Research Assistant – Creating Refugee Access to Tertiary Education Through Blended Learning: An Action Research Project

Job title: Research Assistant

Length of contract: 12-13 months (including a three-month probation period).

Start date: Immediately (June 2021)

Project details:  This grant-funded research project is a collaboration between the AUB-CCECS, The University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Makerere University in Uganda. The project aims to further our understanding of the barriers and pathways during refugee learners’ journey to and during higher education as well as building on best practices to facilitate access to and success in higher education for underserved populations utilizing blended bridging programs.

​Responsibilities:

• Performs administrative tasks to support the research team such as: facilitating research team communication, documentation of meetings, maintaining the project’s internal website for file sharing and keeping record of the project documentation more generally.
• Coordinates and follow up with student researchers throughout the project to ensure their meaningful and timely engagement.
• Provides logistical support to the research team such as: scheduling online research team meetings, organizing on or offline lectures and workshops etc., organizing transportation and travel for fieldwork and workshops.
• Assists in formulating and submitting IRB applications with an emphasis on Translation from English to Arabic.
• Supervise student researchers’ field work in Beqaa, Beirut and remotely.
• Assists in research including literature reviews, conducting interviews and focus group discussions, transcription, and analysis of data.
• Assists in finalizing presentation of research outputs and the organization of dissemination activities.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree from a recognized university. Master’s degree is preferred.
• 2 years of cumulative experience in educational or public sector institution, NGO or projects.
• Demonstrated success in project coordination and related administrative work; working with marginalized youth; and university student engagement.
• Previous research experience.
• Excellent Arabic and English communication (written and oral) skills.
• Self-motivated and able to work independently as well as an effective team member.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and complete tasks/projects in accordance with established deadlines.
• Ability to produce high quality deliverables with attention to detail.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to elicit cooperation from a wide variety of sources.
• Extremely capable with office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and online communication tools (Zoom, Webex etc.) Must be able to learn, understand, and apply new technologies.