Internship Vacancy: Qualitative Research Internship with the H-TEAM

The Last Mile: targeted prevention and testing strategies for people with a late-stage HIV infection in Amsterdam – participatory community research using human centered design

32 hours per week – based in Amsterdam.

The position

The Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development is looking for a motivated, dynamic qualitative research intern who is keen to help develop innovative strategies to find undiagnosed HIV cases in Amsterdam while improving their skills in the field of qualitative research design.

Under the supervision of Intervention Developer Sharjeel Muhammad (MD, MPH) (AIGHD) and Professor John de Wit (Utrecht University), the research intern will have the opportunity to work on collecting and analyzing qualitative data, developing questionnaires and design criteria for a new intervention.

The intern will collaborate with colleagues across the H-TEAM, which consist of several institutes in Amsterdam, including Soa Aids Nederland and the public health service of Amsterdam (GGD). It is a great opportunity to continue to build skills and knowledge of conducting qualitative research and systematic intervention development within a research context.

Essential responsibilities

  • Help to collect data through focus group discussions, ideation workshops and in-depth interviews with the community advisory board.
  • Collect, clean and analyze qualitative data using SPSS.
  • Developing questionnaires for focus group discussions, design criteria for a new intervention with community participants and develop worksheets for ideation workshops.
  • Planning, conducting and analyzing community advisory group sessions.

Who are you?

  • A Master’s level student or recent graduate in social sciences, public health, medicine or related field.
  • Fluent in English and Dutch.
  • An interest in community involvement in health interventions.
  • Basic experience with SPSS.

Skills you will develop:

  • Qualitative data gathering and analysis.
  • Semi-structured interviewing.
  • Conducting focus groups.
  • Human centered design/participatory research.

What we offer

  • The opportunity to learn how to employ human centered design research methods to develop new health care interventions.
  • The opportunity to learn how to apply various public health theories to operationalize design research in the context of late presentation of HIV among MSM.
  • Gain insight into experiences of the target population regarding sexual health, public health services and HIV-related stigma.
  • A 6-month internship starting at 1 February 2022.
  • Internship compensation of 400 euro per month for 40 hours if enrolled in a university, and 800 euros per month if an MSc alumnus.
  • A possibility to extend the internship to 12 months.

About AIGHD

The Amsterdam Institute for Global Health & Development (AIGHD) is a research and education institute with a mission to address challenges in global health and development by conducting collaborative interdisciplinary research, generating insights and solutions, and educating the next generation of global health leaders.

AIGHD conducts collaborative, interdisciplinary research prioritizing infectious disease elimination, antimicrobial drug resistance, chronic care & ageing, urbanization & health, health markets, and economics of human development. It aims to educate and inspire the next generation of global health leaders at undergraduate, post-graduate and professional levels to shape a healthier and more prosperous future for all. AIGHD aspires to accelerate progress on global health objectives by sharing knowledge and insights with global agencies, governments, NGOs, and the scientific community.

About the project: Last Mile Phase 2

  • A large proportion of people living with HIV in Amsterdam enters late into care and this proportion has barely changed over time, despite declining incidence. Evidence suggests that the ongoing epidemic is fueled by people who are unaware of their HIV-status, either due to lack of access or avoidance of testing services, related to multiple psycho-social barriers, including stigma and fear. Moreover, evidence has found that this remaining group (often termed as the Last Mile population) is highly diverse and has not been reached through previous interventions.
  • The Last Mile Phase 2 study, within the framework of the H-TEAM (HIV Transmission Elimination Amsterdam), hopes to design an intervention to overcome existing structural and psycho-social barriers to regular HIV testing. To effectively achieve this, the H-TEAM employs a human centered design together with participatory community research methods whereby the end users of the intervention are directly involved in the development. The intervention will specifically target MSM (men who have sex with men) from Amsterdam.
  • The research aims to address the following questions:
  1. What are the views of community members as well as community experts on how to engage the diverse MSM communities to increase regular testing for HIV?
  2. What social and community mobilization strategies does the co-creation design with communities come up with that have the potential to influence the testing uptake?

To learn more about the Last Mile project or the H-TEAM, please visit www.hteam.nl.

No (recruitment) agencies, please.

Please submit a brief letter of motivation and your CV by 15 December to s.muhammad@aighd.org.

Recent Posts