Research Officer - Health Policy/London School of Economics

Summary of the Organization: 

Advance your career by joining some of the world’s leading social scientists at LSE, a research-led teaching institution with an outstanding reputation for academic excellence. You’ll be working with peers from around the world who excel in their field. Because we take professional development seriously, you’ll have access to support throughout your time at LSE, from getting started, to producing and disseminating your work, to developing your future career. As well as a competitive salary and an exceptional location in the heart of London, we offer great benefits, including our award-winning family friendly policies. 

You will be based at the Department of Health Policy. Our departmental mission is to advance, transmit and sustain knowledge and understanding for the benefit of the international and national health and social care policy communities, through the conduct of teaching, research and scholarship of the highest international quality standards.

Summary of the Role:

As the Research Officer, you will be based at the Department of Health Policy at the LSE, working across all aspects of research projects. You will be expected to travel (to Zambia and other countries, depending on project needs) regularly to support the progress of research, as required: piloting of tools; preparation of fieldwork (including training enumerators); liaising with local partners and implementers; presenting results, etc. The successful applicant will participate in all aspects of the work, particularly around planning and execution of field activities and data analysis. This role is ideal for an ambitious and hard-working person with a quantitative background, seeking to gain hands-on experience across the full research process. It offers a perfect learning opportunity to further develop research skills whether you would like to build your own research portfolio through a PhD, join NGOs/donors in management posts, or continue developing your research portfolio. You will join an existing team of friendly and supportive colleagues, in a growing research group, and a diverse department.

Responsibilities:

Research

• Demonstrating the ability to analyse and research complex concepts and support the research team in identifying appropriate methodologies
• Working with the research team to develop research and data collection protocols through conducting literature reviews, qualitative research, etc.
• Designing and conducting pilot studies, effectively communicating and reporting field observations, and fine-tuning research design components
• Contributing creative solutions to research challenges
• Designing data collection and research management protocols and ensuring that all team members adhere to them
• Conducting data cleaning and analysis, in Stata and R, including high frequency data quality checks during data collection, creating final cleaned datasets, and conducting appropriate analyses
• Producing publication-quality tables and charts and writing up research for publication in peer reviewed journals
• Preparing for and disseminating research results to a range of audiences, including through academic conferences, policy briefs, and reports
• Supporting all other phases of research as needed, such as pre-registrations, analysis plans, IRB submissions, organising research or policy workshops, and developing peer reviewed research grant proposals

Fieldwork

• Assisting with creating and reviewing questionnaire design and coding (usually in SurveyCTO)
• Planning and managing day-to-day research activities. This includes training, and supervising both field-based and data operations teams, and monitoring data collection quality

Project management

• Providing regular updates to the PIs through weekly meetings, handling the agenda and summarising meeting takeaways, and tracking project progress through tools such as Asana
• Working with the study PIs and data collectors to ensure adherence to IRB approved protocols and procedures, including overseeing data management
• Supporting reports to funders on project progress
• Supporting development of future funding applications

Qualifications:

• MSc or graduate degree (obtained or soon to be obtained) in economics or other closely related discipline.
• 1-2 years professional experience in research (including internships/voluntary positions) OR At least 1 year of work experience related to research projects and/or data analysis
• Strong quantitative and data analysis skills.
• Experience with electronic data collection platforms (preferably SurveyCTO or ODK)
• Strong programming skills and confidence with the use of different data management software (demonstrated experience in Stata and/or R, preferred experience in GitHub)
• Ability to communicate effectively and confidently to different audiences, including donors and/or partner organisations
• Ability to convey complex technical information in a clear and accurate manner (oral and written)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent writing skills
• Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, with a strong attention to detail
• Ability to work under pressure and to multiple deadlines, and to prioritise time effectively
• A high level of initiative and self-motivation as well as a proactive and flexible approach to work
• Demonstrated interest in development, education, and/or health economics and experimental methods
• Leadership potential with the ability to inspire and lead field and lab teams with intelligence, dedication and kindness
• Experience working on an RCT, field experiment, or lab experiment
• Experience living in/working in LMIC country