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RESEARCH OFFICER (DATA MANAGEMENT), 2 YEAR TERM APPOINTMENT

Department

Research

Entity

Medical College

Location

Nairobi, Kenya

Introduction

Chartered in 1983, Aga Khan University (AKU) is a private, autonomous and self-governing international university, with 13 teaching sites in 6 countries over three continents (www.aku.edu). An integral part of the Aga Khan Development Network (www.akdn.org), AKU provides higher education in several disciplines, carries out research pertinent to the countries and operates 7 hospitals (soon 8) and over 325 outreach clinics, all at international standards. It has almost 2,500 students and 14,000 staff. The University is both a model of academic excellence and an agent of social change. As an international institution, AKU operates on the core principles of quality, relevance, impact and access.

The Medical College in East Africa is part of the Faculty of Health Sciences. The College is working with the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, and Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam to build a new academic community providing outstanding health pprofessional education, building strong programmes of research supporting graduate student and postdoctoral training and providing programmes and services relevant and impactful across East Africa.

We have the distinct advantage of being part of an over one hundred year history of service to the East African community through the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) that includes a broad range of community development and healthcare delivery services across East Africa. In addition, we are transforming the quality of health care in the region via the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi where we are building a Faculty of Health Sciences campus closely integrated with the broader health care delivery system of the AKDN.

The university has excellent international partners who provide great strength and opportunity for our growth as an academic health system stretching across East Africa.

The AKU Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health (CoEWCH) focuses on establishing high quality education, multidisciplinary research and training programmes on women, child and adolescent health. The centre is collaborating with the Kilifi County Department of Health Services in a number of research studies as part of a larger collaboration: the Pregnancy Care Integrating Translational Science, Everywhere (PRECISE) network. These studies are establishing and following a cohort of pregnant women and their children to study the environmental, clinical, epidemiologic, socio-demographic, physical and mental health factors affecting pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes.

The position holder will be required to contribute to recruitment of participants, data collection, sample collection and follow-up for the PRECISE and the PRECISE-Dyad (Linking maternal and infant health trajectories in sub-Saharan Africa) research studies. The Data manager role will involve planning, coordinating data management activities and supervision of data collection teams. S/He will also be the point person in interactions with AKU ICT team, PRECISE Global Data management teams and data teams from other research projects in CoEWCH. The incumbent will be required to comply with stipulated guidelines related to informed consent, data collection and data handling and maintain utmost confidentiality of the data.

He/she will be based in the study research sites - public health facilities in Kaloleni and Rabai sub-counties in Kilifi County. The role will include some local travel between sites and to the community.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and maintain the central and field level (health facility) data handling systems related to the PRECISE study in Kenya.
  • Plan and coordinate all study data activities.
  • Train research and clinical staff on data collection principles and practice.
  • Oversee data collection activities by all research and clinical staff involved in data collection including research nurses, enumerators and laboratory technicians.
  • Manage allocation of unique participant IDs, sample IDs and other identifiers for study.
  • Oversee the selection, purchase, setup and maintenance of data collection devices: including computers, tablets and bar code readers.
  • Supervise the inventory of ICT equipment and accessories and manage user accounts.
  • Develop site-specific study Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for data collection and handling.
  • Continuous improvement of data systems for PRECISE study and sub-studies.
  • Liaison with PRECISE partners in matters related to data handling.
  • Support set up and maintenance of a network at the field sites to support study activities.

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s level education in any of the following or closely related fields: Information Technology, Computer Science, Statistics, Medical Informatics.
  • A Master’s degree will be an added advantage.
  • Training and/or or demonstrable competence in any/most of the following: MS-Access, SQL-Server, MySQL, Oracle, DHIS-2, ODK and ODK-Tracker, REDcap.
  • Training and/or demonstrable competence in any of the following statistical packages Stata, SPSS, R.
  • At least 2 years’ experience in progressive data management.
  • Relevant experience in a health research environment including community and public health facility settings will be an added advantage
  • Relevant experience in multi-center / multi-country projects will be an added advantage
  • Proficiency with data management procedures: data cleaning, manipulation, summarization, tables, listings, graphics and report generation.
  • Demonstrated experience in programming and troubleshooting electronic field data.
  • Demonstrated experience in data analysis will be an added advantage.
  • Demonstrated ability to coordinate and supervise large data entry teams.
  • Excellent communication skills and good knowledge of English, both written and oral.
  • Demonstrated strong prioritization and time management skills.

To Apply

​Interested candidates should submit a Cover letter, detailed Curriculum Vitae, names and email contacts of three professional referees, telephone contact, e-mail address and copies of relevant academic certificates as well as transcripts to the Director, HR Academic, Aga Khan University’s Campus Nairobi, Kenya. P. O. Box 30270-00100 or by email to hr.universityke@aku.edu .  

Your application should bear the reference number RODM-CoEWCH.  Applications by email are preferred.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.  More information about the Aga Khan University is available at www.aku.edu

Applications should be submitted latest by March 2, 2021