Job Board

The Department of State Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) is seeking highly motivated, highly qualified individuals for the Eradication Advisor Personal Services Contract located in Bogota, Colombia. INL works to keep Americans safe at home by countering international crime, illegal drugs, and instability abroad. INL helps countries strengthen their police, justice, and corrections systems. These efforts reduce the amount of crime and illegal drugs reaching U.S. shores. This position is open to all qualified candidates. To apply, please read the announcement in its entirety and submit all required materials to the email address provided in the solicitation, with the position title and solicitation number in the email subject line. The solicitation opened on November 19, 2024, can be found here, and closes on December 4, 2024.  Questions should be directed to Dominique Chittum, ChittumDA [at] state [dot] gov (ChittumDA[at]state[dot]gov).

About us

The Addictions Department, also known as the National Addiction Centre (NAC), is one of the most productive addictions research groups in Europe. We represent an important area of health-related study as the Addictions Clinical Academic Group (CAG) within King’s Health Partners, and form one of the core areas of the Academic Health Science Centre that brings together university partners King’s College London with the NHS from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College Hospital and Guy’s and St Thomas’. RAND Europe rated our work on Substance Abuse Research as leading in the field.

The Addictions department at King’s College London is based at Denmark Hill in London, but for this role, the appointed person would be based at the University of Hull. However, the role involves closely working with team members based in London.

www.hull.ac.uk/work-with-us/research/groups/centre-for-addiction-and-mental-health-research

About the role

We would like to appoint a Research Assistant to play a key role within a newly NIHR funded project. The research focuses on the development, evaluation and testing of a Virtual Reality-enhanced Cue Exposure Treatment integrated with a wearable device to address craving, prevent relapse and improve treatment outcomes of people with cocaine dependence.

A key challenge in helping people to recover from cocaine addiction (or dependence) is their craving for the drug that can be triggered by ‘cues’ in their environment, such as situations or objects, which remind them of the pleasurable effects of cocaine. This process is known as ‘classical conditioning’ and the aim of this study is to reduce the risk of relapse to cocaine through use of novel technologies to reduce craving.

What we plan to study

Cocaine craving, and relapse to cocaine use are associated with physical changes to the body that can be measured. We are planning to ask individuals to wear a novel watch-like device that can measures physical changes to cues in their everyday environment. With this technology we will be able to identify in real time when they experience an episode of craving or start using cocaine again, to understand what real-life situations or circumstances have triggered these events, and allow us to provide support remotely when we detect they encounter situations that increase their risk of relapse. We will test the ability of technology-enhanced CET to reduce craving and relapse to cocaine use, compared to people receiving usual care

This research is a collaboration involving five UK universities led from the Addictions Department at King’s College London (KCL), the University of Kent, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at the University of Hull, University of Birmingham, and University of Southampton.

The person appointed will be employed by the Addictions Department at King’s College London (KCL) and will report to Professor Paolo Deluca (Lead applicant) but will be based at the University of Hull and work closely with Professor Tom Phillips. The person appointed will also be working closely with the Project Manger Dr Eileen Brobbin, who is based at King’s College London but will also involve in person meetings between Eileen and the appointed person for training.

The successful candidate will have a good understanding of addictive behaviours, experience in conducting quantitative and qualitative research in clinical settings, and data collection and recruitment. Having conducted research using wearable devices and/or virtual reality will be an asset.

You will also have established research skills relevant to this work. You should be a clear and balanced communicator and committed to equality, diversity and inclusion principles. The successful appointee will be expected to be reliable and efficient and also to have good inter-personal as well as organisational skills.

This is a full-time post and you will be offered a fixed term contract of two years.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The objectives of the Programme on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders (MNS) in EMRO are to guide Member States in the development, adaptation and implementation of evidence-informed policies, plans, legislations and interventions aimed at the promotion of mental health and prevention of mental, neurological and substance use disorders, delivery of services based on best practices and standards of care and promoting recovery, and observance of human rights in an inter and multi-sectoral milieu.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

The incumbent will be responsible for the following duties: Assess the current regional situation of substance use and substance use disorders and develop a strategic approach to assist Member States in prevention and treatment for substance use disorders in line with the regional framework to strengthen public health action on the problem of substance use. Enhance the capacities of Member States to develop and implement-evidence informed policies and legislations and strengthen the health systems response to public health problems related to substance use. Provide technical support and advice to Member States in developing national strategies and action plans on reducing health consequences of substance use, scaling up evidence-based interventions for the prevention of substance use disorders, and provision of quality services to people with substance use disorders across the continuum of care. Plan, develop, implement and monitor building capacity activities at country and regional levels to respond to public health problems attributable to substance use and substance use disorders. Support Member States in the development of surveillance and monitoring systems for substance use. Provide technical support and advice to civil society organizations and other entities, as appropriate, on the issues related to reduction of the public health problems associated with substance use. Foster collaboration and partnerships with other EMRO programmes and initiatives in the area of substance use and public health. Prepare and revise technical documents, briefing notes, meeting reports, information products and content of EMRO website related to work under the incumbent's responsibility, as appropriate.