| Department: |
Psychology |
Effective Date: |
July, 2010 |
| Grade: |
USG 9
35 hr/wk
|
Reports to: |
Senior Project Manager and the Faculty Investigators |
General Accountability
ITC Senior Project Manager and Dr. Geoffrey Fong .
Nature and Scope
This position requires 35 hours per week and is accountable to the Senior Project Manager and the Faculty Investigators who work with the ITC Policy Evaluation Project. The incumbent is responsible for working with the ITC investigator teams to manage the University of Waterloo portion of longitudinal research surveys evaluating the effectiveness of tobacco control policies. The surveys are presently conducted in 20 countries with the potential of adding up to 5 more. The Project Manager will be involved in all aspects of planning, implementing, and documenting each wave of the survey in assigned countries. This position also involves making contributions to scientific papers, national reports, and research proposals in collaboration with graduate students and with the ITC Project Principal Investigator and Co-Investigators associated with each assigned country.
Statistical Data
Number of ITC countries presently involved in this research project: 23
Number of ITC International researchers and associated personnel involved in the research: 185
University of Waterloo personnel involved in the ITC project:
Faculty members (from 3 departments: Psychology, Statistics and Health Studies): 7
Full-time staff (across 3 departments): 14
Part-time staff (across 3 departments): 9
Graduate students (Psychology students): 4
Post Doctoral Fellows (Psychology and Math): 2
Total number of current research grants: 15
Total annual funding for ITC project in current year: $5,800,000 CAD
Total funding for ITC in current grants: $45,442,498. CAD
The ITC Project is in the midst of significant growth. Funding for the entire ITC Project is anticipated to continue to increase significantly, with a concomitant increase in personnel. Equally important is that the profile of our work has been increasing in Canada and throughout the world and is expected to continue to increase.
Specific Accountabilities
Monitor overall preparation and progress of ITC Surveys in assigned countries, and other projects as required, including:
SURVEY DEVELOPMENT AND FIELDWORK
- Develop a timeline and plan for each survey wave of the ITC survey, working in collaboration with sometimes diverse and multidisciplinary in-country research teams. Create and/or revise surveys (in collaboration with the ITC Survey Management Group and the in-country research team), as well as training manuals, consent letters, and other materials for each survey wave.
- Liaise with the Dr. Mary Thompson and in-country teams to develop and refine the sampling plans for each survey.
- Coordinate rigorous translation of surveys and other documents. Collaborate with the in-country team conducting face-to-face surveys to lead the development of fieldwork data collection forms, letters of information and consent forms, and training manuals. Ensure, thorough, in-depth consultation with the country team, that all procedures are coordinated within the project framework, and that procedures are also feasible given logistical considerations in the local country context.
- Coordinate the integration of additional data collection and/or sub-studies headed by our investigative team partners. These studies may include collecting saliva, smoked cigarette butts, and unopened cigarette packs from survey participants, or conducting a nested experiment within the larger survey wave. Ensure timely availability to country teams or survey firms in order to respond to any questions or requests they may have (often requiring immediate action). The incumbent will be responsible for responding to such requests in a timely manner and/or for bringing important matters to the investigator team for discussion and resolution.
- Organize teleconferences with country teams; ensure that descriptive and comprehensive meeting notes are prepared, checked, and distributed to all team members.
- Ensure that all deadlines, timelines, and communications are feasible, given the time zone differences relevant to the partner countries.
REPORT WRITING
- Contribute to the writing of technical reports in collaboration with the Data Management Centre (DMC), for each survey wave.
- Contribute to and/or coordinate the preparation of the national reports, national summaries, and/or other dissemination products for each ITC country. Consult with the data analysts to obtain data frequencies and conduct cross tabulations or summary statistics as needed to construct reports.
- Participate in the preparation of funder Progress Reports in accordance with the requirements of the granting organization and of the University of Waterloo (UW) Office of Research.
- Provide frequent written and verbal updates on the status of each project during regular meetings, teleconferences, and email distributions.
ETHICS SUBMISSION
- Prepare ethics review applications for each survey wave for timely submission to the UW Office of Research Ethics. Provide support for ethics submissions to external committees in his/her specific ITC countries and negotiate revisions to procedures that will adhere to requirements from all required institutions.
- Ensure all project protocols adhere to the UW Ethics direction.
LIAISON AND COORDINATION
- Liaise with ITC country teams regarding ethics clearance, data sharing agreements, fieldwork reporting, data quality, and other administrative issues.
- Work with DMC staff on data quality, transfer, and management issues.
- Provide centralized coordination of procedures between multiple survey firms within a country (when applicable).
- Document and monitor the survey progress of each wave. The Project Manager may be involved in supporting budget development and partnership agreements with Country teams.
- Track the initiation and progress of academic papers written using ITC data.
- Participate in Project Manager and ITC-DMC weekly meetings and in other relevant ITC activities and initiatives as required.
- Research and update knowledge about the tobacco control policy situation in his/her ITC countries. Consult with other ITC Project Managers to ensure his/her knowledge of best practices in fieldwork procedures and ITC survey content remains up-to-date.
- Respond to requests by the Principal Investigator (Dr. Geoffrey Fong) and other investigative team members to research opportunities for collaboration, project development , or funding, etc.
Significant Internal and External Relationships
- University of Waterloo faculty members involved in the ITC Project - from Psychology, Health Studies and Statistics.
- Psychology Department administrative and technical staff.
- Research investigators and support staff of all countries involved in ITC Surveys
- Research Investigators in countries who are developing plans for ITC Surveys
- Non-governmental organizations and advocates working in tobacco control world-wide.
- International consultants, graphic artists, and other professionals who assist as needed in the ITC project.
Working Conditions
