Research Associate - Community Health Sciences

Research Associate, Department of Community Health Sciences

Location
Karachi, Pakistan

Introduction
Aga Khan University chartered in 1983 as Pakistan's first private international university, is committed to the provision of education, research, and health care of international standards relevant to Pakistan and the region. The affiliated Aga Khan University Hospital provides state-of-the-art clinical facilities and well-equipped diagnostic services. The University currently has teaching sites in Pakistan, East Africa, the United Kingdom, and Afghanistan, and is a major component of Aga Khan Development Network.

As an equal opportunity employer, AKU believes in promoting a diverse and inclusive culture and is committed to adopt appropriate standards for safeguarding and promoting a respectful relationship with and between diverse workforce of its faculty, staff, trainees, volunteers, beneficiaries, wider communities, and other stakeholders with whom it works, including children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees/trainees and partners to share this commitment.

The Department of Community Health Sciences (CHS) is the leading unit of its type in Pakistan, recognized regionally and internationally for the relevance, quality, and extent of its work in support of public health and the development of primary health care systems. It comprises of five major operational sections: Epidemiology & biostatistics, Health policy & management, Population & reproductive health, Environmental health & climate change, and non-communicable diseases & mental health.

This is a grant funded contractual position.

Responsibilities:

You will be responsible to:

• translate research aims into specific, testable questions and appropriate study designs

• draft and maintain study protocols, outcome definitions, data management plans and statistical analysis plans

• prepare IRB/ERC submissions, amendments and study registrations

• design and run structured searches across relevant databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, arXiv); screen, extract and critically appraise studies and maintain evidence tables and the project reference library and keep the team briefed

• plan and execute data collection; develop data capture instruments and annotation guidelines, train and supervise data collectors and annotators, clean, de-identify, document datasets

• implement quality assurance checks in line with ethical and data governance requirements

• conduct statistical analysis where applicable, model development and evaluation including validation, calibration, subgroup and sensitivity analyses; write clean, reproducible and documented analysis code; interpret results accurately, including null findings

• produce publication-quality tables and figures; prepare internal reports, results summaries and progress updates for the Principal Investigator, collaborators and funders; translate technical findings for non-specialist audiences as required

• lead or co-lead drafting of manuscripts; coordinate co-authors, authorship order, contributions, conflict-of-interest and funding disclosures; identify appropriate target journals; format manuscripts and supplementary material to journal requirements and complete submission through editorial portals

• maintain a central record of all submissions and their status; monitor turnaround times and follow up with editorial offices; compile

  reviewer comments, draft point-by-point responses and manage revisions, resubmissions, proofs, licensing and open-access formalities

• maintain project timelines, milestones and deliverables and flag risks early; organize team meetings and document decisions; liaise with collaborators and institutional offices; ensure adherence to always approved protocols and applicable regulations

• contribute to concept notes, grant applications and funding proposals

• prepare conference abstracts, posters and presentations, and present project work at seminars, departmental meetings and scientific conferences

• assist in recruitment, orientation, training and supervision of research assistants, interns, annotators and students attached to the project

• undertake any other assignment of a comparable nature assigned by the Principal Investigator

Requirements:

You should have:

• Bachelor’s degree in medicine, Data Science, Public Health, or a related discipline from an HEC-recognized/accredited institution; MBBS graduates will be preferred
• formal training or certification in Good Clinical Practice (GCP) or human subjects research ethics (e.g. CITI) will be an added advantage
• minimum 01–02 years of post-qualification research experience, of which at least one year should involve quantitative data analysis or applied artificial intelligence / machine learning research; experience on funded, multi-site or international collaborative projects will be preferred
• at least one to two co-authored articles in peer-reviewed journals, or comparable research output (peer-reviewed conference papers, preprints, or technical reports), with demonstrated involvement in the submission and revision process
• demonstrated experience of preparing study protocols and IRB/ERC submissions, amendments and continuing reviews, and of working under human-subjects research and data protection requirements
• sound working knowledge of research design, sampling, protocol development and data analysis
• competence in MS Office, reference management software (EndNote/Zotero/Mendeley) and reproducible research workflows
• strong scientific writing and spoken/written English skills, with the ability to produce publication-ready drafts requiring minimal revision
• meticulous attention to detail in data handling, documentation, version control and record keeping
• high standards of research integrity, confidentiality and compliance with data protection and institutional data governance requirements
• ability to manage multiple concurrent workstreams independently, meet deadlines with limited supervision, and coordinate with multidisciplinary collaborators across time zones
• effective interpersonal, communication and teamwork skills, with the ability to train and supervise junior research staff

Comprehensive employment reference checks will be conducted.

Primary Location

Pakistan

Organisation

Aga Khan University Pakistan

Employee Status

Regular

Job Type

Standard

Job Posting

27/08/2026, 12:02:30 PM

Closing Date

03/09/2026, 6:59:00 PM