Research Specialist, Brain and Mind Institute at Aga Khan University Hospital

Job Summary

As part of a National Institute of Health (NIH) funded ‘Utilizing health Information for Meaningful impact in East Africa through Data Science Research Hub (UZIMA-DS Hub), this position will provide specialized support to the Principal Investigators tasked with carrying out project deliverables of the Mental Health project, under supervision of the Project Manager. A culmination of assigned tasks will ensure that the UZIMA-DS Mental Health Research project adheres to ethical guidelines and regulations; required number of research participants are recruited, consented, and followed up; data collected is clean, kept private and confidential.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate research implementation meetings including trainings on conduct of the study, ethics requirements and research tools preparation.
• Preparation of study tools including pilot and pre-tests and calibration, including adapting, and translating research tools, as well as, streamlining data collection tools within the preferred electronic platform.
• Mobilization of study sites and key people in authority within the preferred research sites.
• Lead in locating, recruitment and consenting of study participants.
• Data collection using PHQ 9, GAD 7, PANSI, NEO-FFI and Risk Family questionnaire among other tools as determined by the study.
• Support in ensuring compliance with ethics and study protocol including policies and regulations related to safety, privacy, and confidentiality.
• Ensure timely submission of data collected, data cleaning, preliminary analysis, and storage of information in private and confidential manner.
• Coordinate with project leads to initiate reporting of research experiences and outcomes, as well as study closeout.
• As required, support BMI researchers in the administrative aspects of grants submission.
• As required, work closely with BMI Office Manager in recruitment, onboarding, training, and appraisals of research support staff.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in social/health sciences from an accredited university.
• At least five years’ experience in field data collection preferably in university/research Institution setting.
• Familiarity with psychological tests.
• Educational or experiential knowledge of data cleaning and analysis.
• Experience in collecting and tracking longitudinal data.
• Experience with SPSS or any other statistical software experience in using Redcap will be an added advantage.
• Experience with troubleshooting fitness trackers and redcap among other IT software used for data collection is preferred, but not compulsory