Summary of Research: The Rural Dementia Action Research (RaDAR) team is seeking applications for a postdoctoral research fellowship in the area of rural health service delivery for individuals with dementia and their caregivers, with a focus on primary health care. The interdisciplinary RaDAR team is based at the U of Sask, with members in four provinces and the UK. The proposed research is linked to the CIHR Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging.

Qualifications: At minimum, candidates will hold a recent PhD (less than 3 years) in a health discipline, psychology, community health and epidemiology, public policy, public health, or related discipline. The successful candidate must also have experience with grantsmanship and manuscript preparation, and a demonstrated ability to work with other researchers, support personnel, and students in a collaborative research environment. Candidates must possess strong organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills. Strong written and oral English communication skills are required.

Ideally the candidate will have background/experience in dementia research. It would be an asset for the candidate to have experience in rural health delivery issues, program evaluation, quality improvement, integrated knowledge translation and exchange, participatory research methods, implementation methods, and primary health care. The intent of this position is to build capacity in rural health service delivery for individuals with dementia and to support development of a career path in this area.

Conditions: The position is available immediately. Initial appointment is for one year at first, with possible renewal for another 1-2 years upon mutual satisfaction and funding availability. The suggested salary is $45,000 CDN with $5,000 research and travel allowance. Candidates are required to present their research at relevant local and international conferences and other venues as appropriate. Because the recipient is a trainee and not an employee of the University of Saskatchewan, the recipient is not entitled to employment benefits. Deductions for Canadian income tax will be made from the monthly stipend, but the stipend is not subject to source deductions for Employment Insurance or Canada Pension Plan.

Close date: Applications will be reviewed as they are received, until the position is filled. Only those selected to be interviewed will be notified.

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Canada's Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) puts patients and caregivers first, to foster "evidence-informed health care by evaluating innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, and bringing them to the point of care." Since its inception, SPOR has supported the development, implementation and ongoing evaluation of provincial Support for People and Patient-Oriented Research and Trials (SUPPORT) Units.

Saskatchewan's SUPPORT Unit, named the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research (SCPOR), in collaboration with the College of Nursing (University of Saskatchewan), College of Medicine (University of Saskatchewan) and the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina) are accepting applications for Post-Doctoral Fellowships in Patient-Oriented Research. Interested candidates should hold a completed PhD in a health-related discipline. Ideal candidates will have produced work with relevance to health systems and/or clinical research. Prior experience with patient-oriented research is an asset.

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Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore (NUS), invites applications for TWO Postdoctoral Fellows to work on a research project entitled CHILD HEALTH AND MIGRANT PARENTS IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA (CHAMPSEA): WAVE II. Both positions will be based in Singapore.

AREA OF EXPERTISE

The successful candidate will be someone who holds a PhD degree (or is awaiting conferment) and has research interests in a relevant area of the social sciences (e.g. Migration Studies, Health Studies, Development Studies, Anthropology, Sociology or Geography). S/he should have research experience in the area of migration, family and health studies, preferably in an Asian context, and will be expected to co-ordinate the qualitative stage of field work in either Indonesia or the Philippines. The candidate will join an international team of researchers at a crucial stage of the project when the first round of data collection has been completed.

• Good project management, team-building skills and aptitude for working in a Southeast Asian context.
• The ability to speak and understand at least one of the following Southeast Asian languages – Indonesian or Tagalog – is necessary.
• A willingness to play a co-ordinating role in the collection of qualitative data from the study country.
• Some experience in using qualitative data analysis software such as NVivo

ABOUT THE RESEARCH PROJECT

For millions of families across Asia, international labour migration has become a part of a household livelihood strategy that is motivated by a desire to improve the life chances of the next generation. Yet, there has been relatively little research on transnational householding and the impacts of parental migration on children who stay behind. In this context, the research team first set out in 2008 to collect survey data from around 1,000 households in four study countries (Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) as part of an investigation into 'Child Health and Migrant Parents in South-East Asia' (CHAMPSEA). The findings, using children in non-migrant households as a comparison group, have enhanced knowledge and understanding of the impact of parental (and increasingly mothers') absence on the health and well-being of (a) pre-school children aged 3, 4 and 5 years and (b) children in middle childhood aged 9, 10 and 11 years left in sending communities.

CHAMPSEA II will now investigate the longer-term impacts of parental absence on the CHAMPSEA children in Indonesia and the Philippines. Using a mixed-methods research design that capitalizes on the complementary strengths of quantitative and qualitative methods, this project will collect primary data using carefully designed survey instruments in order to create a unique longitudinal data set that will allow the investigation of multiple dimensions of children's health and well-being. The longitudinal data set will include anthropometric measures (height, weight, age), measures of psychological well-being (Self-Reporting Questionnaire [SRQ20]; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), and a range of information (including parental migration histories) on selected households in Indonesia and the Philippines. The follow-up survey will interview members of the same CHAMPSEA households and the younger children in the baseline samples, who will now be 11, 12 and 13. As the older children (who were then 9, 10 and 11) will now be 17, 18 and 19, it is likely that many will have left home. A structured survey will be conducted with those still in the household and/or contactable, and a brief proxy interview with a parent or other adult on those who are uncontactable.

Anchored by an international research team with years of collaborative research experience, CHAMPSEA II will be the first mixed-method longitudinal study on the health and well-being of left-behind children in the region. Its findings will not only contribute to the academic literature but also help families, communities and government to understand better any vulnerabilities and risks that must be weighed against any material benefits of parental migration.

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Various start dates, requirements and durations:

Annually:

• Scholar Program
• Research Trainee Program

Developing:

• Convening & collaborating (C²) awards (in development)
• Dissemination awards (in development)
• Health policy fellowship (in development)
• Health professional program (in development)
• Implementation science teams (in development)
• Translational scholar award (in development)