The Behavioral Research Director will be responsible for developing and executing plans and research to provide robust social-behavioral evidence on key population needs, attitudes and behaviors for HIV prevention in Africa. This role will work in close partnership with research partners as the evidence plan will be an integral component of the integrated Product Development Plan (iPDP) and will inform product design, clinical development plans, policy decisons and access initiatives.
The successful candidate will lead development and execution of all aspects of IAVI’s socio-behavioral (SBR) project portfolio in Africa including landscape analyses, needs assessment, design and oversight of execution of qualitative and quantitative research, analysis and dissemination of key findings to internal teams and external audiences.
The Behavioral Research Director will report to the Africa Regional Director and will have a dotted line to the Vice-President, Global Access. The candidate will work closely with relevant Product Teams, Clinical Protocol Teams and Regional/Country teams.
Responsibilities
Evidence Strategy and Development of the Research agenda
Identify social-behavioral evidence needs, attitudes and behaviors for key populations in Africa. Work closely with research partners and key stakeholders to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment and landscape analyses to identify gaps and key socio-behavioural issues to accelerate product development or global access of novel HIV prevention products including vaccines and antibodies. SBR issues could relate to product acceptability and desirability, product initiation and adherence, stigma, gender violence, HIV risk perceptions, mobility patterns, health systems delivery, etc.
Lead development of the SBR strategic portfolio in Africa that utilizes existing evidence or generates new evidence to ensure product development plans are informed by a robust understanding of the needs and behaviors of at risk populations, healthcare providers and policymakers. At-risk populations include: adolescent girls and young women, men who have sex with men, sex workers and people who inject drugs.
Define and oversee the SBR agenda for the USAID supported ADVANCE (Accelerate the Development of Vaccines and New Technologies to Combat the AIDS Epidemic) initative.
Represent IAVI externally to showcase leadership in SBR and help to secure funding for future reseach.
Community and Market Insights
• Seek, consolidate, assess and disseminate key insights from communities to improve the effective execution of clinical trials and inform Target Product Profiles (TPPs), integrated product development plans and global access objectives. Key insights could be leveraged from secondary data sources or primary research from clinical and epidemiological studies or new, independent SBR projects.
• As a subject matter expert, understand qualitative and quantitative research methods and the optimal mechanism to gather key insights based on SBR objectives.
• In collaboration with IAVI partners, develop and implement a communications strategy to ensure that key insights are shared with policy makers and are translated into national and regional policies and practices.
• Monitor the broader landscape of SBR projects, including those sponsored by USAID and PEPFAR, to identify opportunities to leverage insights, methods and/or technical expertise.
Execution
Provide oversight on the design, execution, analysis, publication and dissemination of findings from research studies. Oversight could include development and/or review of SBR protocols, consent forms, data collection instruments, Institutional Review Board (IRB) submissions and preparation of suitable educational materials and regulatory documents.
Lead selected SBR projects in Africa with partners, as directed.
Work closely with collaborating investigators to strengthen internal capabilities for SBR including mentorship, training, grant writing and publications
Guide a team of highly motivated managers and staff at IAVI and research partners working on socio-behavioral and end-user research, global access, advocacy, policy and communications.
Participate in the development and submission of work plans and budgets for SBR research studies, and monitoring/reporting achievement of work plan milestones and budgets (both internally and donor-specific)
Participate in the development of proposals, grant applications and other funding opportunities to secure and sustain funding for SBR research.
Job Requirements
Required education
: Bachelor's degree
Required relevant work experience
: 5 years
Required languages:
English (Spoken: fluent | Written: fluent)
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