Job Opportunity for Research Assistant at Public Health Foundation of India in Gurugram

Brief on the Organization:

The Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) is working towards building a healthier India. It is helping to address the limited institutional and systems capacity in India by strengthening education and training, advancing research and technology and facilitating policy and practice in the area of Public Health.  PHFI is headquartered in New Delhi with national presence through its constituent units of regional Indian Institutes of Public Health (IIPHs) and Centers of Applied Research in core public health themes. The Foundation, established in 2006 as a public private initiative, is governed by an independent board comprising of senior government officials, eminent Indian and International academic and leaders, civil society representatives and corporate leaders.

Project brief

The presence of ultra-processed food and drink products – hereafter referred as ultra-processed foods (UPF) – in the current food environment is increasing, as is the consistency in the evidence base highlighting its negative health effects, ranging from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cancer, diabetes, stroke and obesity to depression and all-cause mortality. Data also reflect their dominance in present-day food systems in high- and middle-income countries, and increasingly, in low-income countries.

There is however, a lack of comparable data on UPF consumption across contexts and over time, especially in lower-income countries. The development of a simple and quick diet screener with low respondent and researcher burden, to estimate UPF consumption and track its intake routinely and comparably across countries is essential. Even though other screeners of diet quality exist, none were developed with the aim of evaluating the overall consumption of UPF.

To address these limitations, the lead organization in Brazil has developed the NOVA-UPF tool The original version of this tool was developed for a Brazilian context and validated against a full 24 hour-recall. To be applicable to other contexts, the NOVA-UPF tool would need to first be adapted and then validated. The study aims to adapt a 23-item food-based screener capturing UPF consumption to three different LMIC including India and PHFI is the India partner for this study. To validate this adapted short food-based screener within a purposive sample from India and to develop and test a protocol, applying the validated instrument in a probabilistic sample (sentinel group) in India, for tracking UPF intake.

Deliverables

• Assist the team in review of literature on Ultra processed foods availability, access and consumption in India
• Participate in data collection during the tool validation
• Support PI in data analysis and report writing
• Support the PI in development of manuscript
• Any other work assigned by the PI and Co-PI

Qualification

• MSc (Nutrition/food science/ food technology/Public health Nutrition)

Experience

• 1-2 years of experience in public health/ food and nutrition / related field

Process to Apply

Please note that Annual Salary (CTC) will commensurate with available skills and fitment of the incumbent as per the selection process.

Interested and eligible candidates may send their updated CV to careers@iiphd.org (CV file- pdf or word, should be named in the format name_surname) and fill the application form– https://forms.office.com/r/Jak2HS0b0h. Please mention the exact Position Code (IIPHD_ RA/1006) in the email subject line. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for the interview.

Last Date of Receipt of Applications:  14 July 2022

Remarks:

• Candidates are requested to refer PHFI website for position description & process for applying. Please note only those applications will be considered which are received as per instruction written on PHFI website.
• Candidates should have an excellent academic record, good communication skills, a commitment to high quality graduate / post-graduate education.
• Mere eligibility will not entitle any candidate for being called for interview.
• Persons employed in Government/Semi-Government Organization or Educational Institutions in India must apply through proper channel.
• PHFI reserves the right to fill or not to fill any or all available positions.
• The requirements of minimum qualification and/or experience may be relaxed in the case of candidates with outstanding credentials.
• No correspondence will be entertained from candidates regarding any delays, conduct & result of interview and reasons for not being called for interview.

“PHFI reserves the sole right to alter/modify/cancel the entire selection process or the position or the vacancy or to disqualify any candidature at any stage of the selection process”.