Anthropology Advisor

Hours: 40 hours per week

Duration: Fixed Term until January 2025

Salary: £51,856.84 per annum (non-London weighting £48,356.84 p/a)

THE PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT

The Public Health Department (PHD) of Operational Centre Amsterdam (OCA) supports the overall purpose of MSF, providing medical and public health leadership for the organisation. The department is responsible for providing strategic direction and integrated advice on medical and public health issues to the field and headquarters. The PHD plays a key role in developing and maintaining the medical humanitarian identity and image of MSF-OCA, and in continuing to develop and improve intervention strategies so as to be relevant and effective.

The PHD is made up of health programme managers and clinical and public health specialists, mostly based in the MSF offices in Amsterdam, Berlin and London. In addition to providing medical management of MSF’s field operations, the PHD gives technical and strategic guidance across a range of fields including infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, mental health, nutrition, paediatrics, and vaccination as well as epidemiology, health promotion, laboratory, pharmaceutical quality/medical supply, and water/sanitation.

The Manson Unit (MU)

The MU is a multi-disciplinary medical team within MSF UK and is the London based part of the PHD. We aim to improve the quality of MSF’s medical programmes worldwide, so the best possible care is delivered to our patients.

The MU is a team of 30 comprised of medical doctors and specialists in infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, health information systems, epidemiology, geographical information systems, medical editing and research communication. We also have a clinical trial team working towards improved treatments for patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis. We provide direct support to our field programmes through specialist advice on medical issues, implementing new ways of working, supporting research studies and outbreak response.

JOB PURPOSE

Working within the social science team the Anthropology Advisor will focus on leading social science research methods to explore thematic areas prioritised such as person-centred care; community engagement; environmental health; maternal health and palliative care, among others. The role will provide mentorship to field teams and supervision for implementation of anthropological assessments and resultant findings.

Essential knowledge, skills and experience:

• Anthropology or Social Science related master’s degree level or equivalent experience.
• Extensive experience of working in field operations in a humanitarian setting.
• Great interpersonal skills with willingness and ability to communicate effectively with senior operational management and international organisations.
• Demonstrable communication, listening and negotiation skills.
• Ability to work in a fast paced multidisciplinary, multilocation team.
• Excellent relevant analytical, written skills.
• Proficient in use NVivo software or equivalent.
• Previous knowledge and authorship of articles related to ethnographic work.
• Ability to meet specified deadlines.
• Proven experience of working independently under minimal supervision.
• International field experience in humanitarian settings with MSF or equivalent
• Fluency in written and spoken English: minimum C2 level.
• Previous mentoring or supervisory experience.
• Good presentation skills/ Public speaking experience.
• Strong MS Office skills including Word, Excel and O365.
• Ability and willingness to travel extensively and work overseas.
• Commitment to the aims and values of MSF.