Post Doctoral Fellow in Health - J-PAL South Asia

ABOUT J-PAL and CaTCH

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a network of affiliated professors around the world who are united by their use of randomized evaluations to answer questions critical to poverty alleviation.  J-PAL’s headquarters is a center within the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with regional offices around the world hosted by local universities.  J-PAL South Asia was established in August 2007 at the Institute of Financial Management Research (IFMR), in order to expand J-PAL’s research and policy outreach in South Asia.

The J-PAL South Asia initiative on Cash Transfers for Child Health (CaTCH), funded by BMGF, aims to improve child health by generating policy-relevant rigorous evidence on the design and delivery of cash transfer programmes in India. A 5-year initiative, the multi-million-dollar grant conducted a review of evidence and identified research gaps related to cash transfers and their effects on child health outcomes. Subsequently, the initiative has conducted two competitive rounds of requests for proposals, and funded three full evaluations and five pilot studies. Summaries of funded projects can be viewed on the initiative website. The CaTCH initiative’s co-chairs are Pascaline Dupas (Stanford University) and Seema Jayachandran (Northwestern University).

About the Fellowship-

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) South Asia is pleased to announce a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship supporting the Cash Transfers for Child Health (CaTCH) research initiative. The successful candidate will be based in India and work with the initiative’s co-chairs Pascaline Dupas and Seema Jayachandran, other J-PAL affiliated researchers, and the J-PAL South Asia Policy team to help synthesize and disseminate evidence on the role of cash transfer and pay-for-peformance programmes for improving child health outcomes in India.

The fellowship can lead to the writing of co-authored meta-analysis and review papers on cash transfer evidence. This fellowship is designed to help the selected candidate launch a successful academic or non-academic research career by allowing him or her to gain experience working with government stakeholders and donors. The fellow will also have opportunities to participate in J-PAL policy dissemination, capacity-building, and mentoring activities.

Roles & Responsibilities

The primary responsibility of the postdoctoral fellow will be to help synthetize and disseminate the results and policy lessons from CaTCH funded studies to the research community, policymakers, funding organisations, and practitioners. The Post Doc will also be expected to participate in dissemination workshops, and help organize a research conference. The role also allows time and provides funding opportunities for the Post Doc to pursue his or her own research projects related to maternal and child health in India. The selected candidate will dual-report directly to the initiative co-chairs and J-PAL South Asia senior management.

Fellowship responsibilities include:

• Work with CaTCH funded full evaluations to see that certain common indicators across studies are being measured in a standard format
• Co-author an article that synthesizes the evidence generated by the various CaTCH projects, including meta-analysis and comparative cost-effectiveness analyses
• Organize a regional workshop that brings together CaTCH researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders to discuss the findings from the evaluations
• Oversee the writing of policy briefs on CaTCH funded research projects
• Oversee the archiving of all CaTCH related data (survey and administrative data) in the public domain
• Leading independent research projects or potentially collaborating with J-PAL affiliates/invited researchers on research projects funded by the initiative:
• Contributing to other related activities, as needed
• This opportunity is ideal for candidates interested in spending two years post PhD to create strong government and donor partnerships while they publish their dissertation and co-author meta-analysis and review papers.

Qualifications

The fellowship is open to a candidate who has earned either a PhD in Economics or Public Policy with a significant focus on health OR a PhD in public health with a focus on quantitative research methods. The candidate should have demonstrated strong research interests and experience in health (or human development broadly defined) in developing countries and impact evaluation (demonstrated by coursework and/or collaborative research activities). Significant applied econometrics skills are expected.

Additional factors that will favorably influence selection include:

• experience in evidence synthesis and reviews of randomized evaluations
• evidence of independently managing complex projects with multiple stake holders
• previous experience working in South Asia, especially with government partners
• knowledge of Hindi and/or other Indian languages

Terms And Tenure

The two-year position will be based in New Delhi, but will require moderate travel throughout India. The ideal starting date for this position is June 2019. The compensation package is highly competitive with positions at leading peer institutions in India.

How to Apply

Complete the J-PAL/ IPA common application. Please select the position “Cash Transfers for Child Health (CaTCH) Postdoctoral Fellowship at J-PAL South Asia” application page.

Applicants are requested to submit the following on the "Documents" page:

• A cover letter applying for the position
• Full CV, including a list of publications
• Academic transcripts (unofficial versions are fine)

Please also submit your job market paper by email the initiative manager Urvashi Wattal at uwattal@povertyactionlab.org  using the Subject Line: Job Market paper for CaTCH post doctoral fellowship.

Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted. Although there is no set closing date for the position, it is highly encouraged to apply before January 1st, 2019.

For more information please check the Link