Postdoctoral Research Fellow - One Health and Avian Influenza

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Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

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Annual salary: $65,000 plus benefit

The School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF) for a 1-year term. The position will work with scientists and other professional at BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MAF) to gain a better understanding of smallholder animal farms, farmers, and production systems in BC including producer perceptions of the BC Premises ID (PID) program and potential transmission pathways across farms to help inform policies and programming for monitoring and mitigating Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and other diseases.

The position will be located at the BCCDC. The BCCDC is a program of the Provincial Health Services Authority, that provides provincial and national leadership in disease surveillance, detection, treatment, prevention, and consultation. The Postdoctoral Research Fellow will work under the supervision of Dr. Anya Smith within the BCCDC Public Health Response Team and will work with a broad team of scientists and other professionals at the BCCDC and MAF, and other key stakeholders. The position will be hybrid in nature, including working-from-home, from the BCCDC office, and in the field/community.

Housed within the Faculty of Medicine, the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) is an innovative unit that encompasses many of the health-related groupings at UBC as a collaborative venture. The School is structured around four divisions: Occupational and Environmental Health; Health Services and Policy; Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health Practice; and Health in Populations. The resulting mix of professions and disciplines is seen as a means of connecting individuals and learners to galvanize the relationship between health research, public health and health services and to enhance learning.

The primary activities of the Postdoctoral Research Fellow include:

• Perform literature review, policy scan and jurisdictional interviews to understand strengths, weaknesses, barriers and opportunities experiences by BC PID programs in other provinces and territories
• Create and conduct an online survey at feed stores in BC to understand the degree to which BC small holders are aware and participating in the province's PID program
• Create and conduct semi-structured interviews with smallholder livestock and poultry farmers to understand BC smallholder production systems and practices and to identify livestock acquisition, disposal and other animal health and farm management practices that could potentially contribute to infection, transmission, prevention or control of highly pathogenic avian influenza
• Analyse all data using qualitative and quantitative analytical methods
• Synthesize information in summary reports and journal articles
• Hire, onboard and train summer students to support the project and manage their tasks and workload over their summer terms
• Manage logistics and coordination of interviews, linkage and recruitment of feed stores, assistance with sampling design

Errors made could influence the ability of the research team to meet critical deadlines, as well as compromise the results of research project, and therefore impact the credibility of the Principal Investigator. Poor decisions may be damaging to the reputation of the Principal Investigator, the School, and the University and could lead to incorrect or inappropriate policy recommendations being made.

This position will be responsible for access, collection, use and disclosure of personal information in accordance with the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (RSBC 1996) and other UBC privacy and security policies. This position requires employees to work under strict confidentiality requirements; internal procedures and policies to protect personal information must be followed and adherence to these requirements will be regularly reviewed by the employer.

Supervision Received:

Under the supervision of Anya Smith, the postdoctoral research fellow will be expected to carry out significant independent research and analysis at the level expected for a postdoctoral position.

Supervision Given:

Will help hire, onboard, and train a Masters practicum student and summer (undergraduate student) to help on the project and will provide supervision along with Dr. Smith.

Qualifications:

• The candidate must have completed a PhD in a relevant discipline (e.g. epidemiology and/or biostatistics, public health, veterinary medicine)
• Previous research experience in the area of One Health, public health response, livestock production systems and/or veterinary medicine
• Experience conducting qualitative research
• Experience in managing teams and/or significant student mentorship experience
• Experience conducting literature reviews, and policy scans
• Experience recruiting, consenting and facilitating interviews with diverse stakeholders
• Proficient in statistical analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, including thematic analysis using Framework method
• Ability to work independently as well as the ability to work in teams with other investigators in a positive and collaborative way
• Excellent oral and written communication in English, and experience producing different types of written results such as policy notes, academic papers, and articles.
• Strong organizational skills
• Willingness to network and recruit study participants

Job Requirements: driver's license, ability to travel