Postdoctoral Fellow - Adaptation & Feasibility Trials Lead, OSI Project - J-PAL Latin America and the Caribbean

About the project

Anxiety disorders affect around 6.5% of children, typically beginning around age 5.5. Although cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is effective, access remains limited worldwide.

The OSI programme is a brief, therapist-guided, parent-led online CBT platform for children aged 5–12 with anxiety. It has been developed by the University of Oxford and commercialised by Koa Health, with strong evidence of clinical and cost-effectiveness in UK trials. 

Importantly, the programme is now being adapted and tested in five additional countries (Japan, Chile, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand) under a new £7 million Wellcome-funded initiative, with the ambition to enable rapid and sustainable rollout of OSI globally. 

Objective

To expand access to evidence-based treatment for childhood anxiety by culturally, technically and organisationally adapting OSI for diverse international contexts — including Chile — and to lead feasibility trials that will inform sustainable scale-up.

Key features of OSI

• Fully online, parent-led and therapist-guided.
• Target age group: children aged 5–12 years.
• UK trials show reductions in therapist time by 40% without compromising outcomes. 
• Recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the UK. 
• Being implemented at scale in the UK and now being expanded internationally.
• Designed with lived-experience input and with a strong emphasis on adaptability across cultural and contextual settings. 

Project phases

• Cultural & linguistic adaptation of OSI in partner countries (including Chile).
• Feasibility and effectiveness evaluation in local contexts.
• Development of regulatory, reimbursement, implementation and scale-up frameworks.
• Capacity building (research, digital health, data science) and lived-experience engagement.
• Dissemination and global scale-up via collaboration with The Global Health Network (Oxford). 
• Impact in Chile
• Enhance access to evidence-based digital mental health services for children in Chile.
• Strengthen infrastructure for digital mental health interventions and training of therapists/parents.
• Generate country-specific evidence to inform policy and practice in child mental health.
• Position Chile as a regional hub for digital mental-health innovation and scale-up in Latin America.
• Contribution to the international rollout of OSI as part of a globally-connected research and implementation network.

Purpose of the role

To lead the coordination of adaptation and feasibility trials of OSI in Chile (and potentially in linked Latin-American contexts). The role will ensure scientific rigour, ethical and regulatory compliance, deliver high-quality data, support capacity building, and contribute to high-impact publications and policy translation.

Key responsibilities

• Plan, implement and oversee trial logistics: recruitment, intervention delivery, data collection, supervision and monitoring.
• Ensure protocols meet ethical, regulatory and safety standards and manage interactions with ethics committees, regulators and funder.
• Conduct or supervise quantitative and/or qualitative data analysis.
• Prepare reports for funders, regulatory bodies and research teams.
• Lead and contribute to manuscripts and conference presentations on trial findings and implementation lessons.
• Manage budgets, project timelines, milestones, deliverables and coordination across national and international partners.
• Support training of research assistants, field staff and local stakeholders (schools, health services).
• Collaborate with national/international stakeholders (schools, health systems, policy makers, digital health teams) and support securing complementary funding (e.g., cash-transfer interventions).

Essential criteria:

• PhD (or equivalent) in Economics, Public Policy, Public Health, Epidemiology, Statistics, Clinical Psychology or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience of feasibility, pilot or exploratory trials, preferably in mental-health or digital-health interventions.
• Publication record in peer-reviewed journals.
• Excellent academic writing and communication skills in English (British English preferred).
• Strong analytical skills (quantitative, qualitative or mixed-methods).
• Proficiency in project and office management software.
• Knowledge of research ethics, regulatory approval, and safety/compliance in clinical/digital interventions.
• Ability to work with autonomy, lead multidisciplinary teams, and collaborate in international research networks.

Desirable:

• Experience with international multisite research projects.
• Familiarity with clinical-trial methodology (CONSORT/CONSORT-Pilot, SPIRIT, ethics submissions).

What we offer:

• A pivotal role in a Wellcome-funded global initiative with strong policy and practice relevance.
• A collaborative environment across UDD (ICIM) and PUC (J-PAL) combining clinical, economic and digital mental-health expertise.
• Opportunities for authorship and leadership in international dissemination, capacity building and policy translation.
• Flexible hybrid working arrangements and a commitment to open, ethical and reproducible science.
• Engagement in a project that is part of an international network and will contribute to global mental-health innovation.

Salary: USD 1,800 - 2,500/month (without taxes).

Hours: 40 hours per week.

Mode: On-site and hybrid.

Reports to: Dr Miguel Cordero Vega (UDD, ICIM) and Prof Claudia Martínez (PUC, J-PAL).