Issued: 20 October 2020
Deadline: 9 November 2020, 23:59 CET
Start date: late November/early December 2020
Expected duration: from November 2020 to December 2021.
Overview
The Health Ethics and Governance Unit (HEG), based within the Department Research for Health SCI (HQ/SCI/RFH/HEG), is seeking a qualified individual to provide consultancy services to assist the Secretariat of the Ethics Review Committee (ERC) in supporting technical units when submitting protocols for review, supporting the assessment of review protocols, and to contribute to the work related to demand and use of the services provided by the Secretariat.
Background
The Secretariat of the ERC (hereafter referred to as the Secretariat) is hosted within the World Health Organization (WHO) with the goal of providing oversight to all research conducted and supported by WHO. It is the responsibility of the ERC Secretariat to ensure that i) the ERC functions efficiently and effectively, ii) that all research projects are provided with adequate ethical oversight and iii) best practices in relation to research ethics are established and followed.
Duties and responsibilities
In close collaboration with the ERC Secretariat, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:
• Support the Secretariat technical and scientific activities aiming to stimulate demand and uptake of research review;
• Support activities related to the engagement of technical units on ethics review;
• Support the different steps of the ethics review process.
• Support as necessary trainings associated with the Ethics Review Committee.
Deliverables
• Triage and pre-review all new research protocols submitted to the ERC to determine whether they are complete for ERC review, and provide a report justifying the basis of the assessment.
• Follow up with technical teams on protocols that are deemed to undergo expedited review.
• Compile the review summaries related to low-risk protocols that undergo expedited reviews, especially those that are based on template protocols and are implemented in a similar fashion in different sites, ensuring consistency and maintaining the style developed by the ERC Secretariat.
• Assist with other review processes as needed.
Supervision
The consultant will be under the supervision of the Health Ethics and Governance Unit, the direct supervisor will be determined at a later stage.
Required skills and Experience
• Medical Degree or Degree on Social Sciences. MSc in biomedical ethics, medical anthropology, public health or related field.
• Minimum of 3 years of professional experience in social sciences, medicine, public health and/or biomedical ethics. Work experience in LMIC settings desirable.
• Excellent communication skills, and effective presentation and report-writing skills;
• Ability to work in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural settings.
• Previous experience of ethics review or involvement in the administration of an IRB/ERC is advantageous
Place of assignment
This assignment may be performed from any location.
Language Requirement
Expert level English
Knowledge of an additional UN official language desirable
Medical clearance
The selected Consultant will be expected to provide a medical certificate of fitness for work.
Location/Travel
The consultant will be required to work in close technical cooperation with the Secretariat staff remotely (home based).
Instructions for applicants
Applications must be received at WHO at the e-mail address: ercsec@who.int (use subject: WHO Consultancy) no later than 9 November 2020 23:59 GMT. Applications should include a cover letter, a CV and a price quotation. The cover letter should give an overview of how this work fits with your academic/ professional background and interests and a brief description of relevant experience related to the requirements. The CV should be current and provide a minimum of two referees with e-mail addresses. The price quotation for the consultancy must also contain relevant contact information, including email and telephone number. WHO will hire the most qualified candidate at the most competitive market rate.