Research Assistant / Research Associate – Research for Health Systems Strengthening in Syria (R4HSSS)

Job ID: 021604

Salary: £32,676 - £45,026 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance 

Posted: 27-Apr-2021

Closing date: 10-May-2021

Business unit: Social Science & Public Policy

Department: Department of War Studies

Contact details: Professor Preeti Patel , preeti.patel@kcl.ac.uk

Strand Campus   Research    

Job description 
The Department of War Studies is seeking applications from suitably qualified candidates for the post of Research Assistant / Research Associate (RA) to work as part of a team on a major new 4 year / £4m NIHR funded project ‘Research for Health Systems Strengthening in Syria (R4HSSS)’.

The main objective of this new project is to produce a model on health system strengthening in conflict settings which could be applied in other contexts affected by protracted and complex conflicts.    

The postholder will work primarily for the project co-investigator Professor Preeti Patel, will be part of King’s research team working on the project and will sit on the project’s Executive Board alongside the project’s investigators and senior staff from the international delivery partner, UOSSM. The postholder will support the delivery plan of the four workstreams of the project:

Workstream 1 ‘Provision of health services’ including the sub-thematic areas of mobile health clinics, fixed health facilities, access to health care and quality of healthcare services

Workstream 2 “Health education and medical training” including local strategies for health education and the integration of humanitarian health workforce into the post conflict health system.

Workstream 3: “Health information” including the assessment of the current practices of collecting health data and the development of Electronic Medical Records system (EMR) in northern Syria.

Workstream 4: ‘Health governance and financing’ including the sub-thematic areas of health governance, resources of health financing, resource allocation and purchasing strategies.

The overall purpose of the job is (1) to contribute to the overall design and management of the project, including responsibility for delivering project outputs within budget (2) contribute to the design and the implementation of the various qualitative and quantitative research tools and activities; (3) work with the other researchers and investigators from King’s, UOSSM and the other partners to analyse data to produce high quality academic and policy publications; (4) run collaborative conferences and workshops with diverse project partners; and (5) lead the communication effectively with the main project partner (UOSSM) providing them with the required support and aiming at building a sustainable partnership that goes beyond the R4HSSS project.

The post is full-time, and funding is currently available for 34.5 Months. The job will be based in the Department of the War Studies located at the Strand’s Campus in central London and will require regular travel (Covid-19 regulations permitting) to conduct research and training in Turkey and/or Erbil and international travel for workshops and conferences. 
 
The successful candidate will have a PhD (Grade 6 Research Associate level) or master’s degree (Grade 5 Research Assistant level) in the fields of Public Health, Epidemiology or related fields. 
 
This post will be offered on a fixed-term contract for 34.5 months
This is a full-time post.

Key responsibilities 

• Support the overall design, implementation, communication and dissemination of the project activities and outputs.
• Liaise with the project team members, contractors, consultants and technical partners on the day to day activities.
• Lead the communication with the project main partner “UOSSM” providing them with the required support on regular basis.
• Contributing to overall direction of the project and its outputs as a member of the project’s Executive Board.
• Contribute to the design and the conduct of qualitative and quantitative research alongside the other researchers and investigators.  
• Conduct data analysis and participate in data validation workshops as appropriate 
• Leverage existing networks to maximise the uptake, application and generalisability of the research findings and tools to translate research into practice

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge and experience 

Essential criteria

1. Master’s degree in Public Health, Epidemiology or related field.
2. Knowledge about Health Systems, Health Education and Health Services in conflict settings
3. Knowledge about the Syrian conflict
4. Experience of strengthening research capacity in conflict settings
5. Experience of writing and delivering workshops, seminars and lectures on health systems, health education and/or health services in conflict settings.
6. Proven experience in conducting high-impact research
7. Emerging record of publications in peer reviewed social science and/or global health/ medical journals
8. Fluency in Arabic (spoken/written)

Grade 6 Research Associate role, criteria as above – plus:

• PhD in Public Health, Epidemiology or related field 
• Knowledge about and experience of designing research projects and writing grant funding proposals. 

Desirable criteria 

1. MD
2. Experience of working with Syrian diaspora groups in the UK and internationally