Senior Research Associate at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a not-for-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Working with various partners across sub-Saharan Africa, we improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Research Associate

Project ID No: IITA–HR–NRS2020–018
Location: Ibadan, Oyo
Contract: 1-year renewable contract.
Recruitment Type: National (1–year renewable contract)

Duties

Successful candidate will among other things perform the following duties:
Co–lead the implementation of projects objectives and deliverables through quantitative and qualitative gender–focused analyses within the ‘Nextgen cassava’ and ‘RTB foods’ projects in cooperation with Nigerian Root Crop Research Institute (NCRI).
Develop qualitative (major) and quantitative (minor) tools and analyse data using software such as SPSS, Nvivo, STATA, ATLAS.ti and R and make conference presentations, author publications in peer–review journals, and develop posters, blogs, and briefs
Manage survey data, organise, train and supervise staff involved in quantitative and qualitative data collection, entry and cleaning
Design, lead and carry out fieldwork in rural communities for gender focused qualitative (a.o. intra–household, and within cooperatives) research and in relation to the citizen science Tricot approach for cassava variety evaluation with stakeholders
Develop and adopt new gender responsive methodologies and qualitative research tools and develop communication and training materials such as protocols/guides, audio and audio–visual content to disseminate gender approaches and research findings at scientific conferences on behalf of project team and scientist
Co–lead the implementation of a systematic customer and product profiling incorporating gender aspects for each value chain actor to foster gender responsive cassava breeding in Nigeria and support cases studies in Vietnam and Zambia as part of the RTB CRP “Golden egg” initiative
Facilitate interdisciplinary meetings and cooperation with bio–physical scientists, food scientist, and colleagues in social/gender science for joined article and methodology development
Support project supervisors/bio–physical scientists on proposal development for resource mobilization
Mentor graduate trainee (NYSC corpers) and supervise students working on gender related projects
Be a resource person at gender sensitization workshops with excellent presentation and communication skills
Lead the preparation and reporting of the gender/social science team’s monthly activities to scientist and project lead
Additional roles assigned as a member of the IITA gender science network and RTB Foods gender working group
Perform any other additional roles assigned as a member of the IITA gender science network and RTB Foods gender working group.

Qualification

Masters Degree in, Food Science / Technology, or related field with minimum of six(6) years’ experience in a well–structured environment or donor funded organization.

Competencies
The ideal candidate must:

Have experience with qualitative and quantitative data analysis tools such as Nvivo, Atlas.ti, SPSS and familiar with database equal to Cassava base (crop ontologies) and Climb Mob data platforms (www.ClimMob.net) and have rudimentary knowledge of R.
Have excellent social skills in building contacts of trust with key persos in rural communities such as community leaders, farmers and processors.

Remuneration