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Applications are invited for the position of Senior Research Officer, TCI-TARINA, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi

Category: Archived

About TCI-TARINA

The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI), housed in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University, is a long-term research program focused on solving problems of poverty, malnutrition, and rural development in India. TCI was established with a generous gift from the Tata Trust to conduct multidisciplinary research, and to facilitate research grants and fellowships to prominent student and professional researchers at Cornell, in India, and across the globe. The TCI team works alongside partner institutions in India and globally to address the agriculture-nutrition nexus.

In December 2015, TCI launched its Technical Assistance and Research for Indian Nutrition and Agriculture (TARINA) program, which was founded under a $13.4 million dollar research grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The program aims to tackle the complex problem of malnutrition in India by promoting a more diversified and nutrition-sensitive food system. With this funding, TCI is scaling up its work on agricultural pathways for improving nutrition outcomes to enhance the availability and affordability of nutrient-rich foods for the rural poor.

TCI is working under the dynamic leadership of its Founding Director, Prof. Prabhu Pingali (Professor of Applied Economics at The Charles Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management, at Cornell University). TCI in India is housed at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. Dr. Bhaskar Mittra, Associate Director, TCI provides strategic leadership to TCI in India.

TCI provides a challenging and innovative, start-up environment, to achieve its goal by connecting multi-disciplinary academics with impact-focused NGO partners and policy influencers through the TARINA Consortium, supported by a grant from BMGF and co-funded by the Tata Trusts. 

TARINA seeks to promote the diversity of food systems with a view to ensuring year-round availability and access to micronutrient rich affordable diet. The broad objectives of TARINA are to:

• Provide technical assistance in redesigning agricultural projects to ensure nutrition outcomes at scale;
• Provide assistance and evidence for policy reform that enhances diet quality at affordable prices;
• Build capacity to design and implement nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs and policies.

TARINA brings to the table the evidence generating capabilities of IFPRI, TISS, Emory and Cornell Universities, together with the technical expertise and implementation experience of leading NGOs such as CARE India, BAIF and GDS. The Tata Trusts is supporting the consortium through their influence with policy makers in generating demand for technical assistance for nutrition sensitivity of agriculture.

The Center of Excellence (CoE) of TCI-TARINA based in New Delhi, is serving as an information hub with the aim to promote diversity of food system in India through the provision of products and services and collaboration with other institutions in this space. The CoE is designed to play a key role in translating learning from the TARINA project, acquired through implementation, for policy makers and civil society.

For more information, please visit http://tarina.tci.cornell.edu

Job Description/ Responsibilities

Reporting to the Director of TARINA, the Senior Research Officer (SRO) shall have the following key responsibilities.

Key Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Providing direction and management for research, evidence generation and capacity building towards a diversified and nutritious food system in India;
2. Planning and coordinating with the Director of TARINA on programmatic and administrative matters related to the CoE, as well as representing TARINA at various policy dialogue fora and meetings, as necessary;
3. Ensuring the CoE provides the following portfolio of products and services:
1. Consolidation and collation of experiences, evidences and resources related to nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food systems;
2. Evidence-based policy research i.e. data collection and management, modelling, sectoral assessment, impact assessment and other studies/ analyses;
3. Undertaking and designing surveys and training TCI-TARINA partners in carrying them out, as required;
4. Capacity building i.e. the provision of learning materials and tools, training and curriculum and methodology development, for designing agriculture programs with a nutrition lens.

Qualifications, Experience and Competencies:

Qualification:

Ph.D. in Agriculture Economics/Applied Economics/Public Policy.

Experience:

1. Post Ph.D. relevant research experience of at least five years, as on date;
2. Applicants must be able to demonstrate their academic credentials through multiple papers in reputed, international, peer-reviewed journals.

Skills and Competencies:

1. Demonstrated technical expertise in quantitative and qualitative social research methods;
2. Extensive experience in research and evaluation management and/or execution;
3. Experience in helping to build strategic relationships and partnerships with international and national research and evaluation agencies and/or experts;
4. Experience in using evaluation and research evidence for policy and practice development;
5. Experience in designing and contracting research and evaluation studies;
6. Strong analytical skills, with expert knowledge of statistical software package STATA;
7. Excellent writing skills and the ability to document clearly and succinctly for internal and external audiences, including writing evaluation and learning papers;
8. Highly developed interpersonal and presentation skills;
9. Ability to demonstrate clarity of thought and provide clear guidance and direction to others;
10. Demonstrated experience of providing direction to and working successfully within teams.

Compensation Offered

Gross compensation budgeted for the position is Rs. 24 -30 lakhs per annum.

Tenure

The successful candidate shall be issued an initial contract for a period of one year, extended annually based on performance. Please note that the project is funded through November 2019. The contract shall be executed by TISS as TCI is housed in TISS in India.

Location: New Delhi

Reference: SRO-TCITARINA

Contact Information:

Senior Consultant
Strategic Alliance Management Services P Ltd.
1/1B, Choudhary Hetram House, Bharat Nagar 
New Friends Colony, New Delhi 110 025
Phone Nos.: 011- 2684 2162; 4165 3612 
Email: sro-tcitarina@sams.co.in

Application Process

Eligible candidates interested in this position, are requested to apply to sro-tcitarina@sams.co.in, with a cover letter, discussing their interest in and suitability for the position, along with an updated resume, giving details of three references, current cost to organization and expected compensation, at the earliest.

The applicants are requested to send PDF copies of their most recent peer reviewed publications (not more than five), along with the application. Kindly note that this a mandatory requirement for the selection process.