The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a world-leading centre for research and postgraduate education in public and global health. Our mission is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice.
This research fellow position is advertised in the Clinical Research Department to be taken up as a full-time position at the Medical Research Council (MRC)/Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) Uganda Research Unit, with the new NIHR Global Health Group on Vaccines for Vulnerable Populations in Africa (VAnguard). VAnguard is led by the LSHTM, with UVRI as Joint Lead and collaborating partners in Uganda and Kenya, including the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme; partners in the UK are Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
Vaccines are extremely effective public health interventions, but not everyone benefits equally. Social, biological, geographical and political circumstances render some communities vulnerable, unable to secure optimal health benefits from vaccination programmes. This both drives health inequity and undermines wider vaccine impact by allowing persistence of non-immune communities as foci for recurrent disease outbreaks. VAnguard’s goal is to identify modifiable structural, social and biological determinants of impaired vaccine impact in vulnerable African communities, and hence to develop integrated strategies to address them and to drive health equity. VAnguard brings together East African leaders in vaccine research, implementation and community engagement, with UK experts in vaccine biology and the social anthropology of vaccine hesitancy. Our specific objectives, in collaboration with national stakeholders and communities in Uganda and Kenya, are to
The Research Fellow will support the Group Lead, Professor Alison Elliott, to manage the overall multi-disciplinary scientific programme, s/he will also lead a work package, collaborating with Ugandan and Kenyan colleagues, comprising a cross-sectional survey which will collect vaccine-related data from four communities in each country.
Skills and qualifications required for the post comprise at a minimum a Masters degree in Public Health or a related field; a medical qualification is desirable; PhD optional. Experience of managing community-based research in East Africa and of team leadership is essential. Experience in vaccine research and additional training in this area is desirable. Evidence of contributions to research literature is expected. Experience in systematic review and evaluation of literature is desirable. The post-holder should exhibit personal maturity and strong leadership capability, as well as commitment to community engagement, and to working as part of a multidisciplinary team.
Closing Date: Tuesday 12 July 2022
