design, assignment creation, and lesson planning. </commentary> </example>

Use this agent when a user needs help preparing conference presentations, public-facing writing, or community engagement materials for anthropological research. This agent orchestrates the conference-materials and public-engagement skills to cover the full dissemination arc — from AAA abstracts to op-eds, posters to policy briefs, and slide decks to podcast preparation. <example> Context: A researcher needs to submit an abstract for the AAA annual meeting. user: "I need to write my AAA abstract — it's a 250-word individual paper for the anthropology of technology section." assistant: "I'll use the dissemination-advisor agent to help you draft a 250-word AAA abstract that effectively communicates your argument within the word limit." <commentary> AAA abstracts have strict conventions (250 words, specific structure). The dissemination-advisor provides format-specific guidance. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: A researcher wants to write an op-ed about their findings for a general audience. user: "I want to write a piece for The Conversation about my research on food sovereignty. How do I translate my academic findings for a public audience?" assistant: "I'll use the dissemination-advisor agent to help you translate your research into a public-facing article, adapting your register, structure, and evidence presentation for a non-academic audience." <commentary> Register translation from academic to public writing is a specialized skill. The agent handles the craft of making research accessible without oversimplifying. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: A researcher is preparing a 20-minute conference talk with slides. user: "I have a 20-minute slot at AAA and I need to design my slides and speaker notes." assistant: "I'll use the dissemination-advisor agent to help you design a slide deck using the assertion-evidence model and create timed speaker notes for your 20-minute talk." <commentary> Conference presentation design combines visual design (slides/posters) with oral delivery preparation. The agent covers both. </commentary> </example>

Use this agent when a user needs help with research ethics, IRB protocols, informed consent processes, or ethics review for anthropological research. This agent orchestrates the irb-protocol and informed-consent skills to provide comprehensive ethics guidance. Also use when reviewing an existing research design for ethical issues or when preparing ethics documentation for institutional review. <example> Context: A PhD student is preparing an IRB application for ethnographic fieldwork with undocumented migrants. user: "I need to write my IRB protocol for fieldwork with undocumented communities. I'm worried about the consent process and data security." assistant: "I'll use the ethics-reviewer agent to help you design an ethics protocol that addresses the specific risks of working with vulnerable populations, including consent approaches and data security planning." <commentary> The user needs both IRB protocol writing and consent process design for a sensitive population. The ethics-reviewer agent combines both skills for comprehensive ethics support. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: A researcher received IRB feedback requesting revisions to their consent process. user: "The IRB wants me to revise my consent forms — they said verbal consent isn't sufficient for my digital ethnography project." assistant: "I'll use the ethics-reviewer agent to review the IRB feedback and help you redesign your consent process to satisfy the board while remaining appropriate for your research context." <commentary> IRB revision requests require coordinated work across protocol narrative and consent documents. The ethics-reviewer handles both. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: A researcher is designing a study and wants to think through ethics proactively before submitting to the IRB. user: "Can you review my research plan for ethics issues before I write my IRB application?" assistant: "I'll use the ethics-reviewer agent to conduct a comprehensive ethics review of your research design, identifying risks and recommending appropriate protections." <commentary> Proactive ethics review before IRB submission — the agent identifies issues early rather than after institutional review. </commentary> </example>

Use this agent when a user needs help designing fieldwork data collection instruments, protocols, sampling strategies, or data management systems for anthropological research. This agent draws on the fieldwork-methods skill to provide detailed guidance on interview guides, focus group guides, observation protocols, field note systems, and data management plans. <example> Context: A researcher is preparing for 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork and needs to design their data collection instruments. user: "I'm starting fieldwork next month and need to create my interview guide and observation protocol for studying healing practices in a Peruvian community." assistant: "I'll use the fieldwork-advisor agent to help you design a semi-structured interview guide and observation protocol tailored to your research questions and fieldwork context." <commentary> The user needs multiple data collection instruments designed for a specific fieldwork context. The fieldwork-advisor handles instrument design, pilot planning, and integration across methods. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: A student needs help with sampling and recruitment strategy for their dissertation fieldwork. user: "How do I decide who to interview? I'm studying tech workers in Bangalore but I don't know how to build my sample." assistant: "I'll use the fieldwork-advisor agent to help you design a sampling strategy appropriate to your research questions, population, and epistemic stance." <commentary> Sampling strategy is a core fieldwork planning task that requires attention to research design, access, and feasibility. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: A researcher needs to set up their data management system before entering the field. user: "I need a data management plan for my fieldwork — how should I organize my field notes, transcriptions, and recordings?" assistant: "I'll use the fieldwork-advisor agent to design a data management system covering storage, organization, transcription workflow, de-identification, and backup procedures." <commentary> Data management planning before fieldwork is critical. The agent covers the full data lifecycle from collection through archiving. </commentary> </example>

Use this agent when a user needs help writing grant proposals, funding applications, or dissertation prospectuses for anthropological research. This agent orchestrates the grant-proposal and dissertation-prospectus skills to provide funder-specific guidance and prospectus development. Covers NSF Cultural Anthropology (including CA-DDRIG), Wenner-Gren, Fulbright IIE and Fulbright-Hays, ERC, SSHRC, and Wellcome Trust. <example> Context: A PhD student is writing an NSF CA-DDRIG proposal for dissertation fieldwork. user: "I need to write my NSF DDRIG proposal. I have my research plan but I'm struggling with the project description and broader impacts." assistant: "I'll use the proposal-advisor agent to help you structure your NSF CA-DDRIG project description and broader impacts statement following NSF-specific requirements and conventions." <commentary> NSF CA-DDRIG has specific formatting, page limits, and evaluation criteria. The proposal-advisor provides funder-specific guidance that goes beyond generic grant writing advice. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: A researcher is writing their dissertation prospectus for committee review. user: "My prospectus defense is in two months and I need help structuring the document. My department wants 20-25 pages." assistant: "I'll use the proposal-advisor agent to help you structure your prospectus with the right section architecture, length calibration, and committee-oriented framing." <commentary> Prospectus development requires section-by-section guidance calibrated to institutional norms. The agent handles structure, content, and strategic framing. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: A postdoc is applying for a Wenner-Gren Post-PhD Research Grant. user: "I'm applying for a Wenner-Gren grant to extend my dissertation research into a new field site. Can you help with the application?" assistant: "I'll use the proposal-advisor agent to guide your Wenner-Gren application, ensuring it meets their specific evaluation criteria and framing expectations." <commentary> Different funders have different expectations. The agent provides Wenner-Gren-specific guidance distinct from NSF or Fulbright conventions. </commentary> </example>

Use this agent when a user needs help designing an anthropological research project from the ground up — formulating research questions, selecting and justifying methods, or building a research plan. This agent orchestrates across the research-question, methodology-selection, and research-plan skills to produce a coherent research design. Also use when a user is revising their overall research design after committee or reviewer feedback. <example> Context: A graduate student has a broad topic interest but no formulated research question or methods. user: "I want to study how gig workers in Lagos use social media to organize, but I don't know where to start with my research design." assistant: "I'll use the research-design agent to guide you through formulating your research question, selecting appropriate methods, and building a research plan." <commentary> The user needs end-to-end research design support spanning multiple skills. The research-design agent orchestrates question formulation, methodology selection, and plan development as an integrated process. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: A researcher has a draft question but is unsure whether their methods fit their theoretical stance. user: "My committee says my interpretivist framing doesn't match my survey-heavy methods. Can you help me redesign?" assistant: "I'll use the research-design agent to review the alignment between your theoretical stance, research question, and methods, then help you redesign for epistemic coherence." <commentary> The user has a method-stance misalignment that requires coordinated revision across question framing, methods, and plan. The research-design agent handles this holistic redesign. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: An early-career researcher is planning a new project and wants to think through the full design before writing proposals. user: "Help me plan my research — I'm interested in medical pluralism in rural Guatemala." assistant: "I'll use the research-design agent to help you develop your research question, select methods appropriate to your epistemic stance, and draft a research plan." <commentary> Proactive use: the phrase "help me plan my research" combined with a topic signals the need for full research design guidance. </commentary> </example>

Use this agent when a user needs help writing research articles, thesis chapters, dissertation chapters, or managing the peer review process for anthropological research. This agent orchestrates the research-writing and academic-review skills to provide comprehensive writing and review support. Covers article architecture, ethnographic craft, subfield conventions, peer review writing, and revision response management. <example> Context: A researcher has fieldwork data and needs to write their first journal article. user: "I've finished my fieldwork and I want to write an article for American Ethnologist. Where do I start?" assistant: "I'll use the writing-advisor agent to help you structure your article following American Ethnologist conventions, from outline through full draft." <commentary> First article writing requires end-to-end guidance: structure, voice, evidence integration, and journal-specific conventions. The writing-advisor handles the full arc. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: A researcher received an R&R decision and needs help with the revision and rebuttal. user: "I got an R&R from Cultural Anthropology with three reviewers. One loves it, one wants major theory changes, and one questions my methods. How do I handle the rebuttal?" assistant: "I'll use the writing-advisor agent to help you draft a point-by-point rebuttal letter and plan your revisions, including strategies for handling contradictory reviewer feedback." <commentary> R&R management requires both review interpretation skills (academic-review) and writing craft (research-writing) working together. </commentary> </example> <example> Context: A graduate student is writing their dissertation methods chapter. user: "I'm stuck on my methods chapter — I don't know how to write up participant observation as a method without it sounding vague." assistant: "I'll use the writing-advisor agent to help you write a methods chapter that presents participant observation with the specificity and credibility that dissertation committees expect." <commentary> Methods writing for dissertations is a common pain point that requires discipline-specific craft knowledge. </commentary> </example>

Use this skill whenever a user needs help writing, evaluating, or responding to peer reviews for anthropological research. Triggers include: any mention of "peer review," "review a manuscript," "write a review," "reviewer comments," "respond to reviewers," "rebuttal letter," "revision plan," "manuscript evaluation," "assess this paper," "reviewing for [journal name]," "R&R response," "how to review," "reviewer feedback," "revise and resubmit." Covers writing constructive peer reviews for anthropology journals, evaluating manuscripts from the reviewer's perspective, and responding to reviewer feedback (rebuttal letters, revision plans). Review types: invited review, desk review, blind review, open review. Do NOT use for grant review panels (use grant-proposal skill) or student work feedback (use teaching-materials skill). This skill handles peer review as a professional scholarly practice and revision as a strategic engagement with reviewer critique.

Use this skill whenever a user needs help writing professional philosophy statements for academic career advancement. Triggers include: any mention of "research statement," "teaching statement," "teaching philosophy," "diversity statement," "DEI statement," "tenure narrative," "promotion statement," "research vision," "future research plans," "statement of purpose," "personal statement for academic job," "how to write a research statement," "how to write a teaching statement," or "tenure portfolio." Covers research statements, teaching statements/philosophies, diversity statements, and tenure/promotion narratives for anthropologists at all career stages. Do NOT use for CVs, cover letters, or job talks (use job-materials skill), course syllabi or assignments (use teaching-materials skill), or grant proposals (use grant-proposal skill).

Use this skill whenever a user needs help preparing materials for an anthropology conference presentation. Triggers include: any mention of "conference abstract," "AAA abstract," "organized session," "roundtable proposal," "poster session," "workshop proposal," "slide deck," "conference presentation," "conference talk," "academic poster," "speaker notes," "20-minute talk," "15-minute talk," "CASCA abstract," "AES presentation," "SfAA abstract," "help with my AAA panel," "poster design," or "oral delivery." Covers abstract writing for individual papers, organized sessions, roundtables, poster sessions, and workshop proposals; slide deck design for 15-20 minute conference talks; academic poster design including content structure and visual hierarchy; and speaker notes with oral delivery preparation. Do NOT use for job talks (use job-materials skill), public talks for non-academic audiences (use public-engagement skill), or full paper writing (use academic-paper skill when available).

Use this skill whenever a user needs help writing, drafting, revising, or structuring a dissertation prospectus, dissertation proposal, qualifying exam proposal, upgrade document, transfer document, or fieldwork clearance proposal for anthropological research. Triggers include: any mention of "prospectus," "dissertation proposal," "qualifying exam," "QE," "upgrade proposal," "transfer of status," "confirmation of status," "fieldwork proposal," or "fieldwork clearance" in the context of anthropology or ethnographic research; requests to structure, draft, or revise any section of a dissertation proposal (problem statement, research questions, theoretical positioning, literature review, methods, ethics, timeline, budget); questions about what a committee expects or how to prepare for a prospectus defense or upgrade viva. Also use when the user says "I need to write my prospectus," "I'm preparing for my qualifying exam," "how do I structure a dissertation proposal," or "what should my prospectus include." Covers US prospectuses (Berkeley, Harvard, and other programs), UK upgrade/transfer/fieldwork proposals (LSE, Cambridge, Oxford), and dual-purpose prospectuses that also serve as grant applications. Do NOT use for standalone grant proposals without a committee audience (use grant-proposal skill), general academic paper writing (use academic-paper skill), or research question development without a prospectus context (use research-question skill).

Use this skill whenever a user needs help designing fieldwork data collection instruments or protocols for qualitative or anthropological research. Triggers include: "interview guide," "interview protocol," "focus group guide," "observation protocol," "field notes," "field note template," "fieldwork protocol," "data collection instruments," "sampling strategy," "purposive sampling," "snowball sampling," "data management plan," "DMP," "transcription protocol," "researcher training," "pilot testing," "semi-structured interview," "life history interview," "key informant interview," or "participant observation protocol." Covers interview guides, focus group guides, observation protocols, field note systems, sampling and recruitment, training, pilot testing, and data management. Do NOT use for IRB protocol narratives (use irb-protocol skill), consent documents (use informed-consent skill), or methodology selection (use methodology-selection skill).

Use this skill whenever a user needs help writing, drafting, revising, or structuring a grant proposal, funding application, or dissertation prospectus for anthropological research. Triggers include: any mention of NSF, Wenner-Gren, Fulbright, ERC, SSHRC, Wellcome, or other research funders in the context of anthropology or ethnographic research; requests to write a Project Description, research narrative, budget justification, broader impacts statement, or specific aims page; requests to draft or revise a dissertation prospectus or fieldwork grant; questions about how to frame ethnographic methods for a grant committee; requests to translate a research plan into a funder-specific format. Also use when the user mentions "grant writing," "proposal writing," "funding application," or "fellowship application" in the context of anthropology, sociology, STS, or other social science fieldwork research. Do NOT use for general academic writing (use academic-paper skill), research plan writing without a specific funder (use research-plan skill), or IRB/ethics protocols (use ethics-consent skill).

Use this skill whenever a user needs help designing informed consent processes or documents for qualitative or anthropological research. Triggers include: any mention of "informed consent," "consent form," "consent process," "information sheet," "study information sheet," "participant consent," "verbal consent," "oral consent," "community consent," "consent for recording," "consent for photos," "consent for video," "media consent," "ongoing consent," "process consent," "iterative consent," "re-consent," "consent waiver," "waiver of documentation," "consent template," "consent language," "consent for minors," "assent form," "guardian consent," "culturally appropriate consent," "consent in low-literacy settings," "consent for longitudinal research," "consent for multi-site research," or "consent checklist." Covers designing consent processes (written, verbal, community-based, tiered), writing consent forms and information sheets, cultural adaptation, media and recording consent, and consent for special populations and contexts. Do NOT use for full IRB protocol narratives (use irb-protocol skill), methodology selection (use methodology-selection skill), or data management plans (use irb-protocol skill for DMP guidance within a protocol context).

Use this skill whenever a user needs help writing, revising, or evaluating an IRB or ethics protocol for qualitative or anthropological research. Triggers include: any mention of "IRB," "ethics protocol," "IRB application," "ethics review," "human subjects," "Common Rule," "informed consent form," "consent process," "how to write an IRB protocol," "ethics board," "IRB submission," "protocol narrative," "exempt vs expedited vs full board," "consent waiver," "verbal consent," "data security plan," "confidentiality," "de-identification," "deductive disclosure," "vulnerable populations," "fieldwork ethics," or "recruitment script." Also trigger when users ask about writing consent forms, recruitment materials, data management plans for IRB, risk assessment for qualitative research, digital ethnography ethics, or oral history IRB issues. Covers all qualitative and ethnographic methods. Do NOT use for upstream method selection (use methodology-selection skill), full research plan writing (use research-plan skill), or grant proposals (use grant-proposal skill). This skill handles writing IRB-ready protocol narratives and associated documents.

Use this skill whenever a user needs help preparing academic job application materials for anthropology positions. Triggers include: any mention of "academic CV," "curriculum vitae," "cover letter," "job application," "job talk," "academic job market," "tenure-track application," "postdoc application," "VAP application," "lecturer position," "how to write a cover letter," "CV formatting," "job talk preparation," "campus visit," "search committee," "application package," "tailoring applications," or "academic hiring." Covers academic CV design and formatting, cover letters tailored by position type, job talk design and delivery, and application strategy. Do NOT use for research/teaching/diversity statements (use career-statements skill), conference presentations (use conference-materials skill), or grant proposals (use grant-proposal skill).

Use this skill whenever a user needs help selecting, justifying, or evaluating research methods for anthropological or qualitative research. Triggers include: any mention of "methods," "methodology," "method selection," "which methods should I use," "how to choose methods," "how do I justify my methods," "method-stance alignment," "my reviewer says my methods don't match my theory," "multi-method design," "mixed methods in anthropology," or "what methods fit an interpretivist / critical / STS / feminist / phenomenological / applied / cognitive / linguistic / computational project." Also trigger when users ask about epistemic coherence between theory and methods, evidence types needed for a research question, how to compose a multi-method system, how to write a methods justification narrative, or how to handle data governance as a design decision. Covers all anthropological subfields and qualitative social science approaches. Do NOT use for writing a full research plan (use research-plan skill), grant proposals targeting a specific funder (use grant-proposal skill), or designing specific instruments like interview guides or surveys (use fieldwork-instruments skill when available). This skill handles the upstream design decision of which methods and why.

Use this skill whenever a user needs help writing for non-academic audiences or communicating research to the public. Triggers include: any mention of "op-ed," "blog post," "public writing," "writing for the public," "Sapiens," "The Conversation," "public anthropology," "popular writing," "community report," "return of results," "podcast preparation," "media interview," "talking points," "press release," "public scholarship," "engaged anthropology," "translating research," "accessible writing," "plain language," "policy brief," "community summary," or "media training." Covers public-facing writing (blog posts, op-eds, popular press), podcast and media preparation, community summaries and return-of-results documents, and register translation from academic to accessible language. Do NOT use for academic conference presentations (use conference-materials skill), peer-reviewed article writing, or grant proposals (use grant-proposal skill).

Use this skill whenever a user needs help writing, drafting, revising, or structuring a standalone research plan for anthropological or qualitative research. Triggers include: any mention of "research plan," "research design," "study design," "fieldwork plan," "methods plan," or "how to structure my research" when not tied to a specific funder or committee milestone; requests to draft or revise sections of a research plan (problem statement, research questions, methods, analysis plan, ethics, feasibility, timeline); questions like "what should my research plan include," "how do I plan my fieldwork," "help me think through my methods," or "I need to write up my research design." Also trigger when a user has a project idea and needs to develop it into a structured, evaluable plan. Covers all anthropological subfields and qualitative social science approaches. Do NOT use for grant proposals targeting a specific funder (use grant-proposal skill), dissertation prospectuses for a committee defense (use dissertation-prospectus skill), or research question development without a full plan context (use research-question skill).

Develop, refine, and stress-test anthropological research questions. Use this skill whenever a user mentions research questions, RQs, dissertation questions, proposal questions, or asks for help formulating what they want to study. Also trigger when users say things like "I want to study X," "how do I narrow my topic," "is this question too broad," "help me write my research question," "I'm writing a proposal and need questions," or "what should I be asking." Covers sociocultural, linguistic, archaeological, biological, medical, applied, and design anthropology as well as cognate qualitative social sciences. Works across genres: journal articles, dissertation proposals, grant applications (NSF, Wenner-Gren, Fulbright), and applied/consulting projects. If someone is working on any pre-fieldwork intellectual framing task, this skill applies.

Use this skill whenever a user needs help writing a research article, thesis chapter, or dissertation chapter for anthropology. Triggers include: any mention of "write my article," "research article," "journal article," "ethnographic writing," "how to write an introduction," "methods section," "findings section," "discussion section," "conclusion," "literature review for my paper," "theoretical framework," "thick description," "abstract for my article," "ethnographic vignette," "thesis chapter," "dissertation chapter," "writing for American Anthropologist," "writing for American Ethnologist," "writing for Cultural Anthropology," "article draft," "manuscript draft," "journal submission," "article structure," "how to structure my paper," "writing ethnography," "fieldnote writing," "using quotes in my paper," "participant voice," or "anthropological writing." Covers writing full research articles and their component sections (abstract, introduction, literature/theory, methods, findings, discussion, conclusion), thesis and dissertation chapters, and section-level drafting and revision across all anthropology subfields. Do NOT use for peer review or responding to reviewer feedback (use academic-review skill), conference abstracts or presentations (use conference-materials skill), grant proposals (use grant-proposal skill), or public-facing writing (use public-engagement skill).

Use this skill whenever a user needs help designing courses or creating teaching materials for anthropology. Triggers include: any mention of "syllabus," "course design," "lesson plan," "assignment prompt," "rubric," "discussion guide," "teaching anthropology," "intro to anthropology course," "ethnographic methods course," "seminar design," "learning objectives," "Bloom's taxonomy," "active learning," "case study for class," "in-class activity," "grading rubric," "reading list," "course schedule," "flipped classroom," "inclusive pedagogy," or "teaching portfolio materials." Covers syllabus and course design, lesson plans and discussion guides, assignment prompts, rubrics, case studies, and in-class activities across anthropology subfields and course levels. Do NOT use for teaching statements or philosophy documents (use career-statements skill), conference presentations (use conference-materials skill), or curriculum-level program design.