Associate Scientist

Associate Scientist

ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW
Possible is a collaboration that develops and tests innovations to improve health in Nepal by directly responding to local concerns, while drawing from and contributing to the broader disciplines of global health research, practice, and policy. Our partnership is between an independent Nepal-based non- governmental organization and a US-based non-profit. Possible envisions a world where everyone, everywhere has access to high-quality healthcare rooted in evidence, inclusion, and equity. As such, we engage in rigorous and collaborative research and innovation to address evidence, implementation, and policy gaps in the equity, quality, and accessibility of healthcare. Our research endeavors and partnerships aim to address challenges in context and from stated or established needs. Our first commitment is to develop and deploy interventions that improve health (rather than prioritize academic outputs that may be novel and methodologically sound but do not directly improve healthcare). We partner with community-based organizations, public and private sector academic institutions and research organizations to leverage research and evidence to inform and implement innovative solutions to healthcare challenges in Nepal. For the last 16 years, we have been a leader in healthcare innovation in Nepal, conducting implementation research with partnerships spanning several international institutions such as Harvard Medical School, University of California San Francisco, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and University of Washington.

POSITION DESCRIPTION
Possible, a non-governmental organization registered in Nepal, is actively seeking an Associate Scientist to play a pivotal role in providing organizational leadership, leading behavioral health (BH) interventions, developing new areas of research, and disseminating our work and impact. This leadership position (senior role) encompasses envisioning strategic directions, fostering partnerships, working with our collaborators in Nepal and abroad to develop research grant applications that are responsive to local concerns, and managing teams to ensure both programmatic and operational success. Within the BH portfolio, responsibilities include designing and adapting behavioral health interventions, providing technical support to partners to enhance service quality, and generating knowledge with global relevance. In the dissemination realm, the Associate Scientist will mentor our team to effectively communicate our work’s impact to diverse audiences and collaborate on research grant writing. They will hold significant responsibility for envisioning innovative solutions tailored to local needs, securing external funding for research endeavors (such as research grants), and executing projects in collaboration with national and international partners. This is an ideal position for someone who wants to take their research skills and apply it to address local concerns that are often overlooked by traditional research funders. Close collaboration with Possible’s team, advisors, and partners is essential, as the Associate Scientist serves as a dedicated advocate for Possible’s mission, vision, and values. Emphasizing local leadership, Possible’s culture empowers the Associate Scientist to drive implementation research while receiving support from international advisors.

Reports to: Executive Director
Direct Reports: Research managers
Works closely with: Possible staff, Advisors, and Partners
Location: Kathmandu with 20-30% travel to the partner and research sites
Compensation and benefit: highly competitive salary

AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY
The Associate Scientist will be chiefly responsible for the following areas of work:
1. Contribute to Possible’s strategic vision, partnership, and team management aimed at driving research and innovation initiatives, and ensuring programmatic and operational excellence.

• Play a key role in providing strategic visioning and direction and financial sustainability alongside the Executive Director;
• Contribute to advancing Possible’s vision, mission and goals by leading partners mapping and strategic engagement for ongoing and upcoming research;
• Cultivate partnerships to prepare for the opportunities available in response to Possible’s priorities by responding to local needs and concerns;
• Contribute to improve our research model, partnership, and organization systems;
• Contribute to research efforts that advance social justice in Nepal, and globally
• Mentor the team to plan and implement research on health access, quality and equity for groups that have been marginalized or experienced disproportionate negative impact;
• Co-lead the process of building organization systems, accountability structures, workplace practice and culture rooted in equity, justice and diversity;
• Proactively form and lead internal and external working groups and ad-hoc teams to address urgent and emerging needs for organizational growth;
• Supervise consultants and team members and support in his/her/their personal and professional growth so to attract and retain diverse talents in the organization;
• Contribute to maintaining Possible’s legal, regulatory and governance compliance.

2. Lead the development, rollout, and evaluation of behavioral health and implementation research protocols.

• Lead the development, rollout, and evaluation of BH research protocols;
• Oversee the design, development, translation, and deployment of research tools (e.g., RedCap, CommCare and other relevant digital platforms);
• Lead interactive design of behavioral interventions including development and adaptation of intervention materials;
• Train Possible’s and partner organization’s team members on behavioral interventions, and provide coaching and supportive supervision as necessary;
• Lead IRB applications and amendment submissions, and ensure ethical conduct of research throughout the research process;
• Lead quantitative data collection, data quality assurance and analysis (using software like R, STATA, SPSS, SAS, either directly or in coordination with quantitative researchers on the team);
• Lead interactions (e.g., workshops, dissemination events, and other meetings) with Possible team as well as Possible partners and others relevant stakeholders to provide updates on our research, support expansion of innovation and facilitate cross-disciplinary learning;
• Collaborate with an external team and/or organizations to advocate for BH interventions. Strengthen new and existing national and global partnership for BH work;
•  Ensure strong documentation of processes and provide guidance, supervision and technical assistance to our partners in rolling out MH innovations;
• Build training programs together with the partners to roll out MH innovations;
• Provide guidance, supervision and technical assistance to our partners in adapting MH programs to address ground challenges including, but not limited to, public health emergencies.

3. Lead research and innovation grant writing and the dissemination of Possible’s work, including evidence-to-policy initiatives for the implementation and potential scale-up of BH innovations.

• Take the lead in developing and submitting high quality research and innovation grants together with our partners to directly improve health with a focus on behavioral factors;
• Lead and provide support in developing and submitting manuscripts in peer reviewed, national and international academic journals;
• Co-lead the preparation, submission, and presentation of research findings and our work at conferences, symposiums, and other dissemination platforms locally, regionally, and globally;
• Lead creation and dissemination of materials that highlight our impact through lay media, social media, blogs, conferences, and other presentations;
• Mentor team members in writing manuscripts, research briefs, and in conducting dissemination;
• Collaborate closely with Possible’s team, advisors and partners in scaling-up tested behavioral innovations;
• Access support from with our advisors and other experts to lead the delivery of high-quality technical assistance and support;
• Ensure timely reporting and compliance with funders requirements related to IR research and innovation projects;
• Collaborate with other organizations locally, regionally and globally to access additional resources for implementation research.
• Lead in building team’s capacity in evidence-based or evidence-generating behavioral interventions to research and partners’ team, in coordination with Possible team members.

The above list of responsibilities is not comprehensive, and Associate Scientist may be required to take on additional responsibilities, as determined in discussion with the Executive Director.

Must Haves:
Below are the qualifications that are necessary for someone to be considered for the position:

1. Commitment to Possible’s Values, Mission, & Vision;
2. Passionate about research with focus on behavioral interventions in response to local needs and challenges;
3.  A strong exposure to implementation science and behavioral health intervention research, and ability to independently conduct mixed-methods quantitative research;
4. An experienced and strongly motivated individual with a background in mentoring and capacity-building for early career-researchers;
5. Qualifications: A PhD (or equivalent doctoral degree such as DrPH) with a focus on behavioral intervention or a relevant field (e.g., psychology, health education, implementation research, public health, applied sociology), along with a minimum of two years of research experience. This experience should encompass research in behavioral health or implementation research, grant writing, conducting training and/or supervision for behavioral and mental health interventions, and team management or mentorship. The candidate should have authored at least 2-4 peer-reviewed publications as a first author. Proficiency in both written and spoken Nepali and English is essential. This position is exclusively available to Nepali citizens residing in Nepal or those willing to relocate.

APPLICATION PROCESS
Email CV and cover letter to recruitment@possiblehealth.org. When applying please include name and position in the subject line. Applications will be accepted until June 30, 2024. If we believe that you and Possible are good potential fit, we will contact you to advance the application process. Please note that due to a large volume of applications, we may not individually respond to your application.