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Published on February 25, 2025

Job Title: Research Assistant – Codesign

Project Title: Machine learning integrated quantitative microbial risk assessment (ML-QMRA) for health risk-based water treatment optimization in humanitarian response

Application Deadline: Thursday, March 20 @ 11:59 p.m. ET

Hourly wage: $50 per hour

Hours per week: 10-20 hours per week

Duration: 1 year

Location: Remote, field travel required

About the Project

Waterborne illnesses are a leading health risk facing displaced populations.  To ensure safe drinking water, humanitarian responders must adapt to challenging and highly variable conditions, ensuring that treatment processes are optimized so water stays safe all the way to the point of consumption. New tools are being developed to leverage routine monitoring data to help humanitarian responders to optimize water supply activities. However, to achieve the desired impact, it is critical that new technologies are designed in close collaboration with local users and other stakeholders to ensure that they are appropriate to the socio-technical context.

We are seeking a motivated and detail-oriented Research Assistant to join our team to help characterize the socio-technical context and stakeholder requirements for a novel health-risk based water treatment optimization tool for humanitarian response. This work will take place in a refugee settlement in Uganda and will require field travel to the site. This role offers the chance to contribute to meaningful, high-impact research with potential real-world applications at the intersection of engineering, health, and humanitarianism.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct preliminary contextual inquiry and literature search to understand the design environment
• Lead co-design workshops both in-person, online or/and hybrid with humanitarian responders and other stakeholders in Uganda to understand user and stakeholder requirements for a new water treatment optimization tool.
• Develop research strategies to conduct participatory design and codesign research in challenging humanitarian contexts.
• Assist with data collection, organization, and entry, ensuring accuracy and adherence to project protocols.
• Perform qualitative and quantitative data analysis, supporting the team with insights and summaries.
• Prepare reports, presentations, and visualizations to communicate research findings.
• Collaborate with team members to design research instruments such as surveys, interview and focus group discussion guides.
• Attend and participate in team meetings, presenting research updates and insights as needed.
  Key deliverables:
  • Report of challenges, opportunities, and adaptations required for applying codesign methodologies in humanitarian contexts
  • Report of project requirements to operationalize the proposed water treatment optimization tool for the study site
  • Documentation on findings from the participatory design and codesign studies.

Required Qualifications

• Previous experience in Human Centred Design or Systems Design and contextual inquiry methods.
• International and cross-cultural experience in design
• Strong research skills, including experience with participatory design and codesign methodologies.
• Proficiency in research tools and software, such as qualitative data analysis software if applicable.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in humanitarian response is strongly preferred
• Experience working with drinking water and/or app development preferred
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively within a team.
• Ability to work in high-stress, challenging contexts
• Passion to work in a real-world setting, understanding experiences of people with technologies. Ability to translate behaviours and empathetic observations into technology design.

Benefits

• Opportunity to work on a meaningful project with real-world impact.
• Professional development and mentorship within a supportive team environment.

Application Process

Interested candidates should submit the following:

• A resumé or CV highlighting relevant experience and skills.
• A brief cover letter explaining your interest in the position and the project.
• Contact information for at least one academic or professional reference.

Deadline for Applications: March 20, 2025

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