RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Job Title: RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Job Location: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India (The selected candidate will have to visit to AIIMS Bhopal)

Positions: 2 (Full time)

Duration: The position will be hired on an annual basis with renewal depending on continued funding and satisfactory performance.

Reporting: Co Investigator of the project

Joining: Immediate

About Sangath: Sangath (www.sangath.in) is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation committed to improving health across the life span by empowering existing community resources to provide appropriate physical, psychological and social therapies. Its primary focus areas include child development, adolescent and youth health, and adult health and addictions research.
Sangath seeks to appoint research assistants who will be based at Bhopal, and will work for the SHARP project.

About the Project:
This project aims to address challenges around the assessment of cognition as well as its measurement in the context of different environments and circadian terms through a novel concept called micro cognitive and contextual momentary performance. Micro cognitive and contextual momentary performance metrics involve two core elements captured simultaneously: 1) brief self-administered scalable smartphone measures of cognitive performance; and 2) digital phenotyping measures of symptoms, activity levels, sleep patterns, and related functional/environmental factors. These related functional/environmental factors include metrics about the immediate environment (light, ambient sound levels, social density) and personal state (sleep, mobility, and activity metrics). These micro cognitive and contextual momentary performance metrics are designed to be offered multiple times per day via a smartphone and thus represent a scalable means to bring novel cognitive performance measurement into the hands of millions of people with schizophrenia. We will co-develop a battery of these assessments designed to measure those cognitive domains most impacted in early course schizophrenia, refine that battery in pilot testing, and finally assess the potential of our micro cognitive and contextual momentary performance metrics against functional outcomes with personalized scoring controlling for differing environments and circadian rhythms. Validation of these new metrics will take consorted efforts by multiple teams, but our goal to introduce accessible micro cognitive and contextual momentary performance metrics and study their utility in assessing real-world functioning and symptoms presents an important and feasible start across sites in this study. Funded, by Wellcome Trust, UK, SHARP is a collaboration between Sangath Bhopal, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) at Harvard Medical School, All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Bhopal, India and National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), India. More details available at, https://sangath.in/sharp-2/

Job Description
• Planning and recruitment of study participants for the FGDs, assessments and follow ups visits.
• Assist the research team to plan, conduct and analyses of the FGDs with study participants.
• Visits to AIIMS Bhopal for study participants recruitment and for project related coordination.
• Coordination with AIIMS team and Sangath team for participants recruitment related activities.
• Coordination and communication with Study participants to invite them for study FGDs, assessments and follow up visits.
• Perform Consent procedures and consenting of the study participants at the study site.
• Conduct baseline and follow up assessments with the participants at AIIMS site.
• Data collection, data storage and data compilation for future records and report writing.
• Ensuring safety of physical data and record keeping.
• Participate in regular project meetings and documentation activities as per the proposed project scope.
• Providing support to projects implementation, guaranteeing quality, efficiency and effectiveness.
• Assist and participate in other Sangath activities.
• Execute any other relevant duties assigned by the Director of Projects and Site PI.

Essential Candidate requirements
• Bachelor’s/master's degree in psychology, Psychology Social Work, Bachelor’s/master's degree in psychology and public health, bachelor's in psychology and master's in social work or related fields/discipline
• Willingness to be based in Bhopal and Visit to AIIMS site for project deliverables
• Fluency in Hindi and English
• Prior experience of working in a similar role for a minimum of 1-2 years
• Knowledge and experience of working with patients and caregivers.
• Ability to liaise and coordinate with the study stakeholders.
• Good computing (MS Office), organizational and communication skills
• Commitment of a minimum of 1 year.

Desirable criteria
• Experience of working with multi-disciplinary teams.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a team.
• Ability to work on tight deadlines.

Remuneration and contractual duration 

Salary offered will commensurate based on the education, work experience and as per applicable Sangath policy. The initial appointment will be made for three months’ probation from the date of joining, with renewal up to one year based on a performance review.
Last Date and address for applications-
Please apply by filling this Google Form https://bit.ly/RASHARP2 where you be required to upload your CV as well.

Kindly apply by 20th October 2023.
Short-listed candidates will be contacted within a week after closing. Further selection will be done based on online/in-person interview. Full applications must include a detailed CV along with a support letter from two of your referees

For more details, please go through the website www.sangath.in or can write to ritu.shrivastava@sangath.in

*Incomplete applications will not be considered. Women and those from a marginalized background are encouraged to apply.