CENTRE for CROSS BORDER STUDIES

The Irish-African Partnership for Research Capacity Building is seeking a project manager to run its operations out of Dublin City University until the end of 2010.

The Irish African Partnership for Research Capacity Building (2007-2011) brings together all nine universities on the island of Ireland and four universities in Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi in a unique, high-level partnership to develop a coordinated approach to Research Capacity Building (RCB) in higher education institutions. Through this partnership it aims:

1. To build the capacity of development research in Irish universities
2. To build the capacity for research in the four African universities in health and education, and the cross-cutting themes of ICT and gender.

The Partnership is funded under the Programme of Strategic Cooperation between Irish Aid and Higher Education and Research Institutes (2007-2011). The longerterm goal is to create an Irish-based international network of excellence in development research based on mutually beneficial partnerships with higher education institutions (HEIs) in the South. The role of the Project Manager (replacing the initial incumbent) based at Dublin City University, primarily will be to coordinate and oversee a Research Capacity Building strategy emanating from the research and consultations already conducted within the project.

The project consists of six work packages:

1. A stakeholder consultation among the 13 participating institutions (and external experts and agencies) using workshops, focus groups and structured interviews. (Completed)
2. A foresight exercise to identify and prioritise areas of existing, emerging and potential HEI research strength (particularly in health, education, ICT and gender) where future investments will realise tangible social and economic benefits for participating African countries. In particular it will identity key areas for poverty reduction. (Completed)
3. The implementation of an all-island development research web portal to link the Irish and African partners in a virtual community for exchange, dissemination and econsultation. (In development)
4. The development of a set of metrics for monitoring research capacity building in partner institutions. (Qualitative and quantitative metrics). (In development)
5. A research capacity building strategy bringing together Conclusions and recommendations for building sustainable RCB in African universities, and in development research in Irish universities (with particular focus on the processes involved in RCB). This will be the main role of the Project Manager.
6. Project Management The project is overseen by the Executive Committee representing all 13 HEIs and an International Advisory Board which provides support from international experts in development research. It employs a Project Manager (based at Dublin City University), two postdoctoral fellows (based at Queen’s University Belfast and Mary Immaculate College, Limerick) and a software engineer (to run the web portal, based at Trinity College Dublin). The project Manager will be supported by an Administrative Officer, based at DCU already in post.

Duties & responsibilities:

• Act as leader of Workpackage 5 to draw up a final report (Research Capacity Building strategy) containing conclusions and recommendations, including plans for future work (scaling up and rolling out the project more widely in the post 2010 period)
• Have an important day-to-day management input into the other four workpages, which will have leaders drawn from the participating universities.
• Manage the academic input into the two remaining workshops with between 55 and 65 senior academics and other key players attending each workshop – including preparing agendas, organising programmes and writing follow-up reports.
• Support meetings of the Executive Committee.
• Liaise with contact persons (senior academics) in the nine participating Irish universities and four African universities.
• Oversee the publication and dissemination (in consultation with the web portal manager) of all project materials on RCB in health, education, ICT and gender issues.
• Any other duties assigned by the Executive Committee relevant to the management of the project.

Essential criteria: In their letter of application, as well as including their CV, candidates should list their levels of qualification and experience in each of the listed areas.

• Honours degree
• Postgraduate qualification
• Experience of relevant multi-institutional project management
• Experience of writing reports and making presentations to high level academic or other (E.g. government) committees or working groups
• High level of networking, communication and inter-personal skills

Desirable criteria:

• PhD in area related to the project
• Experience of managing research or research-related projects
• Experience of qualitative and quantitative research methods
• Experience of fund-raising

Location: Dublin City University

Informal Enquiries to: Prof. Ronnie Munck. E-mail: Ronnie.munck@dcu.ie

Salary: €65,000 – 70,000 pa according to qualifications and experience.

Closing Date: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH AT 5PM

Application forms are available from: The Human Resources Department, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland. Tel: +353 (0)1 700 5149 Fax: +353 (0)1 700 5500 E-mail: hr.applications@dcu.ie

DCU is an equal opportunities employer