PhD scholarship Position

Makerere University School of Public Health, in collaboration with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, is soliciting applications for a 4-year PhD scholarship. The successful candidate will participate in the “Health Entrepreneurs project”, which has the aim to generate actionable insights into how the health impact, efficiency and scaling up of the community health entrepreneurs approach can be enhanced.
These entrepreneurs can play a vital role in providing decentralized access to care, health products, and
medical care in rural Uganda. In this project, the successful candidate will work closely with the
organization Healthy Entrepreneurs which is located in Kampala.

Eligibility
• The call is open to all Ugandans

• The applicant must be able to commit four years during which he or she will be employed full-
time in this position at Makerere School of Public Health

• The applicant has a Master’s degree with a minimum score of B+. The Master’s degree must be in Public Health, Epidemiology or in another field with similar relevance
• The applicant has a good knowledge of epidemiological methodology and experience with conducting quantitative data analyses
• The applicant must have good communication skills both orally and in writing in English
• The applicant must have abilities to work independently and in a team, and good organizational
and time management skills
• Having experience with conducting epidemiological field work, and/or working with community
health workers is an advantage

Application process

• Applications must be emailed as a single PDF document and should consist of a brief letter of application stating your motivation for the position, why you are applying and why this position is important for you (1 page only), a CV outlining your main academic and professional trajectory and list of publications in the last 5 years (not more than 3 pages), and a personal statement (maximum 1 page).
• The personal statement should include your contribution to the academic and research arena, your aspirations for career progression in the next 5-7 years, research interests and any information you consider relevant.
• In addition, the applicant needs to provide two letters of recommendation, which are sent separately by the referees to dean@musph.ac.ug
• Please include copies of all your ordinary level, advanced level, bachelor’s and master’s degree certificates and transcripts. The letters should be addressed to dean@musph.ac.ug

Tasks and supervision

The successful candidate must complete training in responsible conduct of research (RCR), protection of human research participants (PHRP) before they conduct research involving human research subjects.
Research will be conducted in Uganda at both Makerere School of Public Health and the organization Health Entrepreneurs.
Supervision and provision of PhD training courses will be provided by Makerere School of Public Health and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands
The successful candidate is expected to spend each year at least four consecutive weeks in Amsterdam,
the Netherlands for courses and supervision.

The successful candidate is expected to:

• perform quantitative analysis using existing and newly collected data on community health and
the performance of community health workers
• design, implement and analyse a household survey in selected areas in Uganda
• write and disseminate scientific manuscripts
• collaborate closely with staff from Healthy Entrepreneurs

Timelines
Application deadline: October 18, 2023
Interviews November 6 -10, 2023
Notification date: November 15, 2023
Proposed starting date employment: January 2, 2024

The interviews will be held online/in person at Makerere University and prof. dr. Elizeus Rutebemberwa,
dr. Trynke Hoekstra, dr. Maarten Kok and dr. Frank van Leth will be present at the interviews.