Location
New York
Open Date
Sep 21, 2021
Description
Project: Global TIES for Children – Primary Education and Learning in Emergencies (PELE)
Title: Research Associate, Measurement, Systems, and Scaling
Division/Department: Steinhardt/ IHDSC – Global TIES for Children
Reports to: Carly Tubbs Dolan, Principal Investigator
Work Location: New York University, Washington Square or Abu Dhabi campuses, with opportunities for travel
Work Schedule: Full-time
Salary (Pay Range): $65,000-$75,000
Benefits Eligible: Yes
Start/End Date: November 1, 2021 – April 1, 2022 (Possibility of renewal contingent upon satisfactory performance and availability of funding)
Global TIES’s Primary Education and Learning in Emergencies (PELE) Group
Education can only contribute to inclusivity and equity in society by ensuring quality learning for the most marginalized children: those displaced by crisis and conflict as well as those in host communities under strain. Since 2016, the PELE team at NYU’s Global TIES for Children has sought to support primary school-aged children’s holistic learning and development in crisis contexts by facilitating stakeholders’ ability to generate, communicate and use evidence for program and policy decision-making.
To contribute to such a vision, NYU-TIES is:
Coordinating with sub-national, national, regional, and global stakeholders working in education in emergencies to collaboratively develop and disseminate research conceptual frameworks and research agenda;
Increasing the capacity of research-practice-policy partnerships to develop, adapt, test and use data from holistic learning measures at a national/sub-national scale;
Conducting research in partnership on education program implementation and impact and on holistic child development in contexts of conflict and protracted crisis;
Developing and disseminating global public goods (e.g., measures of holistic learning, learning modules, open-source R packages) to support stakeholders’ capacity to generate and use actionable data.
This position will support two initiatives:
Measurement, Systems, and Scaling. The Measurement, Systems, and Scaling initiative focuses specifically on supporting stakeholders working at – or working to move to – regional, national or sub-national scale in contexts of displacement. The ultimate vision for this work is to improve coherence in education systems within and between foundational education frameworks, curricula, and standards, and assessments used to assess progress towards those goals; as well as within and between diverse stakeholders (e.g., non-governmental organizations, ministries, donors).
Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC) Consortium. The mission of the ERICC consortium is to expand and strengthen the evidence base for education in conflict and protracted crisis. In doing so, we aim to have meaningful impacts on education policies and practices supporting girls’ and boys’ learning and development in conflict and crisis settings. This research program will focus on seven contexts: Nigeria, South Sudan, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Myanmar and Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. The Consortium consists of multinational and multidisciplinary researchers and partner organizations around the world that have extensive experience in research and education programming in the most challenging conflict and protracted crisis environments.
Position Summary
The Research Associate will focus on (a) Measurement, Systems, and Scaling activities in primarily Lebanon; but also Jordan, Chad, and Uganda; and (b) supporting TIES researchers to oversee the overall ERICC Consortium’s Research Directorate as well as to co-lead research activities in Lebanon and Bangladesh (and potentially in other ERICC countries, e.g., Jordan). The position will be at New York University’s New York City campus, with the possibility of travel (if/when it is safe).
Within these two teams, the Research Associate will provide day-to-day project management and research support for several project activities, including:
Coordinating, building relationships with, and capacitating project partners, including researchers and program staff at partner organizations, staff at ministries of education, and M&E staff at NGOs;
Building and maintaining knowledge management systems for effective project management and record keeping;
Conducting literature and desk reviews and key informant interviews;
Making signal contributions to measure development and testing (e.g., mapping items and piloting measures); and
Supporting research and donor report generation.
Responsibilities
The Research Associate will work directly with the PI(s) and project lead Research Scientists and will be responsible for the following activities:
General project management to ensure timely completion of project deliverables:
Track and follow-up on communications, deadlines, and deliverables with partner organizations;
Build and manage knowledge-management systems for projects, including setting up and maintaining task and file management systems, and documenting processes, decisions, and action steps
Refine cross-organizational systems for tracking and organizing communications, materials and deliverables using project management software such as Asana; and
Support hiring and supervision of undergraduate and graduate student assistants.
Liaising with partner organizations, NYU-TIES research scientists, and field staff to:
Develop tailored curricula to support the improvement of measurement, monitoring, and evaluation within education NGOs and ministries;
Coordinate virtual meetings and workshops and provide administrative and management support;
Conduct key informant interviews and literature and desk reviews and translation of documents;
Provide research and logistical support in qualitative and quantitative protocol development and adaptation, enumerator training, data collection, and data management; and support qualitative data transcription, translation, coding and analyses; and
Coordinate with the NYU-TIES Data Team and project partners to ensure data quality, with the possibility of supporting some quantitative analyses.
Support in the communication and dissemination of results of project activities:
Prepare and support report generation for funders, prime contractor, and the wider ERICC consortium
Prepare presentations for meetings, convenings, and conferences;
Coordinate with NYU-TIES core staff to disseminate materials via website and social media; and
Organize materials for dissemination on various platforms.
Qualifications
The candidates should have:
A BA/BS or MA/MS in education, international education, developmental science/psychology, human development, economics, sociology, a relevant communications/engineering field (e.g., interactive telecommunications, human-centered design and engineering, education communications and technology), or a related social science field.
Ability to work well independently and in a multidisciplinary, multi-country team.
Excellent organization skills, efficiency, and attention to detail.
Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
The ideal candidate will also have:
Written and/or Oral Arabic, French, Swahili proficiency is strongly preferred; and and/or proficiency in any of the indigenous languages spoken in Nigeria, Uganda, Chad, South Sudan and/or Myanmar is a plus.
Demonstrated experience in approaching complex governmental and non-governmental contexts with diplomacy and self-awareness.
Mastery of database software (e.g., Excel, Google Sheets) and openness to adopting project management software (e.g., Asana, Copper).
Experience with data collection software (e.g., KoBo, Qualtrics); statistical analysis software (e.g., STATA, MPlus, R); and/or qualitative research methods and software (e.g., MaxQDA).
Experience working with displaced/refugee populations in low-income/conflict-affected contexts.
Benefits and Employment Conditions
Competitive salary (salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience) and attractive fringe benefits (health, dental, vision, retirement, etc.) and support for conference/event travel related to Center projects.
Minimum six-month commitment required, with the potential for renewal.
About Global TIES for Children
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 Larry Aber and Hiro Yoshikawa, we work with some of the world’s leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) 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.
Application Instructions
Application Process
The position could begin as soon as November 1st, 2021, though the start date is flexible. The position will be based in New York City at the Institute of Human Development and Social Change, New York University.
To Apply
Required documents:
Current CV/Resume
Statement of Interest
3 professional references (full name, contact number and email address)
1 writing sample (preferably a thesis chapter or published article).
https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/ihdsc/global-ties
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