Research Scientist

Description

Project: Early Childhood Development in Emergency and Conflict, ECDEC

Title: Research Scientist

Division/Department: Steinhardt/IHDSC – Global TIES for Children

Reports to: Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Principal Investigator

Work Location: New York University, New York campus - with opportunities for travel

Work Schedule: Full-time (100%)

Salary (Pay Range): Commensurate with experience

Benefits Eligible: Yes

Paid Time Off: Yes

Start/End Date: February 1, 2021  one year appointment with possible extension

Global TIES for Children

Global TIES for Children is a university-based center with researchers across NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU New York.  At New York University's Global TIES for Children we design, evaluate and advise on programs and policies to improve the lives of children and youth in the most vulnerable regions across the globe. Led by University Professors J. Lawrence Aber and Hirokazu Yoshikawa, we work with some of the world's leading non-governmental organizations and with governments in low-income (LI) and conflict-affected (CA) countries on developing and evaluating innovative approaches to promoting the health, education, and social development of children and their communities. Together with our key strategic partner organizations, our work leverages cutting-edge scientific methods and interdisciplinary collaboration to:

• Generate actionable evidence to promote child and youth development by conducting and evaluating powerful strategies to transform relevant "social settings" (i.e., classrooms, schools, families, communities, etc.) that are key drivers of children's learning and well-being; 

• Communicate actionable evidence by engaging diverse stakeholders across sectors and regions and disseminating a rigorous evidence base to inform program and policy decisions for children and youth in LI and CA countries; and  

• Build human, administrative, and institutional capacity for a robust global science and practice through the provision of professional development and training activities.

Global TIES for Children primarily organizes its work under two different initiatives: the Early Childhood Development in Emergencies and Conflict (ECDEC) initiative and the Primary Education and Learning in Emergencies (PELE) initiative. For both age ranges, Global TIES for Children has contributed to the development, validation, and adaptation of various measurements to assess development of children aged 0-12 across multiple domains. We now have the opportunity to expand this measurement work and focus on developing locally-reliable and globally-adaptable measures to assess learning through play for children in multiple contexts across multiple age groups.  

This initiative will be led by Drs. Hirokazu Yoshikawa (Principal Investigator), J. Lawrence Aber (Co-Principal Investigator), Carly Tubbs and Alice Wuermli (both co-Investigators) 

Position Summary

The Research Scientist will provide research and project management support to achieve the mandate of this new measurement initiative. More specifically, the incumbent will lead a study on measuring experiences of play of children aged 0-5 across several contexts (teacher-child interactions in centers and preschools; parent-child interactions in homes) and oversee Global TIES for Children's contributions to the analysis of measures to assess experiences of play of children aged 6-12 in schools. As the TIES Study Lead, the incumbent, along with a team at TIES and in collaboration with external partners, will be responsible for and/or oversee the development of project reports and concept notes; support the Human Subjects Review / Institutional Review Board (IRB) submission process; identify and liaise with partners and academic collaborators, especially from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and South Asia regions; prepare protocols and measures to assess playful learning with a focus on work done in the MENA/South Asia regions; oversee on-the-ground data collection by in-country research staff, including providing support for tablet programming and technical issues, training of enumerators, and data quality assurance; analyses of qualitative and quantitative data, the latter conducting advanced psychometrics; and disseminating findings through convenings, presentations, reports, academic publications, and multimedia. 

Position Responsibilities

The Research Scientist will report directly to the Principal Investigator and work closely with the Managing Director of ECDEC, and will work in close collaboration with ECDEC and PELE colleagues at TIES, project partners and the research teams on the ground. The successful candidate will supervise one or two research associates supporting this work. The incumbent will perform  the following activities: 

Research Management

• Support internal and external coordination and communications between staff and project partners;

• Prepare Human Subjects Review / IRB applications;

• Work closely with internal and external partners to ensure study protocols are followed and to ensure proper collection, filing and archiving of all project data in all project field sites;

• Manage transcription, translation and formatting of assessment instruments and protocols;

Research Design and Analysis

• in close collaboration with the PI and other relevant parties, develop the design and protocols for the study;

• Lead the execution of all research activities;

• Liaise with the country research teams in support of seamless data collection, data quality control and management, data cleaning, and analyses; to ensure compliance with ethical requirements; and to plan regular check-ins on data collection protocols to ensure client safety;

• Conduct literature reviews on topics relevant to the project;

• Conduct, coordinate, and oversee analysis of the quantitative and / or qualitative data

Reports & Publications

• Track project progress and prepare/update reports; 

• Prepare project reports, briefs and correspondence for internal and external dissemination; and

• Prepare manuscripts for academic journal publication, independently and in collaboration.