Research Fellow (RF) - Agriculture Food and Nutrition Security (AFNS) Program at African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS)

Core responsibilities of the Research Fellow

The RF core tasks include the following:

• Implementing on-going AFNS research projects and lead in acquisition of new projects.
• Contribute to conceptualizing research and policy issues for resource mobilization through grant proposals in line with AFNS strategic plan, and in collaboration with other programs within ACTS where it is strategic.
• Design and deliver various capacity building activities that are part of the AFNS program.
• Responsible for production of high-quality research and policy outputs (including but not limited to peer reviewed journal publications, policy briefs, technical working reports, non-scientific outputs) and other innovative forms of knowledge translation and dissemination.
• Identifying opportunities for expanding AFNS project portfolio including through mobilizing necessary national and international partnerships.
• Supporting stakeholder engagement processes through organizing workshops, roundtable meetings, policy outreach events among others and dissemination of research findings to policy makers, researchers and/or the public.
• Engage with external stakeholders, and internal partners to build and maintain strong relationships, provide project updates, monitor progress, and manage expectations for project deliverables.
• Supporting the AFNS Programme Head in setting and advancing programme's direction through writing strategy documents and organizing policy outreach events among others.
• Supervise and mentor researchers and other staff in the program.
• Develop and monitor program/project budgets and preparing technical reports and outputs

Required Qualifications and expertise:

• A PhD in Agricultural related field including Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness, Food Science, Agronomy, Social Sciences with a focus on Agriculture (Inter-disciplinary focus (natural science/social science) is an added advantage. At least four years post-PhD applied research experience.
• Demonstrated experience and success in project proposal development and resource mobilization for applied research and policy informing projects.
• Experience in meticulously undertaking fieldwork including supervision of field teams with excellent knowledge of digital data collection platforms like ODK, CSPro, etc.
• Demonstratable experience in handling and analysing large primary data sets and in harnessing secondary data.
• Strong proven skills in using quantitative analysis including modelling and integration of qualitative analysis. Proficiency in R, Stata, MAXQDA and/or similar software.
• Demonstrable achievements in designing and implementing applied agrifood systems related applied research and policy influencing projects.
• Proven experience in developing, managing, monitoring and reporting on program/ project budgets.
• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of issues related to agriculture, and food systems climate-change and resilience, informed by state-of-the-art global research insights and policy discussions.
• Knowledge in project management and coordination including Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning and Impact (MELI).
• Excellent written and spoken English. The written skills will be demonstrated by a good track of high-quality scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals. Evidence of publication of other type of research outputs would be an advantage (e.g. reports, blogs, and op-eds).
• Excellent command of English. Capacity to speak and write in French will be an added advantage