Project summary: The Youth FORWARD (Youth Functioning and Organizational Success for West African Regional Development) aims to increase interagency collaboration to scale up research capabilities and partnerships, and increase mental health care services through existing programmatic structures. This project leverages the expertise and resources of six lead organizations to establish a West Africa research partnership and implementation science hub, and simultaneously implementing a scale up of a cognitive-behavioral therapy-based intervention, the Youth Readiness Intervention (YRI) within government and NGO-based Youth Employment Schemes in Sierra Leone. These goals will increase the knowledge available to policy makers and government leadership in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Finally, the establishment of a capacity building core will increase regional and institutional knowledge for the implementation and use of mental health research and findings, to decrease the mental health treatment gap in mental-health resource poor Sierra Leone.
Soliciting: Candidates who might be interested in applying as a Diversity Fellow (must be US citizen or Green card holder) to join. Particularly interested in people with a background in global mental health, implementation science in relation to interagency collaboration, prior experience with large scale capacity building, in working with national and international institution and government leadership.
Must be a self-starter and able to work independently. Solid quantitative skills preferred. Although some travel to Sierra Leone may be possible once the Ebola Virus Disease crisis is resolved, the position is based in Boston.
Details on putting together an application for a diversity supplement to the Youth Forward U19 grant (Diversity Supplement funding is determined following NICHD internal review):
What kinds of plans are required with the application?
The application requires three specific plans, described below.
Research Plan
The Research Plan should present evidence that the proposed experience is appropriate for the stage of the individual's career, and that it will significantly enhance the individual's research potential, while furthering the individual's ability to pursue a research career. Graduate, postdoctoral and investigator level candidates are expected to have defined research projects.
Note: projects or specific aims deleted during the initial peer review of the parent grant may not be proposed as the research basis for research supplement support.
Career Development Plan
Prepare a detailed Career Development Plan that will include objectives, benchmarks, and associated timelines. Describe how the research experience will foster the research capabilities of the candidate and explain how the research experience is related to the research goals and objectives of the parent grant. The Career Development Plan should also include plans for transition to the next stage of the candidate’s career level. For graduate, post-doctoral, and investigator level candidates, a projected timeline delineating specific research milestones and other activities that will be made in an attempt to secure independent research funding (i.e., anticipated publications, grantsmanship workshops, timeframe for grant submissions and type of independent research support the candidate seeks).
Mentorship Plan
- The Mentorship Plan should include:
- Guidance on preparation of oral scientific presentations
- Instructions on how to critically evaluate the literature and experimental design
- Training in scientific writing (including grant proposal preparation), such as manuscripts, abstracts;
- Instruction in responsible conduct of research and how to design experiments
- Guidance in the ethical conduct of research (including training in animal and human subjects' protection, if applicable)
Interested Candidates should contact:
Emily Coles ecoles@hsph.harvard.edu
Kat Collet kcollet@hsph.harvard.edu
Theresa Betancourt (PI) tstichic@hsph.harvard.edu
