Research Officer

Contractor Fee: INR 74,326

Terms of employment: Contract for one year, renewal by mutual agreement

About Fortify Health

Fortify Health has a vision for a healthier world where everyone has the micronutrients they need to survive and thrive. We work toward this by enabling access to micronutrient-rich wheat flour to reduce and prevent iron deficiency anaemia. We currently work in eight regions in India but are planning to expand to new regions in the coming years.

Fortify Health operates through three work streams:

1. Open Market Support: We support millers to cost-neutrally fortify chakki atta in the open market
2. Government Partnership Support: We work with governments in India to mainstream wheat flour fortification through social safety net programs
3. Evidence Generation: We conduct monitoring and evaluation of activities to inform the public about the value of food fortification

How we work

We take a data driven approach to our work, heavily focusing on how we can have the most impact possible with the resources we have. This forms a core part of our organisational ethos. At Fortify Health, we value each of our team members and support their career development. Since we are a remote organisation, our HR team organise regular online socials to build team cohesion.

About the role

Are you passionate about using research to drive meaningful change? At Fortify Health, we are on a mission to combat iron deficiency anaemia through innovative solutions like wheat flour fortification. As a Research Officer, you’ll play a pivotal role in this mission, contributing to cutting-edge research that has a direct impact on the health and well-being of millions.

What You’ll Do:

1. Be at the Forefront of Public Health Innovation: Support research projects aimed at reducing iron deficiency anaemia by providing essential secondary research that shapes our understanding of improving nutrition.
2. Dive Deep into Data: Engage in comprehensive literature reviews and data analysis, transforming raw data into actionable insights that fuel our projects.
3. Hands-On Research: In some cases, you’ll have the exciting opportunity to conduct primary field research and experiments, ensuring the highest quality of fortified wheat flour.
4. Collaborate and Innovate: Work closely with dynamic teams across Fortify Health, including Program, M&E, and Partnership teams, to drive our research agenda forward. You’ll also collaborate with external research partners, contributing to projects that span across various sectors and geographies.
5. Build and Share Knowledge: Create a rich knowledge base that you’ll share with internal and external stakeholders, influencing public health policies and practices on a broader scale.

The Research Officer will report to Fortify Health’s Research Manager.

Responsibilities and activities

• Research Project Planning
  • Brainstorm new research ideas
  • Write project proposals for different research projects
  • Design and conduct experiments to support the functions of quality assurance, quality control, etc.
• Implementing research projects
  • Conduct literature reviews and collect project-specific information from various secondary data sources
  • Analyze the data, prepare reports, and present them to the respective team members
  • Use different research methodologies and tools to carry out the research
  • Develop surveys and other modes of primary data collection
  • Coordinate with cross-functional team members to gather the relevant information
  • Coordinate with external research partners for ongoing research projects and support in identification of potential research partners
  • Collect primary data through field visits as per the requirement of the project work
• Communicating the research work
  • Communicate the research findings to the internal team and external stakeholders
  • Write research notes, information brochures, research papers, and presentations to share the research findings within the team and to the external stakeholders
• Team and project management
  • Support in identifying new research tools
  • Contribute to manage the ongoing research projects and planning for future projects
  • Support in the creation of a knowledge database to support multiple project requirements
  • Keep the knowledge updated on the relevant sector updates, and new developments and write summaries for internal team members
  • Support in training and hiring new team members

Please note that this job description is a guide to the work you will initially be required to undertake, but does not cover all of the duties the post holder may have to perform. Responsibilities will evolve over time, in discussion with the research manager.

If you were here right now, you would support with…

• Development of a rapid method for qualitative and quantitative determination of the added iron in fortified chakki atta
• Risks of food fortification in terms of reaching the potential toxicity levels from the consumption of the iron-fortified foods
• Understanding the wheat and wheat flour market in India for trends in production and consumption

Candidate profile

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in food technology, biotechnology, medical science or equivalent engineering stream / Masters’ degree in biochemistry, microbiology, public health, food and nutrition science, medical science or equivalent streams.
• Minimum of 3 years work experience in the relevant research domains
• Strong communication and writing skills of the English language
• A good understanding of research methodology
• Knowledge of experimental design, data collection, data analysis, research proposal writing
• Technical content writing skills
• Skills of writing research publications like research reports, academic papers, posters and presenting in conferences
• Project planning and project management skills

Desirable attributes

• Experience working with remote team members
• Experience working independently
• Experience working in an NGO or in the development sector
• Enthusiasm about our opportunity to improve people’s lives
• Knowledge of food industry, public health areas would be an added advantage
• Knowledge and experience of using research tools would be a plus point
• Speaking ability with Hindi language and other local Indian languages would be preferred
• Having at least one academic or non academic publication of a research work

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