Research Officer

Requisition ID:  565

Department:  Faculty of Health Sciences

City:  Cape Town

RESEARCH OFFICER (EIDM Specialist)

(2½ year contract)

School of Public Health

FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES

The School of Public Health, in the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT provides a range of under- and postgraduate teaching in population-based public health sciences to students training to be health professionals. The school is looking for a specialist on a full-time basis to provide Evidence-Informed Decision-Making (EIDM) services to an exciting Regional Scientific Hub (RSH) project. The project will be providing EIDM support on vaccines and immunization in the WHO Africa Region.

Requirements:

• PhD in Public Health or a related field
• At least 3 publications in peer-reviewed journal in public health
• Experience in training
• Experience in conducting research in EIDM.
• Statistical skills applicable to EIDM
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills (includes grant and report writing experience), and presentation skills.

The following would be advantageous:

• Experience in vaccinology and in clinical trials will be advantageous.
• Experience in conducting implementation science projects such as vaccine confidence/hesitancy.
• Experience in supervising or co-supervising of postgraduate students in vaccines or immunization     related topic
• Adaptable, willingness to learn and apply new skills in EIDM.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills to interact with a diverse range of people
• Training in the evidence to recommendation (EtR) process

Responsibilities include:

• Developing EIDM resources for use by members of National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs)
• Organizing Vaccinology and EIDM courses/workshops
• Facilitation of Vaccinology and EIDM courses/workshops
• Conducting diverse types of EIDM studies such as systematic reviews on EIDM in vaccines and immunization practices. You will be required to develop, design, and write up reviews (protocols and full reviews).
• Providing EIDM training (both remote and face-to-face) and support to members of NITAGs to use EIDM resources.
• Contribute to the development and using tools to conduct MLE related to the EIDM projects.
• Contributes to website contents: VACFA’s website is a critical tool for information dissemination and training of African vaccinologists. You will be involved in researching for information that can be put on the website, responding to queries from the website visitors and any other administrative duties regarding the optimal running of the website.
• Co-supervision of interns and postgraduate students. You will not be directing their research; however, you would be involved in the daily supervision of conducting different types of reviews.
• Grant writing and funding applications
• Performing administrative duties that may be deemed necessary by the project leader.

The annual remuneration package (for 2023), including benefits is between R638 044 and R853 709.

Enquiries about this post should be directed to Dr Benjamin Kagina at: benjamin.kagina@uct.ac.za

Tel: +27 21 406 6692.

To apply, please visit the UCT Internal Jobs Site (For Internal Applicants) and UCT Jobs Site (For external Applicants) to create a candidate profile and to submit your application.

Please complete/attach the following to your profile before submitting your application:

• Curriculum Vitae (CV).
• Motivation/Cover letter that speaks to the specific requirements of the position.
• Three referee names which must include their title and name, position details, relationship to you, their e-mail address and telephone number.

Shortlisted candidates may be required to undergo an assessment and references may be requested by UCT at any stage of the selection process.

Any enquiries around the application process to be addressed to Ms Tracy Moore at recruitment05@uct.ac.za or 021 650 5405.

Closing date:              13 February 2024 

Website:https://health.uct.ac.za

UCT is a designated employer and is committed to the pursuit of excellence, diversity and redress in achieving its equity targets in accordance with the Employment Equity Plan of the University and its Employment Equity goals and targets. Preference will be given to candidates from the under-represented designated groups. Our Employment Equity Policy is available at https://uct.ac.za/media/9482.

UCT reserves the right not to appoint.

All the best with your applications.