About the opportunity
What this programme is offering
The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is an Africa-based and African-led research institution that generates evidence to inform policy and practice in health and development.
Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with a regional office in Dakar, Senegal, APHRC works to strengthen African research leadership and promote evidence-informed decision-making across the continent.
Through its Education and Youth Empowerment (EYE) unit, APHRC is advancing research on the responsible development, evaluation, and scaling of digital education innovations, including the use of artificial intelligence in education.
Job Details
Position: Education and Technology Researcher
Organization: African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Employment Type: Internationally Recruited Position (IRP)
Application Deadline: 30 September 2026
Travel: Occasional travel within Sub-Saharan Africa
Career Level: Postdoctoral Researcher, Associate Research Scientist, Research Scientist, or Senior Research Scientist
Key Responsibilities
The Education and Technology Researcher will contribute to research at the intersection of education, technology, and artificial intelligence.
Key responsibilities include:
Leading and co-leading research on digital education and AI in African basic education.
Designing and implementing rigorous evaluations of educational technologies.
Generating evidence to inform education policy and practice.
Developing competitive research proposals and contributing to grant fundraising.
Managing research projects, partnerships, and stakeholder engagement.
Assessing the equity, effectiveness, and ethical implications of digital technologies in low-resource settings.
Investigating digital learning platforms, mobile learning, teacher effectiveness, literacy, and numeracy interventions.
Preparing policy briefs, research reports, peer-reviewed publications, and technical resources.
Mentoring early-career researchers and contributing to institutional training activities.
Representing APHRC at national, regional, and international research forums.
The role combines research excellence, policy engagement, and stakeholder collaboration to help ensure that research evidence contributes to improvements in education systems across Africa.
Required Qualifications and Skills
Applicants should have:
A PhD in Education and Technology, Educational Data Science, Machine Learning in Education, Curriculum and Instruction with Technology, or a closely related discipline.
Demonstrated experience conducting high-quality research in education, digital technology, or artificial intelligence.
Strong expertise in quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods research.
Proficiency in relevant statistical or qualitative research software, such as R, Python, STATA, SPSS, NVivo, or ATLAS.ti.
Strong scientific writing and an established publication record.
Demonstrated experience developing research proposals and securing research funding.
Fluency in English. Knowledge of French is an added advantage.
Preferred Experience
APHRC particularly welcomes applicants with experience in one or more of the following areas:
Impact evaluations of education interventions.
Digital learning and EdTech innovations.
Artificial intelligence applications in education.
Foundational literacy and numeracy assessments, including EGRA and EGMA.
Mixed-method evaluations of education technology programmes.
African education systems and education policy research.
Career Levels and Experience
The successful candidate will be appointed at a level appropriate to their post-PhD experience:
Career LevelTypical ExperiencePostdoctoral Researcher0–2 yearsAssociate Research Scientist3–5 yearsResearch Scientist6–11 yearsSenior Research Scientist12+ years
This career structure enables researchers at different post-PhD stages to be considered for an appointment that matches their qualifications and professional experience.
Application Requirements
Applicants are required to submit the following documents in English:
A letter of application.
A 1–2-page statement of research interests and goals.
An up-to-date Curriculum Vitae (CV).
Contact details for three professional referees.
Applications should be submitted through APHRC's official online recruitment platform under the Education and Technology Researcher vacancy.
How to apply