Researcher- Food Systems at African Population And Health Research Center (APHRC)

APHRC seeks to recruit a Researcher to work in the Nutrition and Food Systems Unit within the Research Division, mainly focusing on research on food systems.

Duties/Responsibilities

• Conduct research on food systems which may include community-based, school based or desk-based research including applied research. Tasks may include study conceptualization and design, project management and coordination including overseeing field work, data management, data analysis, report writing.
• Conduct research to understand linkages between climate change, food systems and nutrition to inform food systems transformation and climate action.
• Develop and test strategies to inform policy & practice to catalyze food systems transformation to enhance food security and nutrition as appropriate.
• Lead and contribute to proposal development.
• Lead and contribute to scientific writing.
• Supervise, mentor and train junior research staff at the Center.
• Lead policy engagement, knowledge translation and communication to appropriate audiences.

Qualifications, Skills, and Experience

• PhD in Nutrition, Public Health, Food Systems or closely related fields.
• Strong writing skills and good record of publications on relevant areas in sub- Saharan Africa.
• At least six years’ post-doctoral experience in research in Food Systems including research related to food production, distribution, value addition, consumption and relationship with nutrition and health.
• Experience in developing proposals and attracting research grants, particularly in nutrition or food systems.
• Demonstrated experience in managing research teams and partnerships.
• Proven experience in conducting household surveys.
• Strong quantitative skills (managing, analyzing and interpreting data), with extensive familiarity with quantitative statistical packages (e.g. STATA, SAS or SPSS).
• Computer literacy in Microsoft packages (e.g. MS Word, MS PowerPoint and MS Excel).
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills and ability to work in a culturally diverse team.

Desirable

• Expertise/experience in maternal, infant and young child nutrition/nutrition in the first 1000 days plus, child nutrition including preschool and school going children, and adolescent nutrition.
• Expertise in human-rights based approach to food systems.
• Training and/or experience with work on climate change including sustainable food systems approaches and linking climate change, food systems and nutrition and health.
• Expertise in qualitative methods, including familiarity with qualitative analysis software packages (e.g. NVivo).

The successful candidate may be appointed at Research Scientist (6-11 years after PhD) or Senior Research Scientist (12+ years after PhD) levels depending on experience and track record. This position is classified under Internationally Recruited Positions (IRP), Grades II to IV in our scales.