Founded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,484 full-time undergraduates and 5,250 graduate and professional students.  Ranked 35 among national universities, Boston College has 888 full-time and 1,281 FTE faculty, 2,711 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $1.4 billion, and an endowment in excess of $3.5 billion.

Job Description

The position is based in Ghana.

The Boston College School of Social Work (BCSSW) and The Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) are a part of the Fogarty International Center Addressing the Research Capacity Gap in Global Child, Adolescent & Family Health Disparities Utilizing Implementation and Data Sciences among Vulnerable Populations in Resource-Limited Settings (“ACHIEVE Program”) offered through Washington University in St. Louis International Center for Child Health and Development (ICHAD). Boston College School of Social Work will provide a one-year postdoctoral fellowship focused on increasing dissemination and implementation (D&I) and data science research capacity in order to address global health disparities affecting children, adolescents, and their adult caregivers. 

The Postdoctoral Fellow will complete the necessary data collection and analysis related to the completed and awarded application to develop computational programming skills to measure psychosocial outcomes to assess effectiveness related to addressing health disparities facing Muslim and other populations. This position will support work in Ghana on the My Community Beyond COVID-19 (MCBC) mentorship program which supports youth identified as at-risk of human trafficking. The Postdoctoral Fellowship is for a 12-month period.

Essential Functions:

Project Management & Implementation (40%): Manage project timelines and 12-month deliverable plan in line with ACHIEVE procedure, qualitative assessment plan, analysis plan, and career development plan; Coordinate field related costs, 10,000 USD, with finance team as per ACHIEVE NIH requirements; Complete scientific aim of the project: test the relationship between change in cultural and social norms and child labor trafficking prevention and address the two study questions related to completing the project a) Does mentoring at-risk trafficking youth lead to increased and sustained school attendance? b) Does mentoring at-risk trafficking youth lead to increased school participation and engagement?  Attend monthly mentorship meetings with Dr. Davison and monthly administrative meetings with BCSSW internal team.

Data Management & Analysis (40%): Lead all analysis and data management of the fellowship; Evaluate and test the overall impact of MCBC mentoring intervention using pre and post-test data, descriptive analysis to assess the level of change in the dichotomous and categorical variables assessed in survey; thematic analysis and frequencies of themes to evaluate open-ended questions assessing mentors’ experiences; and analyze multiple baseline administrative data to examine school attendance trends prior and during the MCBC intervention.

Research Development & Dissemination (20%) By end of fellowship, successfully complete activities related to the preparation and submission of an NIH R proposal, or a foundation research grant proposal as part of the program; Develop publication that reviews study results and recommendations to the social work profession, mentoring programs, policymakers, and trafficking prevention actors.

Requirements

PhD in Social Welfare required; Masters of Social Work required; International development Policy & MGMT certification; Three-five years of relevant experience; Experience with the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data
Strong coursework related to research implementation, qualitative and quantitative methods, and child trafficking; Experience with low-and-middle-income (LMIC) research; Proficiency in statistical software related to the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data; Publication record in the field of social work or related fields; Knowledge of dyadic assessment interactions; Proficiency in communication platforms to allow for enhanced communication in country with Boston-based team (Zoom, Whatsapp); Cultural knowledge of Ghana and ability to live and work in Ghana for a 9-month period out of 12 month fellowship.

Closing Statement

Boston College offers a broad and competitive range of benefits depending on your job classification eligibility:

• Tuition remission for Employees
• Tuition remission for Spouses and Children who meet eligibility requirements
• Generous Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• Low-Cost Life Insurance
• Eligibility for both University-Funded 401k and Employer-Sponsored 403b Retirement Plans
• Paid Holidays Annually
• Generous Sick and Vacation Pay
• Additional benefits can be found on https://www.bc.edu/employeehandbook

Boston College conducts pre-employment background checks as part of the hiring process.  Boston College is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. In concert with our Jesuit, Catholic mission, Boston College is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic faculty and staff committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications for women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans. To learn more about how BC supports diversity and inclusion throughout the university please visit the Office for Institutional Diversity at https://www.bc.edu/offices/diversity .

Boston College's Notice of Nondiscrimination can be viewed at https://www.bc.edu/nondiscrimination .