News

 Post Doctoral Researcher – Centre for Global Women’s Studies

SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY

Ref. No. University of Galway 123-23

Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for a fixed term/specific purpose position as a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Centre for Global Women’s Studies at the University of Galway.

This position is funded by UNFPA and is available from July 3^rd, 2023 to contract end date of Decembe 31^st, 2024.

Centre for Global Women’s Studies

The Centre for Global Women’s Studies builds on a long tradition of community engagement in Women’s Studies at University of Galway and a commitment to promoting global goals of peace, development and human rights. Rooted in academic excellence, the Centre brings together learners and researchers who are passionate about cultivating critical thinking, knowledge and skills, in partnership with diverse communities, to foster positive change and to advance gender equality, women’s empowerment and human rights for all.

Research in the Global Women’s Studies Cluster investigates the operation of gender in society, gender inequalities, changing notions of gender identity, and the challenges of achieving women's empowerment and human rights in Ireland and beyond, in a context of globalisation. Addressing the global issue of gender-based violence is one of our core areas of focus.

Post Doctoral Researcher: The Position

The Centre for Global Women’s Studies is seeking to recruit a Post Doctoral Reseacher with appropriate qualifications and practical experience in applied research on gender-based violence and costing reserach.  The post-holder will be the lead researcher on  a project focused on piloting and implementing a global resource investment tool designed to estimate the resources required to comprehensively address gender-based-violence.

Job Description:

The successful candidate will carry out research focused on the implementation of the Global Resource Investment Tool of the Essential Services Package for women and girls subject to violence (ESP). The United Nations Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence aims to provide greater access to a coordinated set of essential and quality multi-sectoral services for all women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence. The Global Resource Investment Tool, has been developed to enable national institutions to estimate the resource requirements for a minimum package of services, based on selected ‘essential services/actions’ identified across the police and justice, social services and coordination modules in the Essential Services Package (ESP). The tool is intended to help inform national planning, programming and budgeting processes, as well as helping Governments and civil society to better understand what is required for service provision and why this is necessary.

The project comprises four phases: Two country pilots of the existing Global Resource Investment Tool ( one pilot has been completed); expansion of the Tool based on lessons learned from these pilots; implementation of the revised Tool in a third country. A key element of the work involves undertaking qualitative focus groups and interviews with stakeholders in the two of the  participating countries –Papua New Guinea and Pakistan. In addition, the Post Doctoral Researcher will be the technical lead in the estimation of the resources required to comprehensively address gender-based violence in each country, employing the Global Resource Investment Tool. This tool is excel-based.

Duties:

• Preparing stakeholder workshops, in conjunction with the project Principal Investigator (PI) and Research Associate for two countries implementing the ESP.
• Conducting stakeholder workshops in the participating countries with the support of the Reseach Associate and in-country UNFPA offices.
• Conducting Training on cost estimation and the Global Resource Investment Tool with key national stakeholders and service providers.
• Identifying and sourcing relevant administrative data.
• Undertaking questionnaires, focus groups and interviews with stakeholders in the participating countries to collect primary data to establish unit costs of service provision.
• Providing technical lead for the estimation of resource requirements to comprehensively address gender-based violence in each country, employing the Global Resource Investment Tool.
• Preparing and conducting global coordination workshops, in conjunction with the project Principal Investigator (PI) and Research Associate.
• Documenting lessons learned from the country pilots, in conjunction with the project Principal Investigator (PI) and Research Associate.
• Leading the application of lessons learned to expand/revise the Global Resource Investment Tool, as well as developing new cost strategies.
• Report writing, in conjunction with the project Principal Investigator (PI) and Research Associate.
• Liaising with stakeholders.

Other duties may be assigned by the PI from time to time. The Researcher will carry out the duties of the post under the direction of the PI.

Qualifications/Skills required:

Essential Requirements:

The successful candidate will have a PhD degree in a Social Science subject such as Sociology or Economics.

• PhD in a Social Science subject such as Sociology or Economics.
• Familiarity with costing studies of service provision (health, psychosocial or legal services)
• Demonstrable understanding of gender-based violence.
• Experience of conducting social science research on pressing social issues.
• Expertise in conducting qualitative research – focus groups and interviews.
• Expertise in conducting quantitative research – questionnaires.
• Practical knowledge, and experience, of statistical software, including excel.
• Robust analytical skills – qualitative and quantitative data.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Strong report writing skills.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.

Desirable Requirements:

• Expertise in conducting research on gender-based violence.
• Experience in conducting costing studies, particularly in terms of service provision.
• Expertise in statistical software such as SPSS, R and Stata.
• Practical experience of sourcing administrative data.
• Experience of preparing and conducting stakeholder workshops.
• Experience of working with global organisations, such as UNFPA.
• Ability to work within a multidisciplinary research team. 

Employment permit restrictions apply for this category of post

Salary: €42,032 to €48,429 per annum pro rata for shorter and/or part-time contracts (public sector pay policy rules pertaining to new entrants will apply).

Start date: Position is available from 3^rd July 2023

Continuing Professional Development/Training:

The University of Galway provides continuing professional development supports for all researchers seeking to build their own career pathways either within or beyond academia.  Researchers are encouraged to engage with our Researcher Development Centre (RDC) upon commencing employment – see www.universityofgalway.ie/rdc for further information.'

Further information on research and working at University of Galway is available on Research at University of Galway

For information on moving to Ireland please see www.euraxess.ie

Further information about the Centre for Global Women’s Studies is available at https://www.universityofgalway.ie/womens_studies/index.html

Further information about the ESP Global Resource Investment Tool is available at https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/ESP_Module-7-CostingTool-EN.pdf

Informal enquiries concerning the post may be made to Dr Nata Duvvury (nata.duvvury@universityofgalway.ie)

To Apply:

Applications to include a cover letter, CV, and the contact details of three referees – to be sent, via e-mail (in word or PDF only), to Dr Nata Duvvury: nata.duvvury@universityofgalway.ie

Please put reference number University of Galway 123-23 in subject line of e-mail application.

Closing date for receipt of applications is 5.00 pm June 16th

We reserve the right to re-advertise or extend the closing date for this post.

The University of Galway is an equal opportunities employer.

All positions are recruited in line with Open, Transparent, Merit (OTM) and Competency based recruitment