Research Assistant - Advocacy and Policy Impact (Food Policy)

• Full Time (1 FTE) opportunity
• 12 month, fixed term contract
• Flexible working arrangements available
• Respected global research organisation
• Make an impact on global health outcomes

The George Institute (TGI) is 700+ people around the world, all focused on improving the health of millions of people worldwide. As a medical research institute affiliated with leading universities and with projects in approximately 50 countries, we are challenging the status quo in healthcare to:

• Find better treatments for the world's biggest health problems
• Transform primary health care to support better health for more people
• Harness the power of communities, governments and markets to improve health

Our innovative commercial enterprises help maximise our impact. Please visit 'what we do' to read more about how we are addressing the world's biggest health problems.

We have a new and exciting opportunity for a Research Assistant to join our growing Advocacy and Policy Impact (API) team. 

The Advocacy and Policy Impact (API) team within the Food Policy division, has a cross-cutting remit to strengthen advocacy and policy impact throughout the organization, and a strong focus on food and nutrition policy impact. We have three main areas of work:

1. Support countries to research and implement evidence-based salt reduction interventions as the designated World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Population Salt Reduction (WHO CC SALT). This includes providing direct support to WHO and countries, producing and disseminating resources and extending the evidence base.
2. Research on food policy and advocacy intervention: with existing programs of research on food policy in the Pacific Islands, salt reduction programs in Vietnam and Victoria and ongoing program of regularly updated systematic reviews.
3. Strengthening research impact: through developing and testing frameworks for research impact and contributing to communications and advocacy (thought leadership) programs.

The Research Assistant is required to support the research and advocacy work as well as being responsible for some of the administrative responsibilities of the team. There is scope for the right candidate to progress to undertake a PhD within the team.

Duties and Key Responsibilities

• Contributing to systematic reviews, collating materials and drafting copy for peer-reviewed journal articles relating to the above work
• Provide administrative and technical support to study team
• Providing support for the development of tools and resources to support salt reduction, food reformulation and monitoring of the food supply
• Conduct literature searches and assist with the preparing of grant applications
• Assist with ethics applications and documentation
• Assist in the development of communicational materials
• Assist with planning and organising regular meetings
• Assist with the preparation of study-related presentation materials
• Data entry, ensuring data quality, accuracy, completeness and timeliness of data completion
• Preparing paperwork required by the study and any study materials
• Assist in managing effective communication with the key stakeholders (participants, clinicians and investigators)
• Assist with the preparation of reports and publications about the study as required
• Ad hoc project work as required

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

Essential

• Masters or equivalent qualifications in science, nutrition or healthcare discipline
• Good understanding of complexities of global health
• Experience in quantitative or qualitative research methodologies
• Excellent written language communication skills and ability to draft a wide range of documents
• Excellent organisational skills, having the ability to organise, take initiative and follow up independently
• Methodical and systematic, with good attention to detail
• Proficient in the use of the Microsoft Office suite of products, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook and the Internet
• Ability to be flexible and adaptable in the face of changing organisational priorities
• Ability to work well within a research team and excellent interpersonal skills
• Strong focus on quality of work.

For more information, please see the Position Description here.

The closing date for applications is Tuesday 13th July 2021. We do, however, reserve the right to close this vacancy early if a suitable candidate is found.