Job Openings at KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP)

JOB DIMENSIONS:

Based in Kilifi, Kenya, the position entails working within an international multi-disciplinary team to ensure optimal conduct of the project while also being supported in their personal professional development. The primary area of work involved in this position will be to determine the optimal diagnostic and risk stratification approaches for people with hypertension in Kilifi

This will involve designing and conducting community-based studies of diagnostic accuracy of various methods for screening and diagnosing hypertension, as well as determining the relationship between these diagnostic methods and measures of hypertension mediated organ damage. The findings from these and other aspects of the project will be used to develop a multi-faceted intervention that will be tested in a pilot cluster randomized trial.

The post-holder will also be expected to provide support and mentorship to PhD students, research assistants and engage with local and national Ministry of Health officials. In addition, the post-doctoral researcher will support and contribute to the development of a capacity strengthening programme composed of technical skills workshops and seminars targeting junior researchers from the region and beyond.  He/she will be supported to develop their own body of work and mobilize research funding to support transition to research independence.  

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop research proposals for regulatory review
• Supervise the study team including study coordinator, clinical officers at >10 participating hospitals, data manager and locum staff from supporting institutions
• Work with study PIs in study set up and engagement meetings with various stakeholders
• Mentor and support junior staff and PhD students
• Monitor study milestones and manage communications with local and international partners
• Develop grant applications for funding
• Analyse and report study findings
• Lead implementation of capacity building activities
• Conduct/attend and participate in study related meetings and other meetings as needed.
• Any other duties as may be assigned by to them by the study Principal Investigator.

Desirable

• Excellent presentation and communication skills
• Excellent organizational skills
• Experience working with external stakeholders as well as community health workers

Competencies

• Demonstrated high levels of confidentiality and integrity  
• Excellent interpersonal, written, presentation and communication skills  
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.  
• Strong Management, leadership, and decision-making skills,   
• Ability to build strong and diverse effective teams, delegation, and team motivation  
• Ability to build productive and collaborative relationships with varied stakeholders 

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JOB PURPOSE: 

KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) is one of the leading research centres in Africa. The Programme engages in a wide range of research on the main causes of ill health in Africa. We are seeking to appoint an early postdoctoral researcher with a PhD completed in the field of bioinformatics or molecular biology to work in the Biosciences department. The successful candidate will be part of a research team seeking to understand HIV B-cell biology to inform HIV vaccine development. The candidate will be involved in bioinformatics analysis of HIV-antigen specific immunoglobulin gene usage and naïve B cell repertoires mainly in African populations. The incumbent will also provide bioinformatics support for other ongoing immunological work within the group. He/she will require solid knowledge of bioinformatics, be able to write and execute code and develop custom analysis suites for the project. Additional knowledge in molecular biology techniques will be an added advantage. This work is part of a five-year collaborative programme with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (2022 - 2026).

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Supporting the research team in bioinformatics analysis and interpretation of large sequencing data sets generated on diverse platforms (NextSeq,MiSeq and NovaSeq).
• Co-ordinating data transfer and analysis with collaborators
• Technology transfer from collaborating laboratories.
• Training and supervision of AROs and interns
• Designing exploratory analysis approaches and bioinformatics pipelines. 
• Perform basic molecular biology procedures to generate sequencing libraries.
• Presenting of project results at different forums, locally and internationally.
• Contribute to the writing of scientific manuscripts
• Ensuring that all work done complies with the applicable regulations concerning biohazards, data privacy, Good Clinical and Laboratory Practice and maintain all documentation.
• And any other duties that may be assigned from time to time.

KEY QUALIFICATIONS:

Essential Requirements:

• A Ph.D. in bioinformatics, data science or molecular biology with a very strong understanding of bioinformatics and computational analysis.
• Proficiency in programming in Python and software development stacks
• Proficiency with the Pandas Data Library and Jupiter Software Ecosystem
• Up to 4 years postdoctoral experience
• Experience in analysing large next-generation sequencing data.
• Experience in using various analytical packages such as STATA and R

Desirable:

• Keen on research

COMPETENCIES:

• Demonstrated high levels of confidentiality and integrity  
• Excellent interpersonal, written, presentation and communication skills  
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving and critical thinking skills.  
• Strong Management, leadership and decision-making skills,   
• Ability to build strong and diverse effective teams, delegation and team motivation  
• Ability to build productive and collaborative relationships with varied stakeholders