POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH SCIENTIST

The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is a premier research-to-policy institution, generating evidence, strengthening research and related capacity in the African research and development ecosystem, and engaging policy to inform action on health and development. The Center is Africa-based and African-led, with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and a West Africa Regional Office (WARO), in Dakar, Senegal. APHRC seeks to drive change by developing strong African research leadership and promoting evidence informed decision-making (EIDM) across sub-Saharan Africa.

APHRC is seeking highly motivated, organized, collaborative, and curious applicants with excellent written and oral communication skills for a Post-doctoral Research Scientist position for its West Africa Regional Office (WARO) based in Dakar, Senegal. Successful applicants will join the interdisciplinary team within the Environment Climate and Health (ECH) Unit and will have the opportunity to interact with external partners working within research, practice, and policy.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Post-doctoral Research Scientist will participate fully in the ECH Unit research projects, mentoring, and other activities. Other specific responsibilities include:

• Supporting the development of ethics applications and administrative agreements;
• Developing and leading trainings for the field/research team and partners, supporting with implementation of community advisory board meetings;
• Coordinating field work and planning for and overseeing/implementing recruitment, data collection, and analysis procedures, and regular communication/interaction with field teams and project partners and be responsible for data quality;
• Mobilizing and informing the community about the research project
• Preparing regular field and project-related reports;
• Leading and collaborating with the institutional partners to ensure quality deliverables;
• Contributing to the development of scientific manuscripts and supporting with manuscripts led by the other research teams;
• Presenting at scientific conferences;
• Supporting with the development of grant applications to strengthen scientific knowledge in environment, climate and health research work or related fields;
• Assisting in the translation of project documents from French to English and vice versa
• Supporting with knowledge translation activities (e.g. policy briefs and fact sheets development from projects findings and participating in dissemination of research findings and policy dialogue with relevant audiences);
• Perform other duties as required assigned by the supervisor.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

PhD degree in a relevant field, including but not limited to: Public health, Geography, Sociology, Environmental Health, or equivalent;

• At least 2 years of professional experience following completion of the PhD degree, preferably in a research setting;
• An excellent academic record with strong verbal and written communications skills;
• Extensive demonstrated experience in conducting field research/surveys for qualitative study and in managing research projects and teams , experience with quantitative research methods is considered an asset.
• Specific experience and training in methods for participatory research, and/or community-based system dynamics, implementation science, impact evaluation or other applied systems approaches will be considered an asset;
• Proficiency in oral and written communication in French and English;
• Ability to work independently, set prioritize, balance multiple tasks and meet tight deadlines;
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills and ability to work with people from diverse cultures;
• Knowledge of qualitative software packages such as NVivo, and others. Knowledge on statistical such as STATA, R will be an added advantage;
• Experience in engaging policy makers with research evidence.

Interested candidates are invited to submit their application in English by December, 31 2024 by following this link and include:

• A letter of application ; A statement of research interests and goals (1-2 pages); and a CV with contact details of three referees

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.  Shortlisted candidates will be required to have a Police Clearance Certificate.

APHRC is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to the protection of vulnerable persons