Job code: CR0117
Location: With the Worldpop team in Southampton, UK
Duration: 2 year contract (renewable). Full-time position
Start date: Immediate
Salary: £70,000 – £100,000 per annum
Reporting to: Executive Director
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Context and organisational background
Flowminder Foundation is a non-profit organisation registered in Stockholm, Sweden with a large part of its staff in Southampton UK as well as an office in Geneva, Switzerland. Flowminder’s mission is to improve public health and welfare in low- and middle-income countries in partnerships with governments, intergovernmental organizations and NGOs. Our analyses aim to map the distributions, movements and characteristics of vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries. A large part of our work focuses on improving preparedness and response to humanitarian crises. We help save lives and improve welfare by providing analyses and decision support to all relevant parties based on the latest academic advances. Our work includes both research and operational projects, always aimed at having a concrete impact on vulnerable populations. Our funders include BMGF, Rockefeller Foundation and UN Foundation. We are a rapidly growing organisation with a great team of highly skilled staff, who have a great time together and find meaning in what we do.
Much of the work in Flowminder takes place in close collaboration with University of Southampton and the successful applicant will work closely together with researchers in the WorldPop Project at University of Southampton. An academic position at the University of Southampton may be possible to create depending on the candidate’s profile and interests.
Flowminder and the Worldpop project have pioneered the use of mobile operator data to follow and predict the distributions and movements of displaced populations in crises using de-identified mobile operator data. Flowminder has carried out operational work in support of government relief agencies and intergovernmental organisations in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, after Hurricane Matthews 2016 and after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. Flowminder’s scientific work has focused on i) validation and use of estimation techniques for measurement and prediction of population displacement using mobile operator data, and ii) the integration of operator data with other data sources to improve understanding of the spatial distribution of disaster impacts. We additionally provide high-resolution pre-crisis maps of population distributions and characteristics (such as poverty) to support agencies and governments in understanding population needs in crises.
Our multidisciplinary team include demographers, medicals doctors, epidemiologists, geographers, mathematical modelers, sociologist, economists and computer scientists.
Read more about Flowminder and the WorldPop Project at http://www.flowminder.org http://www.worldpop.org.uk and about Flowminder in the media: http://www.flowminder.org/news
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The Position
The Flowminder Foundation is seeking to appoint a Principal Investigator to lead the organisation’s work in developing methods for using mobile operator data in combination with survey data and other spatial datasets to improve crisis management, as well as to lead the organisation’s operational projects in the disaster management area.
The work is strongly focused in low- and middle-income countries. The successful candidate will combine extensive experience in emergency response strategy and planning, with a quantitative analysis background and a strong academic track record.
This position comprises a strong involvement in operational projects with a network of global partners, in order to help implement effective, prompt, and accountable responses to disasters.
You will have a track record undertaking innovative work that demonstrates mastery of your field. You will have a proven ability or potential to independently manage project work from the early stages of project design, contract negotiation, communication with stakeholders through to delivery of final results to stakeholders and academic publishing. You will ideally be attracting international recognition and will have published a number of high quality research papers.
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PLACE IN THE ORGANISATION
The Principal Investigator
- Reports hierarchically to the Executive Director
- Reports functionally to the Executive Director and Director of Worldpop
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MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
As a Principal Investigator in humanitarian response and preparedness with Flowminder/WorldPop you will:
- Oversee complex projects, be responsible for senior project management (scientific and operational) including delegation and management of tasks to other researchers and analysts as appropriate
- Oversee and supervise project field activities, such as liaising with partners, gathering contextual information and when relevant set up studies in the field ensuring that the highest quality standards are attained. Such activities may take place during or before/after humanitarian crises
- Take responsibility for budgeting and financial control of projects
- Contribute to the planning and development of the organisation’s strategy in the humanitarian domain
- Raise funds to implement the organisation’s strategy
- Have responsibility for consultancy work of the organisation within the humanitarian field
- Manage relationships with external partners, including government agencies and UN organisations
- Proactively respond during crisis situations to provide intelligence support and to ensure that any operations tracking systems, models, and databases are up to date during a crisis
- Maintain an updated understanding of the current geopolitical situation and its relevance to Flowminder’s work.
- Brief partners, team members and/or leadership on regional developments as necessary
- Develop scientific reports and publications.
- Lead internal capacity building on humanitarian issues
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REQUIREMENTS
ESSENTIAL
- Ph.D. or equivalent in a field such as Disaster Management, Demography, Epidemiology, Social Statistics, Sociology, or other relevant field with a strong training in quantitative analysis and study design
- Experience of operational work in disasters
- Understanding of disaster response systems, data collection methods, informational needs of responders and limitations in crisis data quality
- Experience/understanding of current resource allocation and decision-making processes in disaster contexts
- Ability to occasionally work under time-limited conditions with the ability to make decisions based on incomplete information
- Strong scientific writing skills, evidenced by academic papers and reports
- Field experience in low/middle income countries
- Highly proficient in written and spoken English
- Experience leading expert teams in analytical projects
- Strong project management skills
- Experience of writing successful funding proposals
- Ability to work effectively as a member of an interdisciplinary team
- Willingness to travel internationally to low/middle income countries
DESIRABLE
- Programming proficiency in statistical software or other programming language
- Experience/training in working with demographic data (e.g. census, household surveys)
- Experience of working with mobile network data
- GIS/remote sensing experience
- Knowledge of survey sample design
- Training and experience of computer programming (R, Python preferred)
- Multilingual (French, Spanish, Arabic or other major languages)
- Experience of working in international agencies
- In-depth understanding of geopolitical developments.