Research Associate/Research Fellow/Senior Research Fellow (qualitative/mixed methods)

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE; Singapore; On-site; SGD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading academic institution in Singapore is seeking a Research Associate/Fellow to join an interdisciplinary team focused on community engagement through research. The role involves designing workshops, engaging stakeholders, and developing measurement tools to enhance social capital and community capacity. Suitable candidates should possess a Master's or PhD in a relevant field and have at least three years of applied research experience. Excellent communication skills and expertise in qualitative research methods are essential for this position.

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years of applied research experience in community, health, or built-environment projects.
• Proven expertise in qualitative or community-based participatory research.
• Experience in developing or validating measurement tools preferred.

Responsibilities

• Design and facilitate workshops with stakeholders to co-develop community frameworks.
• Conduct in-depth interviews with stakeholders for governance and collaboration insights.
• Manage ethics documentation and data governance processes.

Skills

Qualitative research methods

Community-based participatory research

Stakeholder engagement

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Education

Master’s/PhD in Public Health or related field

Job description

Interested applicants are invited to apply directly at the NUS Career Portal

Your application will be processed only if you apply via NUS Career Portal

We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

Job Description

Research Associate/ Research Fellow/Senior Research Fellow (qualitative/mixed methods)

Type: 1-year contract (renewable), full-time, Singapore-based

About the Role

Join an interdisciplinary research team exploring how co-located community hubs influence social capital, intergenerational connection, and community capacity in Singapore. Designed to optimise land use and bring together health, social, cultural programs and services, these hubs are becoming vital spaces for community engagement and wellbeing in dense urban settings. This role offers a rare opportunity to work across public health, behavioural science, urban design, and community arts, generating actionable insights on how the built environment and community programming foster inclusion, belonging, and resilience.

What You’ll Do

• Community-Based Participatory Research
  • Design and facilitate workshops with residents, practitioners, and agencies to co-develop frameworks on how hub design and programming build community capacity.
  • Apply qualitative and geospatial methods (e.g., walk-alongs, photovoice, community mapping) to understand how users interact with spaces within community hubs.
  • Collaborate with Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts to conduct user journey mapping and develop user archetypes through arts-based engagement approaches.
  • Triangulate quantitative and qualitative data to generate practice-oriented insights.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Translation
  • Conduct in-depth interviews with stakeholders to examine governance, collaboration, and partnership practices across community hubs.
  • Coordinate a multi-agency advisory group involving academics, government, and industry partners.
  • Translate findings into toolkits, templates, and recommendation guides.
  • Prepare and present policy briefs, reports, and visual summaries for government and community audiences.
• Development of Measurement Tools
  • Conduct interviews and literature reviews to design survey items for measuring social capital and community capacity.
  • Facilitate focus groups and nominal group sessions to refine survey items, weightings, and construct definitions.
  • Collaborate with data analysts to pilot test, revise, and finalize measurement tools.
• Project Management and Ethics
  • Manage IRB submissions, ethics documentation, and data governance processes.
  • Ensure data integrity, documentation, and reproducibility across research partners.
  • Track project milestones, reporting, and deliverables for the grant.

Requirements

• Minimum 3 years of applied research experience in community, health, or built-environment projects.
• Proven expertise in qualitative or community-based participatory research (CBPR); experience with mixed-methods approaches is highly desirable.
• Experience in developing or validating measurement tools or participatory evaluation frameworks preferred.
• Strong writing, synthesis, and analytical skills, with evidence of scholarly publications or policy outputs.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to engage diverse stakeholders and translate findings for non-academic audiences.
• Comfortable using digital, visual, and social media tools to support community engagement and knowledge dissemination.

Apply: Please submit your CV and cover letter via the NUS Career Portal.

Qualifications

• Master’s/PhD in Public Health, Anthropology, Urban Planning, Human Geography, Psychology, Data Science, or related disciplines.