The Public Health Institute (PHI) is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health, well-being, and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. As one of the largest and most comprehensive public health organizations in the nation, we are at the forefront of research and innovations to improve the efficacy of public health statewide, nationally, and internationally.
PHI was distinguished as one of the top 50 “Best Non-Profit Organizations to Work For” by the Non-Profit Times in a national search.
Position Summary
The Public Health Institute (PHI) is seeking a full-time Research Associate for one of its programs, Berkeley Media Studies Group. Our research supports clients and funders who work on public health policy issues including violence prevention, park and green space equity, reproductive justice, housing, immunization, rights for transgender communities, and other areas related to creating narrative power around racial justice and health equity.
This is a regular full-time position (40 hours/week, 100% FTE). While this is a remote position, the incumbent must be able to travel on occasion to attend various meetings and conferences.
The typical hiring range for this position is from $62,968 to $76,568, based on 100% FTE. Full salary range for this position: $62,968 to $90,167 per year. The starting salary is determined based on the candidate’s knowledge, skills, experience, as well as budget availability.
The primary role of the Research Associate at BMSG is to conduct research and to contribute to framing and media content analyses across a variety of public health issues. The Research Associate fundamentally contributes to our body of work on how public health issues are framed in the news, marketing, digital media, and other sources and how those frames help or hinder racial justice and health equity.
Specific tasks include conducting literature reviews, collecting, reading and analyzing news articles and other types of media, designing databases for data entry, data entry, analyzing data, and drafting and editing reports and presentations on research findings. The successful applicant will be highly organized and capable of strong attention to detail.
About Berkeley Media Studies Group
Positioned at the intersection of narrative change, media advocacy, and public health, BMSG is a small, nimble team committed to improving community health by building advocates’ capacity to make the case for equitable systems and environments. We do this by studying how public health and social justice issues are portrayed in the news and other communication channels and, using insights from that research, help advocates become more skilled communicators adept at changing narratives, especially news narratives that undermine health. We also work with journalists who want to deepen their reporting on the social and structural factors that influence health.
We take our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion seriously in our work with advocates and reporters and in the culture we’ve created internally. We strive to foster a working environment that prioritizes well-being and values every team member. Our philosophy is that we are humans first, employees second. We encourage people to bring their whole selves — all backgrounds and neurotypes welcome — into our workspace, identify professional development and growth opportunities for staff, and host regular brainstorming sessions to encourage creative thinking. If a norm or process isn’t working, we challenge and address it. BMSG’s average employee tenure is eight and a half years.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
- Conduct quantitative and qualitative media research, including helping to plan and execute media content analysis projects, conducting literature reviews, and gathering, and evaluating news articles, advocacy materials, social media posts and other texts. (40%)
- Write and edit reports and presentations on research findings and other written products. (25%)
- Perform descriptive data analyses, including data visualizations such as tables and charts. (10%)
- Create customized databases and perform data entry for media analysis projects. (10%)
- Support meeting planning and logistics and prepare presentation materials (PowerPoints, posters, etc.). (10%)
- Perform other duties in support of the program as assigned, including participating in staff and project meetings. (5%)
- Travel on occasion to attend various meetings and conferences
Minimum Qualifications
- 3 years of research, data analysis, or other relevant work experience
- Bachelor’s degree in science or quantitative field, public health, public policy, journalism, or other related field; or substitute with four additional years of related experience
Other Qualifications
- Strong interest in public health, media and communications, and a commitment to social justice
- Strong writing skills and the ability to write clearly and succinctly for a variety of audiences
- Strong attention to detail, ability to take initiative, and good organizational skills
- Ability to work collaboratively with other staff members and to stay focused while handling multiple assignments and priorities
- Experience conducting literature reviews of public health and/or social science literature
- Experience with or coursework on qualitative research and/or content analysis and coding
- Proficiency with doing basic descriptive data analysis
- Basic knowledge of databases or data collection platforms like LexisNexis, Meltwater, or Proquest
- Familiarity with qualitative research platforms like Atlas and Tableau preferred
- Experience presenting data in professional settings, or experience facilitating meetings, preferred
- Spanish-language ability is a plus
- Ability to travel on occasion to attend various meetings and conferences
- MPH or other masters-level training strongly preferred
Other Information
Berkeley Media Studies Group’s fiscal sponsor, Public Health Institute (PHI), is an equal-opportunity employer and an inclusive organization. People of diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.
All employees are required to adhere to PHI’s Covid-19 protocols. Employees whose essential job duties require them to work in person are encouraged to take a proactive and highly protective approach to safeguarding their health. This approach can occur irrespective of what a host entity may require and includes such strategies as voluntarily wearing a mask or taking other reasonable precautions in their workspace.
FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT (FLSA) STATUS
This position is classified as exempt based on the job duties. However, based on the FTE, salary level of the employee, or federal/state/local laws, the employee may be classified as nonexempt.
EEO Statement
The Public Health Institute is committed to a policy that provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition including genetic characteristics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identification and expression, sexual orientation, and to make all employment decisions so as to further this principle of equal employment opportunity. To this end, the PHI will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition including genetic characteristics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identification and expression, sexual orientation, and will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are offered employment and employees are treated during employment without regard to these characteristics.
For further information regarding Equal Employment Opportunity, copy and paste the following URL into your web browser: http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf
ADA Statement:
The Public Health Institute is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Recruitment Team at least 48 hours in advance at Recruitment@phi.org.
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