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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: PRE-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

BACKGROUND

The College of Medicine (CoM) was established in 1991 as a constituent college of the University of Malawi. Its mission is “to be an academic centre of excellence in the training of doctors and other health professionals in clinical service and medical research, responsive to the health needs of Malawi and its neighbours within the Southern African region”. Through postgraduate training, CoM expects to develop and mentor clinicians, public health practitioners and social scientists who will become leaders and game-changers in their areas of speciality to transform the health sector in Malawi and globally.

Recently, the CoM, in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has received funding from the National Institute of Health Research in the United Kingdom to implement a project entitled “Innovative Management PRactices to Enhance hoSpital quality and Save lives in Malawi (IMPRESS)” which aims at identifying optimal health facility management practices to improve care of sick newborn babies. The project will be implemented in 36 health facilities in Malawi from January 2021 to September 2024.

Pre-doctoral Fellowships

The IMPRESS Project would like to utilize part of its funding to support two pre-doctoral (Pre-PhD) fellowships for a period of 6 months whichwill enable young aspiring Malawian scientists to acquire “implementation science” knowledge and hands-on skills. Specifically, the fellowships will support young scientists to participate in formative research activities exploring current hospital management practices in Malawi and also acquire basic skills in implementation science methodologies. For exceptional recruits there may be the opportunity to develop a PhD proposal as part of the IMPRESS project, for submission of a competitive PhD application to the LSHTM (UK). Successful candidates will have demonstrated:

  • A good grasp of research concepts and health systems
  • Aptitude for quantitative and / or qualitative data analysis.
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills (e.g. in drafting of reports or manuscripts)
  • And during their fellowship, will have developed a strong concept note for their PhD studies

The IMPRESS Pre-PhD fellows will be employed as Research Associates at College of Medicine for a period of 6 months. The employment will be extended if the fellow succeeds in his/her application to the 3-year LSHTM PhD program. Contracts for unsuccessful fellows will not be extended beyond the 6-month period.

Application eligibility criteria:

  1. Strong interest in health systems research.
  2. Master’s degree in a health or social science-related field or a Medical Degree
  3. Bachelor’s degree with at least a credit score or upper second-class
  4. At least 2-years work or volunteer experience in a health or social science-related field after obtaining a bachelor’s degree

Application Requirements;

Interested applicants are required to submit the following documents:

  1. An application cover letter,
  2. An updated curriculum vitae,
  3. Certified copies of academic transcripts or degree
  4. Evidence of work or volunteer experience in a health or social science-related field
  5. A personal statement outlining the applicants career goals and aspirations, including preferred field of specialization for his/her doctoral studies

Incomplete applications with missing documents will automatically be considered as ineligible and will not be shortlisted.

Submission Requirements

Applications must be submitted as a single PDF document by email to the College of Medicine Academic Registrar-Academics (aracademic@medcol.mw) copied to the IMPRESS Project Investigators; Prof Victor Mwapasa (vmwapasa@medcol.mw) and Dr Catherine Goodman (Catherine.Goodman@lshtm.ac.uk). The deadline for receiving applications will be on Friday, 15th January 2021 at 23:59 hrs

Follow the link below to download the copy: