Project Summary
We are seeking a full time Research Officer to support the work on several on-going research projects at the intersection of health economics and development economics, mostly drawing on randomised evaluations. One of the main projects will be a randomised evaluation of a school health programme implemented by an NGO in Zambia. The evaluation has received funding from USAID DIV and the MRC and is implemented in collaboration with economists in Zambia and in the US. The RO will also have opportunities to work on other projects related to the demand and supply of healthcare services in low- and middle-income countries.
Job Summary
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 as a postdoctoral researcher. You will join an existing team of friendly and supportive colleagues, in a growing research group, and a diverse department.
Duties and 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)
- o 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