ACTS is a pioneering development research think tank on harnessing applications of science, technology, and innovation policies for sustainable development in Africa. ACTS is an Intergovernmental organization founded in 1988 to pursue policy-oriented research towards strengthening the capacity of African countries and institutions to harness science and technology for sustainable development.  ACTS envisions a sustainable economic, social, and environmental future for Africa, through science, technology, and innovation. 

ACTS is currently implementing its seventh strategic plan (2022 - 2026) and pursuing the following five programmes: Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security (AFNS); Climate Resilient Economies (CRE); Science, Technology, Innovation, Knowledge, and Society (STIKS); Digital Innovation and Knowledge Economy (DIKE); and Gender Youth and Inclusive Development (GYID).

The AFNS program’s mission is to contribute towards realising a sustainably food and nutrition-secure Africa. The program’s strategic objective is to support African countries through cutting-edge STI focused policy-relevant research and knowledge brokerage that guides policy choices, targeted investments, and interventions at different levels to accelerate sustainable, climate smart, inclusive agrifood systems transformation and agribusiness development for food and nutrition security and enhanced livelihoods. For more information about the programs please visit

https://www.acts-net.org

 

About the RF position

AFNS is recruiting a Research Fellow for a period of one year, with potential for renewal subject to performance and availability of funding. We are seeking a motivated and high performing RF that will be involved in implementing on-going AFNS research projects and lead in acquisition of new projects. The AFNS program is implementing a range of research, policy and capacity building projects related to sustainable foods systems, water, energy nexus linked to issues of climate change, agribusiness development, financing models and cross cutting issues on gender equity and social inclusion.

 

Core duties of the Research Fellow

The Research Fellow core tasks include the following at minimum:

• Lead in the development and implementation of new, complex projects in line with the strategic areas of focus for the AFNS, that involves mobilizing necessary national and international partnerships.
• Provide leadership in conceptualizing and developing new ideas into proposals, for AFNS and in collaboration with other programs within ACTS where it is strategic.
• Design and deliver various capacity building activities that are part of the AFNS program.
• Responsible for production of high-quality research outputs (i.e., peer reviewed journal publications, policy briefs, non-scientific outputs) and other innovative forms of knowledge sharing.
• Supporting stakeholder engagement processes through organizing workshops, roundtable meetings, policy outreach events among others
• Support the AFNS Programme Head in setting and advancing programme's direction through writing strategy documents and organizing.
• Supervise and mentor researchers and other staff in the program.
• Develop and monitor program/ project budgets and prepare technical reports and outputs.

 

Required Qualifications:

• Have a PhD in Agricultural related field including Agricultural Economics, Food Science, Agronomy, Social Science with a focus on Agriculture with interest and experience in business/economic modelling and at least four years post-PhD applied research experience.
• Knowledge and experience working on projects on sustainable agrifood systems with energy and water nexus in view of enhancing climate adaptation and resilience of agrifood focused livelihoods.
• Demonstrated experience in project proposal development and resource mobilization for applied research and policy informing projects.
• Demonstrable achievements in designing and implementing applied agrifood systems related applied research and policy influencing projects.
• Proven experience in developing and monitoring program/ project budgets.
• Strong team building, project management and networking skills.
• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of issues related to agriculture, and food systems climate-change and resilience, informed by state-of-the-art global research insights and policy discussions.
• Ability to work across multidisciplinary disciplines and in multistakeholder partnership projects.
• Excellent written and spoken English. The written skills will be demonstrated by high quality publications record of scientific and non-scientific outputs. Capacity to speak and write French will be an added advantage.
• Proven experience in developing, managing, and reporting on program/project budgets.

 

Expected skills and competences.

• Capacity to work with both social sciences and natural sciences in developing research ideas on the broad range of topics related to the AFNS program and integrating cross-cutting themes especially gender equity and social inclusion perspectives.
• Experience in meticulously undertaking fieldwork including supervision of field teams with excellent knowledge of digital data collection platforms like ODK, CSPro, etc.
• Demonstratable experience in handling and analysing large primary data sets and in harnessing secondary data.
• Strong proven skills in using quantitative analysis including modelling and integration of qualitative analysis. Proficiency in R, Stata, MAXQDA and/or similar software.
• Excellent oral presentation skills and ability to engage technical and non-technical audiences including policy stakeholders on research findings and generally about our work.
• Demonstrated leadership including experience in building and managing teams and partnerships in multi-institutional projects.

 

How to apply

The initial appointment is for one year with the possibility for renewal based on performance and availability of funding. Interested candidates should send their application and CV along with names of three referees by June 30^th  2023 to the following email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with a copy to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.