Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Full-time, Fixed-term appointment until 14 May 2025

Based in Liverpool with frequent overseas travel to DRC for extended periods

The Department of Vector Biology at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) is actively recruiting for a Post-Doctoral Research Associate to provide technical support for vector control in TrypElim and Trypa-NO! projects, with particular emphasis on the use of Tiny Targets. The TrypElim and Trypa-NO! partnerships bring together leading research institutions (LSTM, ITM, IRD), implementation organisations (FIND) and national sleeping sickness control programmes in DRC (TrypElim project), and Uganda, South Sudan, Angola, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea (Trypa-NO! project). The partnerships aim to eliminate sleeping sickness through a combination of case detection, treatment, and vector control. Both partnerships are funded by grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

The successful candidate will lead field-based research intended to explore more efficient vector control strategies in the context of gambiense-HAT elimination.  This will imply designing, implementing analysing and interpreting a series of operational research experiments in DRC and Uganda.  Depending on the outcome, these new strategies could be implemented from 2025 onwards.  The job will involve close interactions with the rest of the group at LSTM, but also collaborations with national programmes (i.e., PNLTHA in DRC and COCTU in Uganda) and international institutes, such as ITM, FIND, etc.  The PDRA will support and guide implementation field teams in both countries, in person and remotely.

Key responsibilities include:

• Represent LSTM between the partnerships, implementation organisations and research institutions.
• Responsible for implementation of operational research study investigating different intervention scales in DRC.
• Responsible for implementation of operational research study investigating different density and frequencies of Tiny Target deployment in Uganda.
• Manage field teams and participate in entomological surveys and monitoring.
• Responsible for data management, data analysis and interpretation of results.
• Lead on the development of research papers based on the study results.

You will bring (not limited to):

• PhD in relevant field (for example, but not restricted to, entomology, ecology, field-based epidemiology).
• Good general understanding of medical entomology and control of vector-borne diseases.
• Experience of field work in Africa or other resource-poor setting.
• Numerate and competent with statistical analysis.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to develop effective working relationships with a range of people at all levels from diverse cultures.
• Excellent level of written and conversational French.
• Able and willing to travel overseas frequently for extended periods – up to six trips of four weeks duration per year.