South African Medical Research Council jobs

Position purpose

The Intern (Research Assistant) will support Aurum South Africa in programme development, implementation support, and assessment of performance across programme components under a multi-country HIV programme working with key populations and migrants. The role offers structured immersion in real-world public health implementation and research, with exposure to regional coordination, community-led approaches, partner engagement, evidence generation, and health systems challenges in Southern Africa.

Key responsibilities

• Support the planning, coordination, and follow-up of programme activities across workstreams.
• Assist with development of concept notes, workplans, implementation trackers, and internal briefing materials.
• Contribute to coordination across country teams, partners, and technical leads working with key populations and migrants.
• Help document programme adaptations, lessons learned, and emerging implementation priorities.
• Support day-to-day follow-up on implementation milestones across programme components.
• Assist teams to consolidate updates from country or partner teams into usable management summaries.
• Track deliverables, timelines, risks, and action points linked to programme implementation.
• Support the preparation of meeting agendas, minutes, and follow-up actions for internal and partner coordination platforms.
• Assist with compiling, cleaning, reviewing, and interpreting programme performance information.
• Support review of routine programme data, dashboards, and partner reports to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of simple performance tracking tools.
• Help synthesize findings from implementation and monitoring processes into short decision-support products
• Support implementation-related research activities, evidence reviews, and learning exercises.
• Assist with literature reviews, background research, note-taking, data summaries, and presentation materials.
• Contribute to documentation of promising practices in key populations and migrant programming.
• Support learning products that translate programme evidence into practical recommendations.
• Support coordination with local and regional partners, including civil society and community-based organisations.
• Assist in preparing materials for stakeholder engagements, technical meetings, and learning sessions.
• Contribute to respectful, community-centred collaboration with implementers serving key populations and mobile or migrant communities.
• Maintain organised records of key documents, trackers, and reporting inputs.
• Support scheduling, logistics, and document preparation for programme review and learning meetings.
• Perform related coordination and research support tasks as assigned.

Minimum requirements

• Current final-year student in Research Psychology Masters from in Public Health.
• Strong interest in HIV, public health implementation, migrant health, and key populations programming.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to work with multiple tasks, deadlines, and stakeholders in a professional environment.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, especially Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Added advantages

• Exposure to public health research, programme implementation, or monitoring and evaluation.
• Experience with data handling, synthesis, or dashboard reporting.
• Familiarity with HIV, TB, SRHR, community health, or rights-based programming.
• Ability to work sensitively and professionally with diverse and vulnerable populations.
• Interest in regional health programming and cross-border public health issues.

Competencies

• Analytical thinking
• Initiative and willingness to learn
• Professional communication
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Cultural sensitivity and respect
• Planning and follow-through
• Integrity and confidentiality

Please note:

All appointments are subject to the preferred candidates obtaining the necessary security clearance, reference checking, and competency assessment. We embrace employment equity and are committed to the achievement of fair and equal representation of our workforce. Preference will be given to internal applicants and candidates from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.

Aurum welcomes applications from all persons with disabilities.

Whilst all applications will be carefully considered, only short-listed applicants will be interviewed. If you do not hear from us within 21 days of the closing date, this will mean that your application has been unsuccessful. All interviewed applicants will receive feedback as part of our continued drive towards people development.

Closing date: 08 July 2026