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Boston College Introduction

Founded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,484 full-time undergraduates and 5,250 graduate and professional students. Ranked 35 among national universities, Boston College has 888 full-time and 1,281 FTE faculty, 2,711 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $1.4 billion, and an endowment in excess of $3.5 billion.

Job Description

Competitive salary commensurate withrelevant experience.

The ResearchProgram on Children and Adversity (RPCA) at Boston College School of SocialWork focuses on observational research to understand trajectories of risk andresilience in children facing multiple forms of adversity while also usingthese research outcomes to develop and test evidence-based interventions topromote child health, development and family functioning. The program team,including a network of talented local collaborators, has developed andevaluated several transdiagnostic interventions that are both feasible,effective and able to be integrated into a range of social protection, healthand education programs in low- and middle-income countries. Usingimplementation science methods, the program also tests implementation sciencestrategies for quality improvement and sustainment of integrated evidence-basedinterventions including collaborative team approaches to improve fidelity andquality of the interventions to support early childhood development, violenceprevention, and family strengthening so that they can be effectively andsustainably delivered at scale in low-resource settings. The RPCA manages adiverse global research portfolio; including several active projects, thedetails for which can be found at www.bc.edu/rpca

Reporting to the Director and Principal Investigator, theResearch Scientist will oversee aspects of program implementation, researchdesign, data management, data analysis related to the aims of the U.S. refugeeresearch portfolio focused family strengthening, as well as implementationscience. The RPCA refugee program works with philanthropic and federalpartners to conduct research to inform the delivery of a mental health andfamily strengthening intervention that are designed to support families duringresettlement. The Refugee Program currently has a research portfolio withAfghan refugees and is conducting research to inform delivery specific toAfghan youth and develop a culturally validated mental health screening toolthat can be used with resettled Afghan youth and is response to recognizing thesigns and symptoms of trauma. The RPCA partners with local resettlement agenciesand focuses on community based participatory research methods.

TheResearch Scientist responsibility includes managing that the interventionsare delivered as intended (i.e., content, frequency, etc.) and that qualitativeand quantitative data across the RPCA's research studies is collected,processed, and analyzed in accordance with the lab's best practices and thatall findings are disseminated in accordance with the study's aims andobjectives. The Research Scientist will implement quality checks to maintainthe integrity of intervention delivery and data collection and lead publicationsand analyses related to the findings of the RPCA research. The ResearchScientist will cultivate and support important stakeholder relationships andsupport the dissemination of research findings by working with the ProgramManagement teams to plan dissemination activities and share research findingsthrough the facilitation of presentations and events at the local, national andinternational level. The ResearchScientist's scope of work is dependent on grant-funding; the Research Scientistis responsible for ensuring that research strategies related to RPCA researchactivities meet the highest scientific standards.

Duties and Responsibilities:

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION (30%): Work closely with the refugee programmanagement team to provide implementation science expertise and qualityimprovement approaches to contribute to the success of study outcomes; Supportactivities related to the training and supervision of research assistants toadhere to research integrity; Provide ongoing evaluation of research activities; Provides expertise on implementationscience to participate in project initiation activities, including thedevelopment of proposals and responses to research funding opportunities.

DATA MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS (40%): Provide expertise to local teams withunderstanding of validity studies, community-based participatory research, anddevelopment of a culturally validated mental health screening tool for Afghanyouth; Conduct qualitative analysis of participant interviews and monitorreliability and validity testing; Use statistical analysis to measure validityof the mental health screening tool that is developed; Design, develop andexecute implementation-science-informed statistical analysis leveragingresearch study databases in conjunction with study staff and otherstatisticians; Produce tables and figures depicting results of analyses, alongwith written interpretation.

RESEARCH AND DISSEMINATION (30%): Collaborate with team members to completedissemination deliverables to support out reach of findings to refugee serviceproviders. This includes participating in and developing public webinars,producing downloadable resources, and supporting the development of communityadvisory boards; Engage in high-level research and analysis, drafting reportsto sponsors and government stakeholders, and publishing on projects regardingongoing work related to RPCA research; Contribute to and/or serving as leadauthor on manuscripts related to RPCA research studies.

This position will be based in Boston with expected travelaround New England and the U.S. as conditions allow. The Research Scientist maywork nights and weekends to meet project deliverables, as well as follow aflexible office schedule.

The Research Scientist will work in the general office settingin the School of Social Work. The Research Scientist is grant funded.

Requirements

Doctoral degree, preferably in Public Health, ImplementationScience, Social Work, Developmental Psychology, Mental Health, or other relatedfield. Minimumof 3 years of postdoctoral experience in Global Public Health research orrelated field is expected. Expert knowledge ofqualitative and quantitative research methodologies including mixed-methodsrequired. Expert knowledge of refugee child development research required. Proficiencyin utilizing computer applications including Microsoft Office, STATA, RedCap,MAXQDA, and other quantitative and qualitative data analysis platformsrequired. Experience conducting research in culturally diverse contexts. Experiencein community-based participatory research and qualitative methods is required.Coursework and training in psychometrics and validity studies is required.Previous experience working with refugee populations is preferred. Strongrecord of peer-reviewed Implementation-Science focused publications beyondthesis papers is required.

Closing Statement