Post:Post Doctoral Research Assistant

Job Description

Post:Post Doctoral Research Assistant

Based:MLW: Social Science in vaccine acceptability and bioethics

Responsible to:Dr Nicola Desmond

Summary of role:This PDRA post will be based full-time at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust in Blantyre, Malawi. Funded jointly by the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) (75%) and the Wellcome Trust Global Health Bioethics Network (25%) the post holder will take the lead on social science research on vaccine response (VACCEPT) and supporting a group of researchers merging research with practice in community engagement and bioethics.

Details of MLW:MLW is an internationally leading health research institution led by Malawian & International Scientists, pursuing scientific excellence and improving the health of people in sub-Saharan Africa. Since its inception in 1995, MLW has maintained partnership with College of Medicine at the University of Malawi, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the University of Liverpool and our major funder the Wellcome Trust. MLW is based in Blantyre with field research sites around urban Blantyre, Thyolo and Chikhwawa.

Our aim is to conduct high quality research relevant to health in sub-Saharan Africa. The programme is embedded within a rapidly growing medical school, co-located within the largest teaching hospital in Malawi with direct access to urban and rural populations. MLW has demonstrated outstanding leadership and excellence in Malaria, HIV/ TB, infection & immunity, and vaccine research. We have recently added a programme of non-communicable diseases (NCD) research to our portfolio. MLW research will continue to increase understanding of why certain diseases are so common in resource-poor countries like Malawi and why these diseases occur. We will also test new treatments and vaccines, and ensure that they impact on health care.

Details of the Social Science programme:

The social scienceprogramme was established in 2010 and uses mixed methods approaches and qualitative research to generate richer and more comprehensive data on how people respond to and experience illness to understand and improve the ways people engage with health and health providers to improve population-level health. Our scientific agenda has three strategic directions home-based medical technologies and health engagement, treatments seeking pathways and health services and bioethics and community engagement research.

We work closely with the College of Medicine and other institutions across Malawi such as Reach Trust and the Centre for Social Research and have established a strong national network of social scientists working in health with the aim to strengthen the quality of social science in the country. Contributing to this MLW social science staff are involved in teaching at College of Medicine and supervision of PhD and Masters level students.

Details of projects:VACCEPT

The CDC funded project, VACCEPT will explore non-routine vaccine response to maternal flu vaccine in rural Malawi. Influenza surveillance data in Malawi suggest that 11.1% of severe acute respiratory illness is associated with influenza infection (MLW, unpublished data) suggesting that a vaccine may be effective in reducing the burden of morbidity and mortality in children under five years old. A vaccine trial to explore the extent to which malaria infection impacts response to inactivated influenza vaccine will enrol 1300 children aged 6 to 59 months in a rural district in Southern Malawi. The VACCEPT study will conduct parallel and integrated social science research around vaccine acceptability drawing on global discourses of vaccine hesitancy, risk perceptions and trust and science and technology studies (STS) to inform understanding of flu vaccine acceptability for future public health strategies in resource-poor settings.

Global Health Bioethics Network

The Global Health Bioethics Network is a programme, funded by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award, to carry out ethics research and build ethics capacity across the Wellcome Trust’s Major Overseas Programmes (MOPs) in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Thailand-Laos, and Viet Nam. The role of the post holder in the GHBN will be to provide technical support to MLW based GHBN fellows conducting short-terms projects to improve ethical research practice at MLW and more broadly to contribute to the development of the bioethics and community engagement strategy within the social science group at MLW.

Main duties:

1)To work in collaboration with members of the multi-disciplinary flu vaccine team at MLW to develop a portfolio of social science studies on vaccine acceptability in resource-poor settings. Specifically this work will involve the following areas:

i)Explore attitudes to and perceptions of severity of influenza in children and adults

ii)Situate treatment seeking for influenza like symptoms in the context of secondary prevention responses to other febrile illness

iii)Understand parent and community attitudes to and experiences of childhood vaccinations within routine and non-routine programmes

iv)Explore trial participation (uptake and broader engagement) within an influenza vaccine trial

v)Improve adverse event monitoring through pictorial diary studies and enhanced community liaison systems

vi)Optimise community engagement for current and future vaccine studies for flu and other influenza-like virus.

2)To work in collaboration with members of the Communication of Science and Social Science team and collaborating closely with international researchers at University of Oxford and other Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programmes to improve practice through bioethics and community engagement research at MLW. The post holder will contribute to the expanding group of researchers working in this area which currently comprises 1 doctoral research student, 1 Monitoring and Evaluation officer, and 4 junior research fellows, each of whom is completing a research project, the results of which will contribute to the strengthening of ethical field and hospital practice at MLW.

3)To contribute to broader capacity strengthening of national and regional social science researchers through established MLW networks including contributing to capacity strengthening at key collaborating partner organisation: College of Medicine, University of Malawi through teaching and supervision

4)Opportunities to develop postdoctoral research aligned to the social science strategy at MLWand development to become an independent researcher

5)Carry out other tasks relevant to the post as requested to support the further strengthening of the social science programme

6)Responsible for working in a safe manner adhering to local and legal requirements

Person Specification: PDRA Social Sciences in Vaccine Acceptability & Bioethics

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