Research Assistant

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

1-year term position with possibility of annual extension.

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career. 

Job Summary

The Healthy Families Laboratory is a research laboratory in the Department of ECPS at UBC. Under the direction of Dr. Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen (Professor), our team aims to identify risk and protective factors associated with the intergenerational transmission of stress.

The Research Assistant will work closely with the lab’s Principal Investigator as well as other members of the Healthy Families Lab team, including students, staff, and collaborators. The successful candidate will act as lead administrative and research coordinator for the following project: Sleep equity reimagined: An intersectional theoretical framework to optimize sleep health for all Canadians (2023-2027).

This project is a large, multi-disciplinary collaboration, funded through the CIHR Sleep Research Consortium, that seeks to build national capacity in intersectionality as it relates to insomnia, sleep health and public health interventions. Through a coordinated effort among our team of co-applicants that is underpinned by appropriate engagement of diverse communities, including Indigenous perspectives, we will apply the PHAC intersectionality framework to our analysis of a suite of existing sleep datasets, while also working to integrate findings into ongoing Canadian public health approaches related to sleep. Our overarching goal is to accurately capture risk and resilience factors in insomnia and sleep health across multiple levels of influence (individual, family, community, culture) to create a clear intersectional model of sleep health that can be applied to developing therapeutic and public health interventions.

The specific objectives of this project are:

1. To conduct a series of priority-setting workshops with people with lived experience of sleep inequities, including Indigenous communities (2-3 years)

2. To conduct an intersectional analysis of our datasets, including Indigenous health perspectives (2-3 years)

3. To identify gaps in the analysis based on a scoping review and community engagement, followed by secondary analysis and application for new funding (year 4)

4. To work collaboratively with public health agencies to improve data collection and surveillance related to sleep and influence public health policy that can optimize sleep health for all Canadians

The Research Assistant will perform a variety of day-to-day activities, including: preparing study materials and study protocols, assisting in the preparation of ethics applications and grant administration, communicating with collaborators, troubleshooting problems, coordinating cross-site collaboration and priority-setting workshops, supporting data synchronization and review across sleep datasets, conducting related administrative tasks, and assisting with knowledge translation activities. Due to the sensitive nature of our research, this Research Assistant must understand and adhere to the ethics of confidentiality, sensitivity, and respect when communicating with all research participants.

Organizational Status

The Research Assistant will be supervised by and report to the Principal Investigator. In accordance with the UBC hybrid work guidelines, the position will offer a flexible workplace environment that includes both remote work and onsite work at UBC Vancouver campus.

Work Performed

The Research Assistant will be responsible for the following tasks:

- Oversee daily operations of the Sleep Equity Reimagined and affiliated projects, including study progress and administrative tasks

- Lead any hiring processes, including writing job advertisements and posting positions, interviewing, hiring and onboarding

- Manage the authoring, submission, and upkeep of Ethics Renewals (BREB) via the RISe system to ensure all studies remain in strict compliance with TCPS-2 Requirements by preparing, writing, submitting, and revising materials for research ethics approval

- Support launch of new sub-study by collecting pilot data, overseeing app maintenance and troubleshooting, supporting user experiences, and tracking participant adherence to app use

- Manage the study grant by tracking spending and money flow and transfer funds between institutions and study teams

- Maintain excellent professional relationships with patient partners and collaborators at other institutions

- Work collaboratively with members of the Healthy Families Lab, project partners and study teams

- Delegate tasks, train, and oversee work of project volunteers and support staff

- Contribute to lab, study coordination, and research team meetings

- Establish workflows and operational guidelines for administrative management of the Sleep Equity Reimagined project and affiliated projects

- Support and coordinate priority-setting workshops with project partners

- Support participant recruitment, enrolment, and retention

- Lead data collection and management of survey data, including assisting with data cleaning and extraction

- Assist with tracking, processing, and analyzing survey data

- Create content for knowledge translation (e.g., Healthy Families Lab website, social media accounts, team newsletters)

- Assist with general administrative tasks for the lab (e.g., updating principal investigator’s CV and project CV, participant reimbursements, printing, building operations, etc.)

Consequence of Error/Judgement

Training will be provided to ensure that the Research Assistant will have a strong understanding of the established lab and research protocols. Errors made could influence the ability of research team to meet deadlines, compromise the results of research projects, and relationships with participants, and therefore impact the credibility of the investigators and the lab.

The Research Assistant is required to conduct all research activities in an ethical manner and with adherence to the Tri-Council Policy Statement concerning Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS-2). Any procedures or data recorded as part of this research must be accurate and must accurately reflect the work performed. Strict confidentiality of all study participants must be adhered to. All activities involving participants are accountable to the Research Assistant, Principal Investigator, the Department Head, and the Research Assistant’s governing professional organization (if applicable).

Supervision Received

Most aspects of work will be done independently, while other aspects will be done under the supervision of the Principal Investigator. The Research Assistant will work closely with the Principal Investigator, project co-coordinators, students (undergraduate, graduate), staff, and collaborators in the Healthy Families Lab.

The Research Assistant will attend weekly supervision meetings with the Principal Investigator, weekly Healthy Families Lab meetings and study coordination meetings, which will be held onsite and virtually (on Zoom), depending on operational requirements.

Supervision Given

The Research Assistant will be responsible for the oversight of daily project operations and monitoring the progress of projects, which may include distributing work, training, and supervising volunteers and undergraduate students on research tasks. The Research Assistant may have input into staff selection and performance evaluation.
Minimum Qualifications

High school graduation, some additional training in a related field and a minimum two years of related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

A bachelor's degree or equivalent in psychology or a related field and a minimum two years of related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Successful applicants will have excellent organization, time management, and communication skills (written and oral). They will have an interest in family health research, and understanding of health equity and intersectionality, be able to work on assigned task independently, and have excellent interpersonal skills that support teamwork and professional interactions with patients and collaborators at other institutions. Demonstration of proficiency in systems-management and project management would be an asset.

The Research Assistant must successfully complete the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS-2) online tutorial. Experience with MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook), SPSS, and Zoom is required. Experience with constructing and managing electronic surveys (REDCap), analyzing survey results, managing and improving databases, creating novel procedures and protocols, perinatal or family health research, as well as with neuroimaging protocols would be an asset.