Roster of Consultants at World Health Organization (WHO)

World Health Organization (WHO) is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Roster of Consultant - WHO Programme of Work on Promoting Equitable Global Heath Research and Rethinking Ethics Oversight

Job ID: 2500229
Location: Anywhere
Job type: Full-time
Contractual Arrangement: External consultant
Contract Duration: 11 months
Organization: HQ/HEG Health Ethics & Governance

Purpose of consultancy

• To provide technical guidance and expertise to help develop and contribute to a programme of work focusing on promoting equitable global health research and rethinking ethics oversight.

Background

• COVID-19 highlighted the key role played by science and research in the public health response.
• It also highlighted major challenges within the research ecosystem, including the issue of equity, both in terms of research participation and access to the benefits of that research.
• The key role played by ethical review systems during emergencies also came under the spotlight.
• As a global leader in the area of support for research ethics oversight, the Health Ethics & Governance Unit at WHO HQ convened a meeting of representatives from over twenty countries at a pre-workshop to the Global Summit of National Ethics Committees in Lisbon, Portugal in September 2022, to better understand the challenges and opportunities faced by ethics review committees during COVID-19.
• This work package picks up on those findings, and other work conducted by the Unit both during and before COVID-19 to build a programme of work to facilitate appropriately resourced and supported ethics oversight and to promote equitable research.

The main objectives for the project are to:

• Build the evidence base to ensure that the needed reform of ethics review oversight is grounded in real-life experience and that the evidence captures globally diverse perspectives.
• Address key gaps in ethics review oversight, with particular reference to trial design.
• Facilitate and promote equitable access to participation in research and the benefits of that research.

Deliverables
Specific deliverables will be pre-defined for each consultancy. Consultants are expected to perform a variety of tasks, including:

• Provide technical advice into mapping and developing the progamme of work.
• Deliver a literature/scoping review synthesizing what pre-existing proposals in terms of best practices/models for ethics advice.
• Contribute to the preparations/development of agendas, background papers and reports for relevant expert and advisory group meetings.
• Contribute to the preparations/development of agendas, background papers and reports for stakeholder engagement consultations.
• Development of case studies and other relevant review and analysis of documents.
• Produce a draft of the ethics outputs (i.e., tools, guidance, recommendations, reports, frameworks and/or toolkits).
• Contribute to the preparation of final documentation and outputs for publication and the development of an implementation strategy.

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages
Educational Qualifications
Essential:

• Advanced university degree in Ethics, Law, Philosophy, Sociology, Political Science, Medicine or related field.

Experience
Essential:

• Band level B: 5 to 10 years of relevant experience in the fields of public health, bioethics, philosophy, political science, or other related fields, as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications.
• Band level C: Over 10 years of relevant experience in the fields of public health, bioethics, philosophy, political science, or other related fields, as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications.

Desirable:

• Experience in providing ethics advice to governments or non-governmental organizations.

Skills/Knowledge
Essential:

• Advanced knowledge of ethical issues in public health
• Excellent communication, research, presentation, and report-writing skills
• Ability to work in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural settings

Languages and levels required
Essential:

• Expert knowledge of English.

Remuneration

• Band level B: USD 350 - 499 per day
  Band level C: USD 500 - 625 per day.

Application Closing Date
12th February, 2025.