Research Assistant in India - Open Call

Participatory Design, Ethnography, Design Research, Public Health, Maternal Wellbeing, Rural Communities

The Srishti Institute of Art, Design, & Technology, Bangalore is looking for an exceptional and enthusiastic individual to work on a 9-month project exploring the role of digital technology to enhance maternal health and wellbeing in rural India. The project is run by an international and interdisciplinary research network from the UK and India. The research assistant will work under the supervision of Dr. Naveen Bagalkot (Srishti Institute, India) and Dr. Nervo Verdezoto (University of Leicester, UK). The RA should start on the 1st April, or shortly thereafter.

Apply

Submit the following documents by email to naveen@srishti.ac.in no later than 25 March, 2018 (noon, IST).

• Cover letter detailing your motivation, expectations, and contributions to the project (as the body text in the email).
• Detailed CV in PDF format
• Link to a Portfolio or in PDF version, if applicable.
• Written samples of work or publication list if applicable.

Work Description

The assistantship will be located at the Srishti Institute of Art, Design, & Technology in Bangalore. The site-work will be in Channapatna, about 70-kms away from Bangalore on the Mysore Highway. The assistantship will involve the following roles and activities.

• Assist in planning all field-based qualitative research studies, participatory design workshops, and writing progress reports and research papers.
• Visiting the site and conduct field-based qualitative research and facilitate participatory design workshops for as many times as required by the project, apply multiple methods for data collection, and transcribe it for qualitative analysis.

Stipend & Benefits

• The position carries a monthly stipend of 53,000 Indian Rupees (inclusive of all governmental taxes).
• A potential opportunities to extend the contract linked to a follow-up project, in the form of a PhD scholar position.

Educational Requirements

• A post-graduate education in design, humanities, or public / community health from reputed Indian or International institutions.
• Or an undergraduate degree in any of the above fields with at least 2-3 years of experience of working in and with rural and / or urban marginalized communities around the areas of health and wellbeing (considered in exceptional circumstances).

Required Skills

• If, you have a background in design, you should be able to plan, facilitate and document field-based participatory design activities; and synthesize the data from the participatory workshops in visual forms, such as design space of concepts, scenarios, etc.
• If, you have a background in in humanities or public health, you should be able to plan, conduct and document field-based qualitative research studies; and unify and analyse multiple forms of data from diverse research activities.
• Experience of working with wide and diverse academic and community members.
• Working knowledge in Kannada and Urdu.

Desired Skills

• Knowledge or experience in public health and / or community work.
• Knowledge or experience in design and prototyping methods, including with and through digital tools and technologies.
• Research interests in one of the following research areas: humancomputer interaction, computer-supported cooperative work, user experience design, digital health, and/or science and technology studies.
• An openness to work with the research team to address the ad-hoc, practical and logistic nature of conducting field-based research.