Senior Researcher, Violence Protection and Response

Job Overview/Summary:

• The IRC is a pioneer in violence prevention and response research and programming, spanning women’s protection and empowerment, child protection, and protection and rule of law.
• The Violence Prevention and Response Senior Researcher sits within the IRC’s Airbel Impact Lab with a dual reporting line into the VPRU, and provides oversight, guidance and support to the VPRU’s research portfolio on the prevention of and response to violence against children, women and other vulnerable individuals in crisis- and conflict-affected contexts.
• The Senior Researcher will be responsible for coordinating the implementation of the violence prevention and response research portfolio, including: i) designing and managing studies; ii) engaging proactively with relevant research networks and university partners; iii) ensuring a strong pipeline of research funding; and iv) summarizing and sharing the results of protection research and learning to ensure protection programming is based on the best available evidence. Close attention to the ethics of research on violence against children and women is paramount in this work.

Major Responsibilities:

• Research Coordination and Study Support: Oversee the coordination of active studies in collaboration with external academic partners and internal IRC stakeholders, including supporting data collection activities and designing survey tools, interview guides, study protocols and referral pathways; ensure research adheres to IRC research standards and ethical guidance on violence research; and contribute to drafting policy reports and academic articles, including as first author.
• Research Agenda Leadership: In collaboration with VPRU Global Practice Leads and the VPRU MEAL lead, lead the development and oversee the roll-out of the violence prevention and response research agenda in line with the VPRU's safety strategies across the three Global Practice Areas (Child Protection, Women’s Protection and Empowerment, Protection and Rule of Law) and Impact at Scale priorities, including contributing to the development of novel and inclusive measurement tools and data collection approaches.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Evidence-Informed Programming: Liaise with internal stakeholders across VPRU and country-based teams to ensure that VPRU programming is evidence-based, assessing upcoming and ongoing protection programming so that it reflects recent developments and the best available practice and evidence.
• External Collaboration, Business Development and Thought Leadership: Proactively build partnerships, foster cross-learning, and strengthen collaboration with key research organizations and networks, particularly those in IRC contexts. Represent the IRC at key external research fora. Identify business development opportunities to finance the research agenda, including delivering a robust business development plan, engaging university partners, and steering individual bids, to secure research funding and advance IRC's position as a leader in protection evidence generation.

Job Requirements:

• Education: PhD preferred in public health, child development, psychology, or another relevant quantitative or qualitative discipline.
• Work Experience: PhD with 3–5 years of experience, or Master’s degree with 6–8 years of experience, working in research on topics related to violence against children and women, child protection, humanitarian emergencies or other relevant topics.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

• Experience conducting research in child protection, women’s protection and empowerment, and violence prevention and response in humanitarian settings.
• Knowledge of ethical principles related to sensitive study topics, such as child protection, women’s protection and GBV, and violence research.
• Ability to work across sectors, coordinating research studies and bringing together people with different perspectives to work collaboratively.
• Proven qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis skills.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills and attention to detail.
• Strong research publication and funding track record.
• Commitment to upholding Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion principles, data protection principles and Safeguarding standards.
• English is required, French is highly preferred, and Arabic, Spanish, Swahili or other languages would be beneficial.

Working Environment: Standard office work environment; up to 30% travel to countries of implementation.