Research Associate

**About Western**:
**About Us**:
The Department of Psychiatry is a diverse city-wide clinical academic department at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. The department encompasses the University, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), St. Joseph's Health Care, London (SJHC), London and St. Thomas, and the Child and Parent Resources Institute (CPRI).

The vision for the Department of Psychiatry is to be the acknowledged Centre of Excellence for psychiatric care and discovery in South Western Ontario with a mission to translate clinical research into treatment and provide regional consultation within interdisciplinary models of care. The Department of Psychiatry is comprised of approximately 80 Clinical Academics, 7 Basic Research Scientists, 36 trainees and 12 administrative staff including the Manager, Administration & Finance.

**Responsibilities**:
The Research Associate will lead, coordinate, and manage research initiatives, and related needs, for the El Salvador Mindful Social Innovation (MSI) Lab program focused on catalyzing young people/practitioners as champions for mental well-being and reconciliation. The MSI Lab includes an in-person 14 day lab (on sensemaking, ideating, and prototyping), with 1-year virtual support (on implementation and evaluation), 3-day convening (to discuss evaluation and scale-up strategies).

The Research Associate will primarily be responsible for the following:

- Carrying out original and independent research as per the program goals
- Design research methods and strategies; and supervise students and provide guidance to community partner representatives on the research team in the development of research methods and strategies
- Evaluate and interpret research results and prepare reports

The Research Associate will also contribute in the following manner:

- Curriculum Development:

- Lead MSI curriculum adaptation and train-the-trainers model development, with close collaboration with key community stakeholders
- Use previously captured information to feed into the development of the curriculum and model; and/or conduct a rapid needs assessment, interviews, and/or focus groups to understand needs, barriers, and opportunities (including related to gender, inclusivity, and conflict sensitivity indicators)
- Capacity Building:

- Train and provide technical support to students and community partner representatives to co-design, -implement, and -evaluate the program
- Supervise summer interns/practicum students, including developing and formalizing a regular/annual summer placement
- Monitoring & Evaluation:

- Develop monitoring & evaluation protocols and systems
- Manage the review of data from monitoring & evaluation systems to track the quality of the program and design improvement measures
- Knowledge Translation/Dissemination
- Develop knowledge products to contribute to global evidence on what works
- Support other projects as needed:

- Contextualization of the Mindfulness Staff Training initiative
- Creation of participatory video and handbook aimed at understanding the link with historical memory and mental health

**Qualifications**:
**Education**:
- Master's degree in international development, global health, or mental health

**Experience**:
- At minimum 5 years of experience leading global mental health projects in humanitarian contexts and/or low-/middle-income settings, which connect to education, social innovation, peacebuilding, and/or protection

Skills, Abilities & Expertise:
- Experience with mixed methods research (including data collection and analysis)
- Experience leading, coordinating, and developing international projects, with a focus on curriculum development, provision of psychosocial support, and catalyzing young people as agents of positive change
- Experience supervising students and local community partners to achieve goals
- An understanding of, and experience utilising, international standards, including Sphere Humanitarian Standards and the INEE Minimum Standards
- Excellent communication skills in English, and a willingness to learn Spanish
- Strong interpersonal skills
- A capacity to work under pressure, while still being highly organised
- A passion for humanitarian/development work

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

Position to be filled by reappointment