Research Fellow in Health Services Systems Modelling

About the role

The purpose of this post is to carry out research on the NIHR funded ‘Adaptations To Strengthen Healthcare Delivery And Resilience To Extreme Weather Events In Southern Africa’ (ASTRA) project. The overall aim of this project is to engage and involve stakeholders, including the community, to co-design and deliver research that proposes, prioritises and evaluates interventions to strengthen community and health system resilience to extreme weather events (EWEs) on vulnerable populations living with HIV and/or tuberculosis in Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia. It involves project partners from across southern Africa and the UK, including the Africa Health Research Institute Durban, the Aurum Institute, Zambart, Fundação Aurum, the Brighton and Sussex Medical School and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

In particular, the post involves developing a Systems Dynamics model of the health system for people with HIV and/or TB, for each country case study, to assess its response EWEs. The models will be used for optimising the performance of health systems under the conditions prior to in vivo testing of pilot programmes, and for enhancing the resilience of the health system.  The proposed method follows that of Semwanga, A. R., Nakubulwa, S. & Adam, T. 2016. Applying a systems dynamics modelling approach to explore policy options for improving neonatal health in Uganda. Health Research Policy and Systems 14, 35, doi:10.1186/s12961-016-0101-8 (2016).

About you

The successful candidate will be expected to be educated to doctoral level, or other equivalent qualification, or appropriate level of experience. You should have experience of engagement in high-quality research activity; possess excellent presentation skills, with the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing. Given the nature of the work, you should have the ability to work individually on your own initiative and without close supervision in South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia. As such you should have the ability to exercise a degree of innovation and creative problem-solving.

Essential for the post, the successful candidate should have an indepth knowledge of developing system dynamics models with demonstrable expertise in programming. In addition, the post requires good interpersonal and social skills for engaging with a variety of stakeholders.  Experience in developing training material and running training workshops is preferable.

About our School

We are a global hub at the heart of Sussex University. Our engaged research and critical pedagogy addresses the most pressing global issues of our times – global social justice, environmental change and climate justice, war and peace, migration, global health, human rights, identity, and inequality. Our mission is to generate transformative research and real-world teaching that equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to work towards a fairer, safer, more sustainable and more inclusive world.

We are committed to inspiring and curiosity-driven teaching and research that strives to find creative solutions for the social, environmental, economic and political poly-crisis facing the world today. Global Studies stands out for its interdisciplinarity across our departments, courses and research centres; our ambitious global outlook; and our decolonising, anti-racist and reparative justice approaches to teaching, research and civic engagement.

Please find further information regarding the School of Global Studies on our website.

Further Key InformationPlease contact Professor Dominic Kniveton (kafw3@sussex.ac.uk) for informal enquiries.

The University of Sussex values the diversity of its staff and students, and we welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

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