Project Research Scientist I Non Medical (Research Associate)

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Project Research Scientist I Non Medical (Research Associate)

Number of Vacancies: 2

Primary Location: Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow and Varanasi)

What is Community Empowerment Lab?

We, at Community Empowerment Lab, love to watch our people write their own stories – stories of success and challenges, stories of connecting with communities, of serving mothers and children. Stories of serving our nation.

So, who are we exactly? We are a Not for Profit Research Organization working on the frontiers of maternal and neonatal health, serving some of the most vulnerable through innovations and leveraging cutting-edge scientific approaches in public health. We are driven by scientific evidence, national priority, and global public health challenges!
Our mission revolves around empowering communities by providing them with evidence-based solutions to address their needs, thereby bridging the gap between communities and scientific knowledge. We adopt a grounds-up approach, engaging with communities to understand their requirements and co-designing solutions with scientific rigor. These solutions undergo trials and implementation research to ensure efficacy. The insights gained are then scaled up to influence state, national, and global policies and practices. Our focus lies at the intersection of newborn survival and maternal health, health system strengthening, and early childhood development, aligning all our initiatives to tackle both local and global challenges faced by newborns and mothers.

We are the Collaborative Centre of Excellence for Indian Council of Medical Research joining hands with several scientific research organizations pan-India to address numerous national priorities and build a future scientific workforce for the country! We are also an ICMR - Centre for Advanced Research for Neonatal and Maternal Health working on solutioning newborn survival. In Uttar Pradesh, we support UP National Health Mission as a newborn survival specialist through UP TSU (Uttar Pradesh Technical Support Unit).

For more information please visit our website

What defines us as a team?

We are young, collegial, committed, and sensitive- a bunch of creative people which love to do science with a compassionate heart. We believe in human goodness, unending capacities to grow as leaders, and finding meaning through their consistent efforts that often meet success and failure too. We believe in learning by doing! We believe in soiling our hands, doing science in the midst of the community, and keeping the community at centre! We are not merely desktop researchers. We value high-impact research publications and simultaneously bringing solutions to the doorstep of those who need them most!

Our people drive the organization and contribute to mutual growth. Some bright public health scientists, tech talent, management mavens, community organizers, and volunteers have kept us going for over twenty years now. We are ambitious, and growing and we need many more of our tribe now. At CEL, we encourage people to pursue a career and a passion for public health service.

What do you get? The freedom to express your talent, the joy of watching the difference your work makes to our nation, and the reward of working with a vibrant, joyful team.

Who are we looking for?

CEL is now looking for a Research Associate. We are building a dedicated Research team to gather deep, high-quality insights on maternal & child indicators influencing adverse health outcomes. You will play a pivotal role in conducting research projects aimed at understanding and improving healthcare outcomes for mothers and children. Your responsibilities will encompass various stages of the research process, from study design and data collection to analysis and reporting.

Scope of Work

● To support Principal Investigator (PI) and Project Lead in various scientific and project coordination activities.

● Conduct literature reviews, formative research, and qualitative research surveys

● Study protocols and tools are designed as per study needs.

● Consolidate project knowledge base by assisting the PI in drafting project reports and scientific publications.

● Write scientific papers, and research outputs including project reports, workshop-related background documents, project summaries, and other documents related to the project.

● Project management: e.g. timetabling and meeting project milestones

● Participate regularly in group meetings and prepare and deliver presentations to the project team, internal and external stakeholders, or funders.

● Drafting letters and communication.

● Disseminate knowledge of research advances to inform the program team

● Support mapping of stakeholders in the case studies. Assist the team by undertaking interdisciplinary collaborations and preparing a comprehensive analysis of the work done to inform all stakeholders.

● Support the research team in analyzing data from in-depth interviews with key academics, government officials, community members, researchers, front-line health workers, community at the national, state, and district levels for the case studies.

● Validate and systematically arrange the data collected, its cleaning, storage, and analysis within the project timelines.

● Set monthly goals to improve the skills and achieve within the line without affecting study responsibilities

Qualification and Experience

● First Class Post Graduate Degree, including the integrated PG degrees, in Public Health/ Epidemiology/Social Sciences/Engineering/ IT/ CS or a related field, with a focus on maternal, newborn, and child health with three years of Experience OR PhD.

● ICMR age norms will apply and applicants must be age 35 years or below.

● Experience in health care delivery/research and working in multi-stakeholder projects.

● Knowledge and skills of methods and tools in both quantitative and qualitative research.

● Experience in systematic reviews preferably in meta-analysis.

● Desirable working knowledge in statistical analysis software (e.g., SPSS, Stata, R) and/or qualitative data analysis software (e.g., Dedoose, NVivo, ATLAS.ti).

● Experience in the ethical use of AI tools in research (chatGPT etc.)

● Be proficient with MS Office (word, excel & PPT) and have strong analytical and writing skills.

● Demonstrated potential to publish in high-quality, peer-reviewed journals

● Ability to document research reports and to effectively disseminate outcomes.

● Excellent oral, interpersonal, and written communication skills.

● Proficiency in Hindi and English is Essential.

Compensation: As per ICMR norms.

Application Procedure:

If you find this opportunity aligning with your skills and passion, we welcome you to apply by following these steps:

Ø Apply on this link

➢ Craft a brief yet impactful cover letter, around 500 words, that details your motivation for applying, your interest in Maternal and Newborn Health, and your enthusiasm for contributing to the work of Community Empowerment Lab.

➢ Attach your updated resume with a recent photograph.

➢ We kindly request that you include your current and expected salary details, along with your anticipated start date, in your cover letter

Requirements

● First Class Post Graduate Degree, including the integrated PG degrees, in Public Health/ Epidemiology/Social Sciences/Engineering/ IT/ CS or a related field, with a focus on maternal, newborn, and child health with three years of Experience OR PhD.

● ICMR age norms will apply and applicants must be age 35 years or below.