Latest Recruitment at Kenya Medical Research - KEMRI

Key Responsibilities:

• Coordination of sampling, sample shipment and other study procedures
• Perform immunological assays
• Develop or adapt assays for the assessment of yellow fever antibodies and other emerging pathogens
• Adapt existing and develop new scientific techniques and experimental protocols
• Provide supervision and training support for junior lab members
• Collaborate in the preparation of scientific reports and journal articles and occasionally present papers and posters
• Manage own academic research and administrative activities. This involves small scale project management, to co-ordinate multiple aspects of work to meet deadlines
• Use specialist scientific equipment in a laboratory environment
• Generate, analyse and keep an updated record of all the experimental results
• Collaborate with internal and external partners in immunology and vaccine development
• Perform any other comparable duties as may be required to ensure the efficient running of the laboratory
• Be responsible with others for the biological safety of the laboratory

Vacancy Requirements:

• A Ph.D. in Immunology or Vaccinology.    Mandatory
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience, including at least 5 years in a managerial role.    Mandatory
• Proven experience in performing immunological assays.    Mandatory
• Proficiency in using analytical software packages such as STATA and R.    Mandatory
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.    Mandatory
• Demonstrated ability to work independently with minimal supervision    Mandatory
• Experience in vaccine immunology, particularly in conducting B cell and T cell assays.    Desirable
• Demonstrated contribution to scientific research as a co-author on at least two peer-reviewed publications    Desirable
• Good analytical ability, planning and organizational skills    Skills & Competencies
• Attentive to detail with the capacity to work with/follow laid down processes and procedures    Skills & Competencies
• Ability to work independently/with minimum supervision, and within stipulated deadlines and schedules    Skills & Competencies
• Confidentiality and Integrity    Skills & Competencies
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills    Skills & Competencies
• Teamwork and ability to work in a multi-cultural environment    Skills & Competencies

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Key Responsibilities:

• Optimize and troubleshoot diagnostics and genome sequencing protocols for a range of pathogens of public health importance.
• Assemble pathogen genomes derived from next generation sequencers based on targeted or metagenomics methods.
• Undertake phylogenetic analyses, produce reports and leading writing of new scientific manuscripts.
• Develop and maintain SOPs, Laboratory Analytical Plans and sample management.
• Run laboratory assays as per the developed SOPS and protocols.
• Receive, process and store samples according to set SOPS.
• Establish and maintain a clean database for collected samples.
• Organise sample shipment to collaborating institutes and labs where applicable.
• Compile and analyses data collected from laboratory assays.
• Comply with all laid down Quality Management System (QMS) guidelines/ standards/ SOPs.
• Comply with all health and safety guidelines; and
• Participate in assigned activities including journal clubs and seminars.

Vacancy Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in biotechnology or molecular biology.    Mandatory
• Basic knowledge of bioinformatics and or computational data analysis    Mandatory
• Experience in bioinformatics methods including genome assembly of virus or bacterial genomes    Mandatory
• Minimum 4 years’ experience and out of which at least one (1) year should be at supervisory level.    Mandatory
• Excellent presentation and communication skills    Desirable
• Excellent organizational skills    Desirable 
• Demonstrate high levels of integrity and confidentiality    Skills & Competencies
• Basic analytical, problem solving and critical thinking skills.    Skills & Competencies
• Team working and ability to work in diverse teams    Skills & Competencies
• Flexibility, adaptability, multi-tasking and attention to detail    Skills & Competencies

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Key Responsibilities:

• Manage and conduct a program of research and scholarship, including taking a leading role in the implementation of the multi-pathogen serosurveillance project.
• Independently identify research objectives and to write and submit research proposals for external funding.
• Disseminate the outcomes of the research, including publishing peer-reviewed academic journal articles of international standing.
• Lead and manage study teams comprising of operational staff and researchers, including direct supervision of team members involved in the collection and processing of residual clinical samples.
• Ensure compliance of self, others and research studies with good research conduct, ethics, regulatory processes, and other relevant policies.
• Initiate and develop collaborative linkages with local, national, and international researchers, research groups and policy stakeholders.
• Mentor and support junior staff.
• Take responsibility for, manage, and conduct administrative and management tasks associated with the research programme in collaboration with Department and Programme operational teams.
• Engage in appropriate professional development, including keeping up to date with the latest research/ thinking in the relevant academic fields.
• Participate fully in the wider research and academic activities of the Department and Programme.
• Carry out any additional duties as may reasonably be required within the general scope and level of the post.

Vacancy Requirements:

• A PhD in epidemiology or related field    Mandatory
• Experience and substantial technical skills in conducting field and lab-based research    Mandatory
• Strong quantitative skills and proficient in advanced statistical programming    Mandatory 
• Minimum Ten (10) years overall experience Five (5) years of which were at Managerial level    Mandatory 
• High quality peer-reviewed publications in the field of epidemiology or related field    Desirable
• Excellent presentation and communication skills    Desirable 
• Excellent organizational skills    Desirable
• Experience working with external stakeholders as well as community health workers    Desirable
• Demonstrated high levels of confidentiality and integrity     Skills & Competencies
• Excellent interpersonal, written, presentation and communication skills     Skills & Competencies
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.     Skills & Competencies
• Strong management, leadership, and decision-making skills,    Skills & Competencies
• Ability to build strong and diverse effective teams, delegation, and team motivation     Skills & Competencies
• Ability to build productive and collaborative relationships with varied stakeholders    Skills & Competencies

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Key Responsibilities:

• Work as the lead scientists in Kenya within the Health Systems Research Ethics Department in partnership with Oxford including to help develop, conduct and report on a specific set of research objectives. This is likely to include overseeing and managing a budget, conducting literature reviews, writing specific ethics submissions, developing / refining mixed methods data collection tools, coordinating and conducting fieldwork, supervising research assistants, analysing data and writing first-author publications.
• Bring theoretical and practical expertise in topics such as empirical ethics, moral distress, power-relations in health and research systems, organisational and team functioning, health system resilience, and implementing and evaluating complex interventions.
• Contribute to building capacity in empirical ethics and health systems research in the programme through: building a small team of staff in Kenya working on the project, supervising masters and phd level researchers, and contributing to organising training and skills-sharing meetings
• Engage with relevant stakeholders in Kenya (including KWTRP managers, senior researchers, ethics committee members, science advisors, health system managers, frontline staff, community representatives), and internationally (including with a frontline staff network, scientific advisors and funders).
• Communicate research goals and findings to different audiences through presentations, talks, publications and other written outputs including as appropriate for websites and social media platforms
• Ensure the ethical conduct of research and foster an inclusive and supportive research culture

Vacancy Requirements:

• A relevant PhD/DPhil in health-related topics such as empirical ethics, philosophy, health system resilience/responsiveness, organisational management, public/community engagement, human behaviour, psychology, anthropology.    Mandatory
• Demonstrated experience in planning and undertaking empirical ethics or health systems studies, including planning for and collecting, analysing and interpreting data.    Mandatory
• Demonstrated ability to conduct and manage complex empirical studies including the supervision of research assistants and data quality assurance so that high quality data is produced    Mandatory
• Evidence of ability to produce and publish high quality research that draws on appropriate theory.    Mandatory
• Experience of working with international research PIs and with frontline health system/ research staff    Mandatory
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write reports for different audiences and present the group at meetings.    Mandatory
• Demonstrated interest in equity in health systems and research conduct; knowledge and working experience in Kenya an added advantage    Desirable
• Proficiency in use of qualitative analysis software such as NVivo and, desirable, basic skills in quantitative analysis    Skills & Competencies
• Ability to conduct literature reviews including use of specific search strategies    Skills & Competencies
• Experience in developing an analytic plan and collating, analysing and interpreting qualitative data    Skills & Competencies
• Excellent range of skills across the MS Office suite    Skills & Competencies
• Have high energy, clear goal orientation and a strong work ethic.    Skills & Competencies
• Strong organisation/programme management skills with the ability to prioritise workloads and work within tight deadlines    Skills & Competencies
• Ability to write clearly for a scientific audience and to present clearly to non-academic audiences    Skills & Competencies
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a team environment and to multi-task    Skills & Competencies
• Ability to travel within Kenya to remote areas and reside for periods required to collect data or provide supervision    Skills & Competencies
• Ideally the person would be able to travel internationally as part of the multi-country partnership    Skills & Competencies