Field Supervisor, Department of Community Health Sciences
Location: Karachi, Pakistan
Introduction:
Aga Khan University chartered in 1983 as Pakistan's first private international university, is committed to the provision of education, research, and health care of international standards relevant to Pakistan and the region. The affiliated Aga Khan University Hospital provides state-of-the-art clinical facilities and well-equipped diagnostic services. The University currently has teaching sites in Pakistan, East Africa, the United Kingdom, and Afghanistan, and is a major component of Aga Khan Development Network.
As an equal opportunity employer, AKU believes in promoting a diverse and inclusive culture and is committed to adopt appropriate standards for safeguarding and promoting a respectful relationship with and between diverse workforce of its faculty, staff, trainees, volunteers, beneficiaries, wider communities, and other stakeholders with whom it works, including children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees/trainees and partners to share this commitment.
The Department of Community Health Sciences (CHS) is the leading unit of its type in Pakistan, recognized regionally and internationally for the relevance, quality, and extent of its work in support of public health and the development of primary health care systems. It comprises of five major operational sections: Epidemiology & biostatistics, Health policy & management, Population & reproductive health, Environmental health & climate change, and non-communicable diseases & mental health.
This is a grant-funded contractual position.
Responsibilities:
You will be responsible to:
- identify, contact, and schedule interviews with relevant stakeholders including government officials, civil society members, and health professionals
- conduct qualitative interviews in line with study protocols and ethical guidelines
- ensure informed consent is obtained and properly documented for all participants
- maintain accurate, organised, and confidential records including audio recordings, transcripts, translations, and consent forms
- supervise and support field assistants involved in qualitative data collection where required
- implement an organised system for securely storing all qualitative data and research documents
- provide regular weekly updates and field activity summaries to the project team
- conduct preliminary thematic analysis of interview data and share key findings with the project team
- assist in preparing presentations, reports, and summaries based on qualitative findings.
Requirements:
You should have:
- a bachelor’s in Public Health, Social Sciences, Anthropology or any related field; a master’s degree will be preferred
- training in qualitative research methods is highly desirable
- at least 2 years of experience in qualitative field research, including in-depth interviews and stakeholder engagement
- prior experience in transcription, translation, thematic analysis, and managing research documentation
- prior involvement in public health or urban health research projects is preferred
- strong qualitative research skills including interviewing, note-taking, and coding
- ability to identify, recruit, and professionally engage relevant stakeholders
- skilled in scheduling and managing field activities while ensuring ethical research practices
- proficient in record-keeping for consent, transcripts, and translations
- strong written and verbal communication skills in English and local languages such as Urdu and Sindhi
- organised, self-motivated, and capable of working independently as well as part of a diverse team
- willingness to travel regularly to field sites and adapt to changing project requirements.
Comprehensive employment reference checks will be conducted.
