Research Associate

**About Western**:
**About Us**:
The Faculty of Health Sciences is a large, diverse, and comprehensive unit, comprised of seven Schools (Nursing, Kinesiology, Health Studies, Physical Therapy,
Occupational Therapy, Communication Sciences and Disorders and Foods and Nutritional Sciences), a large Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and four Research Centres. The Faculty has more than 4,000 undergraduate students and more than 900 graduate students (200 PhD students).

**Responsibilities**:

- The Research Associate will support the CIHR-funded research project: “Culturally Responsive Sexual Health and Wellbeing Programming for Transgender Middle Eastern and North African Newcomer Young Adults in Ontario: Community-Based Participatory Research through Arts-Based Approaches”. This project is part of a large research program, the YSMENA program, a community-based research program aimed at improving sexual health and wellbeing of diaspora Middle Eastern and North African youth in Canada. The incumbent is responsible for coordinating all project-related deliverables as per study protocol. The Research Associate will oversee the deliverables of the research support staff, coordinate all project related meetings with the research team, compose meeting minutes and track all project honoraria and expenses. The incumbent will update the YSMENA program website, manage social meeting postings, compile and submit a report of project activities as per funders' requests, and other project administrative duties as required. The Research Associate will also support the facilitation of onsite orientation sessions, group discussions and the facilitation of art production brainstorming sessions. The incumbent will also plan and execute two art exhibits in person (Greater Toronto Area and the London/Middlesex Area) and a permanent exhibit via a virtual platform.

Please note, evenings and weekend work may be required to meet project deliverables. Main project deliverables are carried out/conducted in downtown Toronto.

**Qualifications**:
**Education**:

- Master's Degree in a related discipline

**Experience**:

- 3 years' work experience in a related community-based environment

Skills, Abilities & Expertise:

- Excellent organizational, facilitation and communication skills
- Demonstrated ability to deliver timeline sensitive project outcomes
- Proven ability to work in a collaborative and fast paced environment
- Demonstrated ability to exercise initiative, sound judgment, discretion, and tact
- Ability to maintain a positive, outgoing attitude with genuine interest in participants
- Personable and courteous in working relationships with colleagues, participants and Research Team
- Passion to work hard with a propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence
- Ability to lead a range of activities with a demonstrated ability to understand and resolve issues
- Reliable with the consistent ability to work weekends and/or evenings, based on project needs
- Competency with MS Office suite of programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook), Qualtrics, and NVivo software
- Working ability in one of the Middle Eastern languages, Arabic or Farsi is an asset
- Knowledge and/or experience on issues faced by the project's target communities (racial and sexual and gender minority youth, and economically marginalized young adults)
- Knowledge of the effects of marginalization on health and strategies to promote health equity
- Experience in community-based research
- Proven commitment to social justice and anti-oppression
- Demonstration of effective coordination of community-based action research or equivalent projects
- Demonstrated strong writing skills in preparing research reports and translating research findings into lay language and accessible formats for public dissemination
- Expertise in expressive arts and music in various mediums
- Skilled in painting, graphic design, photography, and/or handcrafts
- Demonstrated ability to train, support and lead co-creation of artistic product in various mediums

**Why Western?**:
**Background Checks**:
Please note, successful applicants may be required to produce current record check(s) (e.g. vulnerable sector, criminal record and police information) from a police service prior to commencing employment.

Consideration of applicants will include an assessment of previous performance, experience, and qualifications. Applicants should have oral communication skills in English.

**Western Values Diversity**:
Accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment process. If you require accommodations for interviews or other meetings, please contact Human Resources or phone 519-661-2194.

**Please Note**:
We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those chosen for an interview will be contacted.