Research Advisor, PMI VectorLink

Location: Flexible across countries within which PSI operates

Department: Malaria

Reports to: VectorLink Research Manager

Up to 30% international travel

*Must be authorized to work in country of hire.

Post is contingent on funding

Who we are

Population Services International (PSI) is the world’s leading non-profit social marketing organization. With our 50 years of insight, PSI reimagines how to bring quality healthcare closer to those who need it most. We are working to fix market failures, shape future health markets and shift policy and funding to better support consumer powered healthcare.

There are over 5,000 PSI employees around the world, who make up a diverse group of entrepreneurs and professionals with a range of backgrounds –from the medical industry to the music business, all with unique skills that contribute to the organization’s dynamism. Across the world, in collaboration with various partners and stakeholders we contribute to efforts to achieve Universal Health Coverage through supporting and implementation of multiple health area programs. For more information, please visit www.psi.org.

Join us!

PMI VectorLink Program

Working across 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa as well as Cambodia, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative’s (PMI) VectorLink (VL) Project is equipping countries to plan and implement safe, cost-effective and sustainable life-saving malaria vector control interventions with the overall goal of reducing the burden of malaria. Proven to reduce malaria illness, severe disease, and death due to malaria in endemic areas, insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) protect people while they are sleeping from the bite of mosquitoes. ITNs maintain effective levels of insecticide to repel mosquitoes for approximately three years, even after repeated washing. PMI VectorLink supports ministries of health to achieve and maintain universal coverage of ITNs, delivered through all available channels. PMI VectorLink is building capacity for evidence-based policy and decision-making, social and behavior change communication (SBCC), and monitoring and evaluation to increase ITN access and ensure ITN use.

PMI VectorLink manages a portfolio of ITN research, including ITN durability monitoring studies in approximately 10 English- and French-speaking countries in Africa. We are looking for a Research Advisor to join the team and support the durability monitoring portfolio across the research cycle, from IRB submissions to training, quality control to analysis and reporting. The Research Advisor will be study focal point for a subset of countries and contribute broadly to technical elements of ITN research. The role will provide technical assistance remotely and in-country, in accordance with Covid-19 adaptations. There will be opportunity to lead and contribute to peer-previewed publications.

PSI is seeking a skilled, detail-oriented, and dynamic malaria research candidate with proven success in leading high-quality research activities across the research cycle on a multi-country project. Candidates will be equally at home leading fieldworker training and rigorously analyzing quantitative research data in Stata. A key to success for this position will be strong communication skills and experience working effectively as part of a distributed team.

The location for this full-time position is flexible among countries in which PSI operates, with a preference for locations on an African time-zone. The position is contingent on funding.

Sound like you? Read on.**

Your contribution

The Research Advisor will be expected to:

· Lead study planning for a subset of target countries by:

o Developing study designs, study tools, fieldwork materials, training slides and other training materials with support from VL staff country partners as required.

o Supporting the review of agency proposals and budgets as required.

o Maintaining country progress to agreed timelines and proactively troubleshooting to avoid or advance through delays.

o Ensuring appropriate IRB approvals have been received and are documented for all study rounds.

o Ensuring study activities comply and remain compliant to required PMI, PSI and country COVID-19 adaptions.

· Lead and support training and fieldwork implementation in a subset of target countries by:

o Programming and/or updating electronic data collection tools in ODK for implementation using SurveyCTO.

o Facilitating and/or co-facilitating remote training-of-trainers (a COVID-19 adaptation) and in-person fieldwork training (when feasible).

o Performing remote and in-person (when feasible) fieldwork supervision and quality assurance, including remote review of data collection and trouble-shooting while field work is ongoing.

· Lead and support analysis and reporting in a subset of target countries by:

o Conducting data cleaning and analysis in Stata according to standard project syntax.

o Ensuring quality and timely production of study reports in English.

o Participating in country analysis workshops and/or dissemination events as requested by partners.

o Contributing to peer-reviewed publications and novel secondary analysis.

What are we looking for?

· Master’s degree in public health, epidemiology, population studies, behavioral sciences, or a related field.

· At least five years of professional experience (academic and professional experience considered together) in applied quantitative research pertaining to malaria, including fieldworker training and quality assurance experience in sub-Saharan Africa.

· Fluent in the use of ODK for questionnaire programming; familiarity with SurveyCTO or similar platform(s) is highly desirable (proficiency in ODK will be tested).

· Fluent in the use of Stata for data management and analysis (proficiency will be tested).

· Highly organized, with the ability to multi-task, meet tight deadlines and provide remote oversight and quality control to keep partners on track.

· Demonstrated ability to work independently on multiple simultaneous studies.

· Professional experience research ethics procedures and submission of studies to national and institutional IRBs.

· Ability to interpret and translate research information into technically accurate and understandable syntheses appropriate for a variety of stakeholders.

· Strong technical communication skills in English, both written and oral.

· Proficiency in French is desirable.

What gets us excited?

· Experience implementing durability monitoring research.

· Familiarity with PMI.

· French language skills.