Reporting to the Director and Principal Investigator, the Research Scientist will oversee aspects of program implementation, research design, data management, data analysis related to the aims of the RPCA research portfolio focused on longitudinal and spillover research as well as implementation science. The Research Scientist will implement quality checks to maintain the integrity of intervention delivery and data collection and lead publications and analyses related to the findings of the RPCA research. The Research Scientist will cultivate and support important in-country relationships and support the dissemination of research findings by working with the Program Management teams to plan dissemination activities and share research findings through the facilitation of presentations and events at the local, national and international level. The Research Scientist’s scope of work is dependent on grant-funding. The Research Scientist should be able to commit to 2-5 weeks of travel (international) per year.
Essential Functions
Data Management and Data Analysis
- Engages in and oversees all data analysis to support program implementation, research design and research findings
- Design, develop and execute implementation-science-informed statistical analysis leveraging research study databases in conjunction with study staff and other statisticians
- Produce tables and figures depicting results of analyses, along with written interpretation
- Apply statistical analysis using multilevel modeling, coding, multiple imputation to address missing data, and sound data management, while overseeing technology-based data collection and data monitoring.
- Utilize mixed methodologies to triangulate, analyze and interpret qualitative and quantitative data
- Provide implementation science expertise to program implementation team and local teams with strong understanding of hybrid design, cluster randomized control trials, and quality improvement approaches to fidelity and supervision.
Research Development and Dissemination
- Oversees study design, implementation, data collection, and data management across the RPCA studies.
- Provides expertise on implementation science to participate in project initiation activities, including the development of proposals and responses to research funding opportunities
- Engage in high-level research and analysis, drafting reports to sponsors and government stakeholders, and publishing on projects regarding ongoing work related to RPCA research.
- Contribute to and/or serving as lead author on manuscripts related to RPCA research studies
Government and Stakeholder Relations
- Assume a supportive role to community leaders ensuring vital implementation science indicators are captured and fed back to government parties.
- Create an in-country Implementation Science Consortium of NGOs, policymakers, and academics from local universities to leverage in-country expertise around implementation science
Research Program Support
- Oversee research assistants to ensure all aspects of data acquisition and cleaning are of high quality
- Provide implementation science research expertise to Program Managers and staff based abroad
Qualifications:
- A Doctoral degree in Public Health, Implementation Science, Social Work, Developmental Psychology, Mental Health, Epidemiology, or another related field
- Minimum 3 years of postdoctoral experience in Global Public Health research or related field is expected.
- Expert knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies including mixed-methods required.
- Expert knowledge of global child development research required
- Proficiency in utilizing computer applications including Microsoft Office, STATA, RedCap, MAXQDA, and other quantitative and qualitative data analysis platforms required.
- Experience conducting research in culturally diverse contexts, preferably in Low- and Middle-Income-Countries (LMICs).
- Strong record of peer-reviewed Implementation-Science focused publications beyond thesis papers is required.
- Strong written and oral communication skills
- Ability to motivate, develop, and inspire colleagues of all levels
- Demonstrate ability to work independently and proactively
Salary based on experience.
Reporting to RPCA’s Associate Director of Research, the Program Manager will support a 20-year long intergenerational/longitudinal study of war affected youth in Sierra Leone (ISWAY). This study is funded by the NIMH and will advance the understanding of potential biological embedding of stress responses intergenerationally. Building on four prior waves of data collection, biological measures of stress reactivity and self-regulation (autonomic nervous system reactivity, inflammation, telomere length) will be collected in a sample of parents exposed to significant trauma in childhood and extended also to intimate partners and offspring. The research is the first known effort in Sub-Saharan Africa to examine modifiable risk and protective biobehavioral mechanisms driving the intergenerational effects of war on the mental health of offspring aged 7-24. The Program Manager is based in Sierra Leone with 1 paid trip to the US per year.
Essential Functions
- Provide on-the-ground support in Sierra Leone and long-distance communication with the RPCA and in-country staff and partners to support local teams, field logistics, and day-to-day research team activities to fulfill the scientific aims of the program projects.
- Maintain strong partnerships with community organizations and members to harness an existing in-country advisory board to facilitate culturally-informed programs.
- Support the data collection process throughout the delivery of the intervention and work closely with postdoctoral fellows and research associates to report regularly on the progress of the project goals and contribute to capacity building at the local universities in Sierra Leone.
- Support the in-country field teams and ensure that ethical IRB protocols are being followed.
- Serve as a primary point of contact for the team: RPCA, Tulane University, Kenema General Hospital, NIHD, Caritas and University of Makeni.
- Synthesize lessons learned from the advisory board, local NGOs, and study data to create and disseminate findings.
- Maintain appropriate and ethical research protocols related to the collection of stress biomarker data in children and families
Qualifications:
- Masters in Social Work, Early Childhood Development, Psychology, Public Health, or related field required
- Three to five years of related experience preferred
- Supervisory experience and prior international work in a low resource or field setting particularly in sub-Saharan Africa are required.
- Must be able to commit to living in Sierra Leone and engage in fieldwork.
- Demonstrate flexibility, adaptability and the ability to perform and collaborate under challenging low resource living conditions.
- Strong planning, community mobilization, and inter-cultural communication skills required
- Knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies including mixedmethods preferred.
- Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
- Authorization to work in the USA (i.e. US citizen or green card holder)
Salary Range (Based on Experience): $63,880 - $79,850
Reporting to the Associate Director of Grant Administration at the Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) at the Boston College School of Social Work (BCSSW), the Fiscal & Grant Administrator is responsible for assisting in the overseeing the fiscal and procedural requirements of RPCA grants, including the development of appropriate financial controls and procedures, related procurement needs, working with pre- and post-award sponsored administration, budgeting, and financial reporting and forecasting. To this end, s/he will also work with the Principal Investigator, Associate Director of Research, Administrative Manager, and Program Managers to provide high level strategic guidance and forecasting on finance and research-related matters for RPCA.
The Fiscal & Grant Administrator will assist in managing multiple sources of funding: including federal restricted funds, grants, gifts and contracts. S/he performs complex analyses and audit function to assure accuracy and compliance with internal and external regulations and monitors appropriate budget spending in coordination with the Principle Investigator and program manager. S/he has the ability to work independently and uses a high degree of discretion in interpreting and implementing policies and procedures. S/he also works with program managers and PIs on a consistent basis providing them with briefings and analyses to help ensure successful implementation of research projects.
Essential functions include:
Program Operations
- Advise on long-term financial viability of RPCA given multiple grants and contracts from various sources with differing project end dates.
- Develop new budget proposals, forecast ongoing budgets and monitor the resulting awards received for academic and research projects and programs.
- Regulations, and in particular with NIH policies.
- Assist in developing and administering salary plans for RPCA staff.
- Assist in overseeing effort reporting for unit.
- Submit and monitor RPCA Staff Expense Reporting
Grant Proposal Preparation
- Assist Faculty Director, PIs, Program Manager and other staff to develop grant applications and ensure timely and successful submission.
- Manage pre award proposal development for NIH and other sponsored projects.
- Work with OSP to manages pre-award financial relationships with sponsors and sub-contractors.
Grant Administration
- Support Associate Director of Grants Administration in arranging and providing monitoring, support and capacity building to management of subcontracts with low- resource setting country partner organizations (i.e. non-governmental organizations based in sub-Saharan Africa, etc.)
- Interpret regulations and guidelines of multiple funding sources with complex and broad guidelines for spending.
- Post-award responsibilities include budget reconciliations and adjustments, financial reporting to OSP and sponsoring agencies,
- Serve as point person for processing of invoices and day to day monitoring of budgets.
- Assist with short- and long-term financial planning.
- Manage post award research administration for NIH and other sponsored projects.
- Serve as a point person for Office of Sponsored Programs in the development of subcontracts, monitoring and invoicing and providing monthly reconciliation.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Business, Administration or related fields required.
- Strong written and oral communication, analytical thinking, resourceful problem-solving skills required.
- Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
- Ability to handle complex and confidential information with discretion.
- Proficient knowledge of PeopleSoft, Excel and Word.
- Expertise in grant accounting, federal regulations (NIH in particular) and post award administration.
- Expert in pre-award grant management.
- Experience in developing budgets, forecasts and cost projections.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills.
- High level of organization skills with strong attention to detail.
- Must be able to multitask and prioritize frequently changing needs.
- 3+ years of progressive grant and contract experience.
- Knowledge of sponsored research regulations and experience with NIH grants, especially those in international settings and in low resource settings required.
- Experience with administering grants in Sub-Saharan Africa preferred but not required.
Salary Range [Commensurate with relevant experience] $62,640-$97,650
Reporting to the Program Manager of Sugira Muryango, The Program Coordinator will support all aspects of Sugira Muryango, a family intervention projects related to early childhood development (ECD) and violence prevention. The coordinator will be responsible for participant and interventionist enrollment, supporting training materials development and facilitation, data collection and management, providing support to field staff and will liaise regularly with partner organizations, local government, and RPCA headquarters in Boston. The Program Coordinator will be based in Rwanda and report to the Program Manager based in Rwanda.
Essential Functions In-Country Oversight (100%)
- Support the Program Manager to provide on-the-ground support in Rwanda and via long distance communication with RPCA, field logistics, and liaise regularly with partner organizations on the ground as well as local government officials to fulfill the scientific aims of the program projects.
- Collect data on the implementation of the model and the delivery of services
- Collaborate with postdoctoral fellows and research associates at Boston College and FXB Rwanda to ensure in-country data collection is fulfilling the scientific aims of the program
- Coordinate participant and interventionist enrollment and tracking
- Coordinate and support training materials development and facilitation for field staff
- Ensures accurate data entry and management in various systems, such as Excel, Google Docs, and RedCAP
- Leads the production of training videos including script and narrative development for a Digital Dashboard Data Collection tool in conjunction with the Government of Rwanda and government agencies including Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF) and National Child Development Agency (NCDA) and provides technical oversight throughout the entire production process
- Support the field staff in Risk of Harm and referral trainings, identification and tracking
- Leads conversations with funders and stakeholders on the development and implementation of Digital Tools for Data Collection [Digital Dashboard] as well as quality indicators
Qualifications:
- A minimum of two years of experience working with grassroots organization
- Prior international work in a low resource or field setting, particularly in Africa, is required.
- Must possess strong interpersonal skills and diplomacy to deal effectively with multiple constituencies and cultural diversity at all levels.
- Must be able to manage a local team with sensitivity, evaluate problems thoroughly, show resourcefulness in identifying solutions, and display sound judgment.
- Experience in digital mental health interventions and UI/UX development of an application for widespread data collection use
- Ability to support development of relationships between Government [National and Local] and miniseries of health stakeholders
- Able to motivate, develop, and inspire colleagues and employees at all levels.
- Demonstrated maturity and capacity to navigate a complex environment and respond to shifting and fluid priorities.
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and proactively.
Based in Kigali, Rwanda. Must be able to travel internationally and commit to significant time engaged in field work.
Allotted a relocation stipend and a paid round trip to the US 1x per year of employment.
Salary based on relavant experience with a hiring range of $40,000-49,000
Thank you for your interest in supporting our research!
We have several opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to gain experience in program coordination, research, and outreach.
If interested, send your resume, cover letter, and any additonal information here:
The RPCA accepts RAs on a rolling basis. Preferred students will be enrolled in a Graduate Masters program in Public Health, Social Work, Psychology, Mental Health, Global Mental Health, etc.
Undergraduates applying must be in their Junior and Senior year and enrolled in an relative field.
Responsibilities May Include:
- Support data collection, analysis, cleaning, and monitoring.
- Engage in program coordination and management
- Support dissemination of research findings by providing technical support to power point presentations and other systems
- Engage and lead literature reviews related to cognitive development, intimate partner violence, and ECD.
- Develop systems to improve data collection and cleaning
Qualifications include:
- Must have 1-2 years of research experience
- Must have a background in qualitative and quantitative course work
- Ability to join the team for more than 6 months is preferred
- Strong interpersonal skills
- High level of written and oral communication
- Self Starter who takes initiative
- Culturally humble
Students with a practicum or field placement are encouraged. The RPCA has a very limited number of paid RA positions.
Hours per week: NO less than 6.
The RPCA is seeking a motivated student to join our team and support the disseminiation of research findings at the RPCA. The Data Assistant will report to the Data Analysis Manager at RPCA.
Responsibilities:
- Communicate with RPCA members regarding data-related matters and requests.
- Provide cross-team support regarding organization and maintenance of research related documentation and files (IRB, research protocols, data bases, codebooks).
- Conduct literature reviews on the research methods and measurement instruments to support cross-cultural adaptation of measures.
- Support basic quantitative data analysis and measurement using STATA (recoding and renaming variables, missing data descriptions, merging data etc.)
- Support the development of quantitative and qualitative assessment instruments.
- Run basic statistical analysis in STATA (sample descriptive statistics, correlations, means comparisons)
Qualifications include:
- Must have 2 years of research experience
- Must have proficiency in STATA
- Ability to analyze, interpret, and summarize complex information
- Basic understanding of applied social/health sciences research processes
- Intermediate knowledge of applied statisics and psychometrics (distributions, measures of central tendency, levels of measurement, correlations, means comparisons)
- Ability to join the team for more than 6 months is preferred
- Strong interpersonal skills
- High level of written and oral communication
- Self Starter who takes initiative
- Culturally humble
Students with in-person ability will be preferred.
Hours per week: 10-20