I’m a PhD Candidate on the TransGlobal Health (TGH), Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate (EMJD) Programme. I’m hosted at the Department of Public Health at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium and here at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), University of Amsterdam.

My main research interests are around research ethics and how these are applied and experienced in reality in the Sub-Sahara African context mainly utilizing qualitative research methodologies.

My PhD study aims to understand the ethical issues around the involvement of pregnant women in clinical research in low resource settings. It’s an ethnography that is embedded within an on-going clinical trial involving pregnant women being undertaken in the Gambia and Burkina Faso. Specifically, the study seeks to explore the informed consent and decision making processes regarding research participation; motivation for research participation; the experiences and perceptions of the women with regards to their participation in the clinical trial; and the community’s and other stakeholders’ perceptions about the inclusion of pregnant women in clinical research. The study is utilizing qualitative methods such as observations, In-depth Interviews and Focus Group Discussions to explore the issues of interest.