Position: Policy Engagement Coordinator
Department: Grant & Communications Team, Operations – OUCRU HCMC
Location: This post is based in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam at OUCRU HCMC. Occasional travel to Hanoi will be required.
Hours of work: 37.5 hours per week from Monday thru Friday, standard hours (it may be necessary to work on weekends if needed)
Tenure: 15 month fixed-term contract
Reporting to: Katrina Lawson, Communications Manager
Vacancy reference: JD-0521-011

Background

The Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Vietnam (OUCRU) is a large-scale clinical and public health research unit based in Viet Nam. The main unit in Ho Chi Minh city was established in 1991 and is hosted by the Hospital of Tropical Diseases (HTD). The unit in Hanoi was established in 2006 to have a presence in the capital city to be able to develop a working relationship with policy- and decision makers in order for our research to impact public health policy. It is hosted by the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases (NHTD), with other offices at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and Hanoi Medical University. As a Wellcome Trust Asia Africa Programme, we have received considerable support from the Wellcome Trust since our establishment.

OUCRU’s ten-year vision is to have local, regional and global impact on health by leading a locally-driven research programme on infectious diseases in Southeast Asia.

OUCRU has developed a policy engagement programme, with aims to support OUCRU’s engagement activities with policy stakeholders in Vietnam in a systemic way.

Systemic policy engagement means that we have the infrastructure and expertise in place to support high quality communication with policy stakeholders, thereby ensuring that opportunities for policy impact are fully realized.

There are three main ways that we do this:

1. Continuous support for researchers in policy engagement activities
2. Developing and maintaining stakeholder advisory boards as appropriate to the scientific needs of the programme, including a Strategic Policy Stakeholder Engagement Board, and Outbreak Advisory Board. Other boards may be developed over time.
3. Monitoring and evaluation. We continuously monitor and evaluate our programme progress, to help us with decision making and reporting, and to ensure that our work remains relevant and useful for both our internal and our external stakeholders.

Job summary and key tasks and responsibilities

• Track and record known policy-related outputs among OUCRU work, creating a database of policy outputs.
• Provide support for the advisory boards, which will include providing information, reports and data; as well as general administration and coordination activities.
• Contributing to project monitoring and evaluation activities;
• Contributing to training and skills development workshops.
• Contributing to international networks such as INGSA and the Wellcome Policy Engagement Network
• Writing reports and presentations as required
• Translation of policy related materials between Vietnamese and English
• Contributing to other aspects of the policy engagement programme, and OUCRU central comms team, as required.

Selection criteria

Essential criteria:

• Excellent spoken and written Vietnamese and English
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Highly organized, experience creating filing systems and maintaining electronic databases
• Intermediate skills in Microsoft Word and Excel
• Energetic and creative; open to new approaches and ideas
• Ability to work with a high degree of autonomy, and yet be a team player
• Willingness to perform other tasks requested

Preferred criteria:

• Experience working with researchers
• Project management experience
• Experience facilitating training sessions or workshops
• Experience interviewing

Benefits

• Contracted salary: Negotiable (depending on actual experience and education).
• Optional insurance: In-patient and out-patient medical coverage; Personal accident insurance coverage
• Two months’ salary for annual bonus and clothes
• Annual leave 18 days each year for the first year
• Other responsibilities and benefits are based on Viet Nam Labor Law.

How to apply

Interested, qualified candidates are invited to send their detailed resume and cover letter in English, including copies of relevant degrees, certificates, either by email or by post to the following address:

Oxford University Clinical Research Unit
Laboratory of Clinical Science
Hospital for Tropical Diseases
764 Vo Van Kiet, Ward 1, District 5, HCMC
Tel: 39237954
Email: [email protected]

* We thank all applicants for their interests but only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interview.

Contact person: Ms Nguyen Thi Hong Phuc

Deadline for submission: 3 June 2021

Organization: OUCRU
Location: Ho Chi Minh
Application deadline: 2021-06-03
Send application to: [email protected]