CALL FOR SENIOR TECHNICAL ADVISORS AND RESEARCH FELLOWS

The Center for Applied and Innovation in Supply Chain – Africa (CARISCA) at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi (KNUST) has been working with its development partners to strengthen research capacity across Africa in the past four years.

As part of its efforts to expand the scope of its activities and reach wider audiences, the center is exploring a new funding opportunity from its partners to enhance the quality and impact of its research and research capacity-strengthening activities. The center is particularly interested in improving its activities in two key priority areas:

1. build partnerships across the African continent and beyond for the purposes of engaging in high-quality, locally led research, with a goal to better understand African context-specific development challenges, and develop and disseminate solutions; and
2. strengthen capacity at local higher education institutions for conducting and disseminating African context-specific development-related research.

The center is, therefore, pleased to invite applications from interested senior academics and researchers who have done top-level research and have experience mentoring young and emerging scholars to serve on its pool of senior technical advisors and research fellows on a full-time, part-time, or adjunct basis. It is expected that these roles will become available from August 2024 subject to funding availability.

Roles and responsibilities for Research Fellows:

It is expected that Research Fellows will draw on their rich academic, industry and/or policy research experiences to support the center to:

1. mentor young and emerging researchers in higher education institutions in Africa;
2. supervise research students funded by the center;
3. conduct conceptual and empirical research in areas of interest to the center;
4. support in preparing manuscripts for submission to scholarly, practitioner and/or policy journals in collaboration with other center researchers and students;
5. prepare reports and presentations as and when necessary; and
6. prepare materials for submission to granting agencies and foundations.

Roles and responsibilities for Senior Technical Advisors:

It is anticipated that Senior Technical Advisors will draw on their rich experience and technical knowledge to provide technical assistance to the center to:

1. develop strategies for strengthening research capacity of academic faculty in higher education institutions in Africa;
2. design, implement, and disseminate research and learning initiatives to academics, practitioners and policy makers in Africa;
3. adapt technical approaches based on team capacities, analysis of program data, stakeholder needs and changes in the context of Africa;
4. ensure quality assurance for research and learning initiatives by contributing to internal capacity development, protocol/publication review and compliance processes;
5. develop research-related products and materials, and help to integrate these materials in the center’s research and learning activities; and
6. design and implement technical training activities within specific Africa project settings.

Essential Qualifications:

To be successful in any of the two roles, you should demonstrate the following essential qualifications and experiences.

1. You hold a terminal degree (e.g., Ph.D., DBA, DPhil) in development-related disciplines, ideally entrepreneurship, supply chain management (broadly defined), transportation management, development economics and finance, agri-business management, healthcare/pharmaceutical management, development management/studies (including organizational development), gender and inclusive studies, human resource development/management, sustainability studies (broadly defined) and other related disciplines.
2. You should have published at least one scholarly work in high-impact journals as a lead author and at least two others as a co-author within the last five years. We define high-impact journals as journals that are listed in the Academic Journal Guide and are ranked at least 2. The names of journals and their ranking in the Academic Journal Guide are available at https://charteredabs.org/academic-journal-guide-2021/
3. You have experience of successful supervision to completion of at least one PhD student, ideally as a lead supervisor.

Desirable Qualifications:

The following experiences would be added advantages (but are not required).

1. Experience in collaborating with industry and policy stakeholders.
2. Experience of developing academic programs in higher education institutions.
3. Experience in collaborating with researchers outside your home institution and country.
4. Experience in writing research grants and consultancy applications.
5. Proficiency in Arabic, French, and/or Spanish languages.

Interested candidates who meet the essential qualifications above should kindly send a one page application letter and a two page curriculum vitae to CARISCA Research and Training Coordinator, Mr. Martin Agbodzi, via mmagbodzi@carisca.knust.edu.gh by 5 pm Monday, March 25, 2024.

Further enquiries about this opportunity should be directed to the CARISCA Center Director, Prof. Nathaniel Boso, via nboso@carisca.knust.edu.gh