Data Scientist

**Additional information**:

- _The MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt) is an exceptional health and population research center in the Wits School of Public Health_
- _The Unit supports a major research infrastructure underpinned by a health and socio-demographic surveillance system (HDSS), a form of longitudinal population registration, covering a substantial portion of the Bushbuckridge subdistrict of rural Mpumalanga Province adjacent to Mozambique that has been in operation since 1992 coupled with observational and interventional studies along the life course_
- _The Wits-Agincourt Unit will participate in an EDCTP-funded project addressing the management of Paediatric Pneumonia (a significant contributor to under-5 mortality) and Antimicrobial Resistance_
- _This is a multi-PI, Pan-African-EU consortium, anchored by the Wits-Agincourt Unit_
- _The project will deploy cutting-edge technology (mobile phone/tablet-based Ultrasound devices) in low-resource settings (in South Africa, Tanzania, and Senegal) to bridge gaps in access to medical diagnostics_
- _It will also address skills gaps through the development of AI tools for ultrasound interpretation as well as clinical decision-making_
- _The consortium will establish a Randomised Controlled Trial, followed by an Implementation Research Project, as well as concurrently run an Economic Evaluation of the Intervention_
- _The project will be undertaken by a diverse consortium, including Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), University of Dakar (UCAD), African Institute of Mathematical Science (AIMS), University of Stellenbosch (SUN), Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (SwissTPH), University of Bern (UBern), University of Rotterdam, EPFL, and Yale University_
- _Wits Agincourt offers an intellectually rich working environment with excellent opportunities for academic and professional growth_
- _As part of the Data Management team, this position involves a primary base in the Bushbuckridge District of Mpumalanga Province where most scientific and collaborating staff are based full-time, several of whom live in the attractive lowveld environment of the Wits Rural Campus/Hoedspruit_
- _The appointed individual will form part of the Wits-Agincourt Data Management team and will be the primary Data anchor in the IMCI-PLUS project, reporting to the Project coordination team and Wits-Principal Investigators_

**Main purpose of the job**:

- Development of a Data Management Plan for the overall project
- Management and oversight of the project’s data infrastructure
- Supervision of data management across the consortium (including providing oversight to all sites’ data teams)
- Development & piloting of data collection tools

**Location**:

- **Wits Agincourt Offices, Tintswalo Hospital, Acornhoek, Bushbuckridge (Mpumalanga Province)**

**Key performance areas**:

- Strengthen a dedicated, high-performing team
- Contribute to the development and management of an extensive archive of scientific data related to the project in conjunction with collaborators at Swiss TPH. This includes:

- Establishing routine quality checks on databases to ensure excellent data quality
- Integrating diverse data sets including audio, image, and video files drawn from multiple platforms/cloud services
- Participating in the maintenance, tuning, and implementation of network systems to enhance the measurement of key indicators and efficiency of the overall system
- Development and testing of research data collection tools/databases
- Contribute to peer-reviewed publications and technical reports, including as lead author

**Required minimum education and training**:
**Required minimum work experience**:

- **Minimum of 2 years of Data Management experience**

**Desirable additional education, work experience, and personal abilities**:

- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with high attention to detail
- Development, maintenance, and administration of relational databases hosted on Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL
- Proficiency with the development of data collection and management tools e.g. RedCAP or ODK (REDCap is preferred)
- Management of large, complex datasets
- Proficiency with a commonly recognized statistical package e.g. Stata, R, or SAS
- Ability to work independently and collegially in a high-performing collaborative environment and support scientific investigations across disciplines
- Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and sound managerial experience
- Experience with academic writing and publication will be an advantage
- Ability to prioritize and work under pressure on a variety of tasks concurrently

**Demands of the job**:

- Travel will be required within and outside of the country
- Ability to work in a high-pressured environment with overlapping priorities
- Must be able to handle stress with tact and empathy
- Will be required to