Field Research Assistant (hourly rate)

The Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) is a world-leading institute in global health with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries. Associated with the University of Basel, Swiss TPH combines research, education and services at local, national and international levels. 900 people from 80 nations work at Swiss TPH focusing on infectious and non-communicable diseases, environment, society and health as well as health systems and interventions.

The Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (EPH) develops and applies advanced epidemio-logical, biostatistical and modelling methods to advance innovation, validation, and application in the field of public health. The Household Health Systems Research group is currently looking for a Field Research Assistant (hourly rate).

The Project

Legionnaire's disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria. The infection is notifiable to the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). The number of notified Legionnaires' disease cases is increasing in Switzerland but it remains unclear where and under which circumstances patients get infected.

The Swiss TPH is conducting a prospective national case-control and molecular source attribution study on Legionnaires' disease in Switzerland (SwissLEGIO ). The study is conducted in collaboration with the FOPH, the “Legionella control in buildings” consortium led by Eawag (ETH Zurich), the National Reference Center for Legionella, the University Zurich, and 20 university- and cantonal hospitals across Switzerland. The study consists of questionnaire-based interviews to assess risk factors for contracting Legionnaires' disease. In a second step, Legionella specimens are collected from patients and from their homes and other environments. The Legionella isolates obtained are analysed using whole genome sequencing (WGS), which allows the matching of clinical and environmental strains and the identification of the infectious source.

The data collection of the SwissLEGIO project is currently running and lasts until October 2023. For this research project we are looking for a highly flexible and motivated persons (as part of a fieldworker pool) who support data collection (questionnaire-based and mostly in-person interviews) primarily in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland.