Project Manager, International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project)

Department:	Psychology	Effective Date:	January 2006
Grade:	USG 10	Reports to:	Dr. Geoffrey T. Fong

General Accountability

Chief Principal Investigator: Dr. Geoffrey T. Fong (Psychology)

ITC Project Investigators

Nature and Scope

This is a full time position, contingent upon research funding. The appointment is housed within the Department of Psychology.

The incumbent is responsible for all aspects of the planning, management, and preparation of ITCPES projects, reporting directly to the Chief PI who also holds the position of Director, Health Psychology Lab (HPL). The incumbent is expected to make a substantive contribution to the project while collaborating with the HPL team and ITC Investigators towards achieving major project objectives, following a detailed time line, work plan, and within a specified budget; this position requires a willingness to travel and work closely with international institutions and researchers.

The International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project) is an international collaboration of tobacco control researchers whose mission is to evaluate the psychosocial and behavioural effects of the tobacco control policies contained in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first-ever international treaty on health. The ITC Project consists of a collection of international studies, most of which are nationally representative surveys of adult smokers: (a) The ITC Four Country Survey is a telephone survey of over 8,000 adult smokers across four countries: Canada, United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. (b) The ITC Ireland/UK Survey is a telephone survey of 1,000 adult smokers in Ireland and 600 in the UK, and is designed to evaluate the impact of the ground-breaking comprehensive smoke-free workplace law that was implemented in Ireland in March 2004; (c) The ITC Korea Survey is a telephone survey of 1,000 randomly selected adult smokers in South Korea; (d) The ITC Southeast Asia Survey is a face-to-face interview survey of 2,000 adult smokers in each of two countries—Thailand and Malaysia.—and a self-administered survey of 1,000 youth in each country; (e) The ITC China Survey is a face-to-face interview survey of 800 adult smokers and 200 adult non-smokers in each of 7 large cities in China.

The ITC surveys focus not only on whether a given policy has its desired effect, but also on how and why those policy effects are achieved. Currently, the ITC Research Team consists of over 40 tobacco control researchers across the 9 countries. Expansion to 12 countries, over 50 tobacco control researchers, and an annual budget of $10-12 million is anticipated within the next 12 months.

The ITC Project has received funding from diverse sources in Canada, US, UK, Australia, Ireland, and from governments and private foundations as well as from traditional granting agencies. The ITC Project is heavily supported by a Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTURC), funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute, centered at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY. As such, much of the management of the ITC Project is shared/coordinated with the TTURC.

Many aspects of the ITC Project are managed through the Health Psychology Lab (HPL) located within the Department of Psychology. The current HPL team includes the Director, Dr. Geoffrey T. Fong, one full time Lab Manager, three full time PhD students, various graduate and undergraduate research assistants, and casual part time staff. The HPL acts as a coordinating centre for graduate and undergraduate students to conduct thesis-related work.

Statistical Data

Specific Accountabilities

This position of Project Manager requires considerable leadership and solid management of a complex range of responsibilities. The Project Manager is required to work closely with a professional group of international research teams and project managers. The total average annual budget for the entire ITC Project is about three million dollars, and is expected to surpass five million within the next 12 months with a concomitant increase in personnel. Four core areas of responsibility are required: (a) budget development, (b) multi-project coordination of budget and staffing, (c) weekly communication with international research partners and (d) supervision of project systems and research assistant staff. More specifically, responsibilities include:

substantive contributions to the development of project budgets for all grant applications, implementing and monitoring with assistance from the Chief PI and the HPL Lab Manager;
responsible for daily financial planning, expense monitoring and decisions regarding financial requirements in consultation with relevant UW staff and policies and procedures required by the university and external agencies
organize staffing plans for all projects, including recruitment of Research Assistants, team direction, daily supervision, and mentorship of junior staff
develop, direct, and monitor efficient administrative and electronic systems to support general goals of each HPL project and guide staff workloads, relevant scheduling and statistical reporting
engage in frequent liaison work requiring exceptional communication skills to manage consultation with the Chief PI and HPL staff, and staff at the Population Health Research

Group (at the University of Waterloo) as well as with external organizations such as government and non-governmental funding agencies, international investigators, and the private sector (for example, Roy Morgan Research Group, Australia, Gallup Korea, and Bell Conferencing Incorporated)
participate in frequent liaison work with the Roswell Park TTURC management team regarding coordination of funding and budget, and project planning, as needed
manage an information program, which includes timely dissemination of research milestones and results; coordinating the flow of information with all levels of media
co-ordinate meetings, workshops, and training for the ITC Project with direction from the Chief PI, including international travel arrangements, organization of agendas, report preparation, articles and grant proposals; minute taking and action follow up required
manage and consult as required regarding all ITC Project records, which may include grant application records, financial transactions and summaries, computer files, website updating
assist in the preparation of large-scale research presentations, reports, articles, chapters, and other research products arising from the ITC Project presentable to leading world audiences (for example, World Health Organization, Framework Convention Alliance for Tobacco Control, and International Agency for Research on Cancer).

Significant Internal and External Relationships:

HPL associated faculty, post doctoral fellows, staff and students
ITC Project team members at UW and at other institutions across the 8 other participating countries (United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, China) and other countries that may join the ITC Project in the future
Survey fieldwork organization (Roy Morgan Research Group, Australia, Gallop Korea, Korea, Centers for Disease Control, China)
ITC Data Management Core Team (at the UW Dept of Statistics and Actuarial Science and the Population Health Research Group)

Funding agencies in Canada (e.g., Canadian Institutes for Health Research), United States (e.g., National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health), and other countries (e.g., China Centers for Disease Control)
Diverse groups of study participants
UW Office of Research
Psychology Administrative Officer and Departmental Assistant
Psychology Computer Systems Managers
Finance Department