PhD Position - Cervical Cancer Management in Kenya KAVI - ICR at University of Nairobi

Advert Ref: (AD/1/14 /25) - (1 post)

The Position

KAVI-ICR, University of Nairobi is recruiting One (1) Candidate for a PhD position with a focus on investigating the care seeking experiences of women with cervical cancer. The successful candidate will receive a reasonable subsistence allowance while all research related expenses will be covered. Owing to the sensitivity of the research topic, only female candidates will be considered. This role is full-time for 2 years.

The Project In Kenya, cervical cancer (CC) is the leading cause of cancer related deaths in women and is estimated to have been responsible for 3,210 deaths in 2020. Most of these women are diagnosed with locally advanced CC disease (Stage IIB to IVA) where radiotherapy is the main-stay treatment. Due to the poor patient outcomes currently associated with radiotherapy treatment, a clinical audit and analysis of radiotherapy treatment processes is proposed to gain a better understanding of the processes of service delivery and how this impacts Cervical Cancer patient outcomes.

It is against this backdrop that the University of Nairobi, National Cancer Control Program, Hasselt University, University of Antwerp, Ghent University and University Hospital Leuven have set up a VLIR-UOS funded study whose purpose is to generate evidence on potential systemic weaknesses in radiotherapy service delivery and provide recommendations that will inform strategies for improving quality of care, patient outcomes and quality of life for those suffering from this form of cancer. The project which incorporates both quantitative and qualitative components will be implemented in close collaboration with the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP), Ministry of Health

The project seeks to bring on board a PhD student who will specifically support the qualitative components of the project under the supervision of the project’s social science thematic lead. The PhD student will conduct fieldwork in Kenya (Nairobi, Nakuru and Eldoret) and work closely with all the project partners.

Desirable Attributes

• Female PhD student in anthropology, sociology or gender studies that has completed coursework and is ready for a research project.

Duties and Responsibilities

The key tasks for the PhD student include:

• Conducting literature review.
• Designing and conducting a qualitative study on treatment experiences of cervical cancer patients in Kenya.
• Data collection utilizing ethnographic approaches, including interviews, focus group discussions and non-participant observations.
• Qualitative data management and analysis.
• Timely completion of the PhD thesis.
• Publishing at least 2 peer reviewed articles from this work.
• Participating in project activities as required.