Our Team

Professor Anuj Kapilashrami

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
Principal Investigator and Co-Director
Principal Investigator and Co-Director
An Interdisciplinary social scientist trained in Public Health and Sociology and Professor in Global Health Policy and Equity in the School of Health & Social Care. She is Director of the Centre for Global Health & Health Equity Research at the University of Essex. Kapilashrami has longstanding research experience in health policy and systems research, with particular interest in examining their equity and rights implications. Her current work focuses on advancing an intersectional approach to examine health inequalities and structural determination of health and well-being, especially among multiply disadvantaged populations including migrants. She is Founding Chair of the Migration Health South Asia network and a longstanding member of the People’s Health Movement, formerly as Chair of PHM Scotland. Kapilashrami is on the Gender Advisory Panel for WHO’s Human Reproduction Programme.

Associate Professor Jo Vearey

UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSRAND
Co-Director
Jo Vearey (she/her) has a background in public health and her interdisciplinary research focuses on the intersections between migration and health. She is an Associate Professor and Director of the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at Wits University in Johannesburg. Jo also Directs the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centre of Excellence in Migration and Mobility – hosted by the ACMS – and is Vice-Chair of the global Migration, Health, and Development Research Initiative (MHADRI). Fundamental to her research practice is participation in policy processes at international and local levels.

Professor Andrew Bateman

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
Senior researcher
Andrew is a Professor in the School of Health and Social Care. He has specialised in neuropsychology and rehabilitation. He has worked in research and clinical rehabilitation since 1990, the year he qualified as a Chartered Physiotherapist (North East London Polytechnic, & London Hospital School of Physiotherapy). He completed a PhD in Neuropsychology in 1997 (University of Birmingham). He did postdoctoral work in exercise physiology and rehabilitation in East London before taking up a post in 2002 in the NHS. Here he was responsible for leading community rehabilitation services for 17 years. He joined the University of Essex School of Health and Social Care in 2019.

Professor Amita Bhide

TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
Evidence co-lead
Amita Bhide works at the Centre for Urban Policy and Governance at Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Her research in migration focuses on internal migration in the context of urbanisation and policies that can make cities more inclusive of migrants. Recent publications include ‘Jaun-Yevun: Simultaneous engagement of Kokani Migrants ‘in ‘Leaving and Living: Home, Belonging and Memory in Migration’ eds Pushpendra and Sadan Jha and Migrants Homecoming in Yojana, 2020.

Professor Kamaldeep Bhui

OXFORD UNIVERSITY
Mental health lead
Prof. Kamaldeep Bhui is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford (Departments of Psychiatry and Primary Health Care Sciences) and Hon. Consultant Psychiatrist at East London Foundation Trust. He is Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Psychiatry and Chair of its Publications Management Board. Bhui directs the World Psychiatric Association Collaborating Centre (UK) and sits on several editorial boards. Formerly Head of Psychiatry at Queen Mary University of London, he is a Trustee of Centre for Mental Health and ThinkAhead. He leads major research including the UKRI-funded ATTUNE programme (£3.8m), NIHR’s Co-Pact study on inequalities in mental health act use (£700k), Barts Charity-funded Intrepid study on inflammation and depression (£300k), and the Synergi Collaborative Centre (£1.25m). Trained in pharmacology and medicine, he holds postgraduate qualifications in psychiatry, psychotherapy, epidemiology, and mental health studies. He held Consultant and Professorial posts in London since 1999 and co-founded Careif.

Martin Drewry

HEALTH POVERTY ACTION

Martin’s academic grounding was at Bradford University’s School of Peace Studies. An experienced leader in the voluntary sector, he began as an award-winning community development worker before moving to international development. He became national secretary of World Action, a pioneering Methodist programme engaging young people and adults in action for social justice. He then spent a decade as head of campaigns at Christian Aid, playing leading roles in Jubilee 2000 and Drop the Debt. He co founded the Trade Justice Movement and was one of the elected leaders of Make Poverty History. He is now CEO of Health Poverty Action.

Professor Gill Green

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
Senior researcher
Professor of Medical Sociology in the School of Health and Social Care, University of Essex. Gill has been researching experiential aspects of chronic illness since the early 1990s with a focus on the impact of HIV as well as other chronic conditions. She has been the Chief Investigator on a number of research projects related to socially excluded groups, most recently leading an international project about access to health care for young people living in low income urban areas with high levels of violence. Gill was Director of the NIHR Research Design Service (RDS) for East of England (2008-2019) and has an interest in public involvement in research and the co-production of knowledge.

Dr Aparna Joshi

TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
Intervention co-lead
Dr. Aparna Joshi is currently an Assistant Professor with the School of Human Ecology at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, India. She is trained in psychology and psychotherapy and has completed her PhD from TISS. Many of her research, intervention and capacity enhancement projects are related to themes of mental health and psycho social well- being, counselling, couple and family well-being, gender and violence against women, sexuality and adolescent mental health, and are carried out in partnership with educational institutions, State Governments, civil society organisations and international organisations including UNOs. Besides her academic and research work, she has been designing and implementing innovative mental health interventions in clinical and community settings over the past twenty-five years. Currently, she directs two field action projects at TISS: iCALL, one of the leading national level, professionally run, free counselling helpline initiated in the year 2012, and Sukoon, which aims at improving the well-being of couples and families in communities and Legal systems. She is involved in advisory and consultancy work with several national and international organisations.

Associate Professor Pedzisayi Mangezvo

AFRICA UNIVERSITY
Experience co-lead
The prospect of enhancing positive change in the lives of migrant men, children, women, and families is a source of inspiration for my work practice, research, teaching, and community engagement. I have taught/worked in more than four universities in Africa. I am passionate about ethnographic research. Imagining and designing policy-relevant research on migration, migrant masculinities and the ethical considerations that accompany all that informs my scholarship and publications in national, regional, and international journals. I have extensive ethnographic fieldwork experience in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Ethiopia.

Professor Sivakami Muthusamy

TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
Experience co-lead
M. Sivakami is a Professor in the Center for Health and Social Science, School of Health Systems Studies (SHSS), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, India. Sivakami’s broad research area includes demography, gender, and Health. Sivakami uses gender as a significant lens to address health and well- being inequities. Sivakami is trained in demography and health with quantitative expertise and has vast experience conducting large-scale surveys (GATS, NFHS, and DLHS). Her research in the last ten years involves a mixed methodology approach. During the last 20 years, Sivakami has led or co-led several major research studies in Migration and Access to Health, Resilience and Mental Health of Migrants, Mental Health Literacy, Menstruation and Menopause, Global Adult Tobacco Survey-2 (GATS-2) and Reversing Son Preference. Sivakami is an Academic Editor for PLOS Global Public Health and is on the Editorial Board of Women’s Midlife Health. She also serves in various capacities (member of steering groups, ethics committees, and advisor) in several academic institutions within and outside India.

Associate Professor Thobeka Nkomo

WITS UNIVERSITY
Experience co-lead
Dr. Thobeka Nkomo (Ph.D. in Social Work) is an Associate Professor and former Head of Department in the Social Work Department. She is a researcher, a published author, and academic at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). Her research interests include spirituality and health concerns, forgiveness, gender and sexuality issues, ethics, and values specifically related to cultural sensitivity, young women leadership, HIV/AIDS and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights. Actively involved in collaborative research projects with peers from all over Africa, she supervises many undergraduate and postgraduate students to promote, nurture, and advance education in our South African context.

Professor Ingrid Palmary

UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG
Intervention co-lead
Ingrid joined UJ as a Professor in January 2018. Prior to that, she worked at the African Centre for Migration & Society at Wits University from 2005 -2017. Ingrid completed her PhD (psychology) at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Before entering academia, Ingrid worked at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation as a senior researcher. Her research has been in the field of gender, violence, and displacement. She has published in numerous international journals and is the co-editor of Gender and Migration: Feminist interventions published by Zed Press; Handbook of International Feminisms: Perspectives on psychology, women, culture and rights published by Springer; Healing and Change in the City of Gold: Case studies of coping and support in Johannesburg published by Springer. She is the author of Gender, sexuality and migration in South Africa: Governing morality published by Palgrave.

Professor Gina Yannitell Reinhardt

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
Experience co-lead
Gina Yannitell Reinhardt is a Professor of Government at the University of Essex. She investigates how citizens and policy makers build resilience to shock and change, and how their decisions and behaviour affect economic, social, and political development. Specifically, she studies the relationships between political trust, community connectedness, and willingness to adopt and implement climate smart policies. Professor Reinhardt works with local authorities around the world, evaluating the impact of public policy on community resilience and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Her work informs the governance of marine resources, public health, and public safety to achieve sustainable growth and development.

Bangyuan Wang

HEALTH POVERTY ACTION
Community engagement co-lead
Mr Bangyuan Wang is an experienced public health practitioner. He has more than 20 years of experience in developing and managing public health programmes in Asia and Africa. Over the last 20 years, he has worked for MSF and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance (now called Frontline AIDS). Bangyuan worked for Health Poverty Action in China, Myanmar, and Laos from 2003 to 2013, and re-joined the organisation as the Head of Programmes for Asia in June 2019.

Dr Noorjehan Joosub

UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG
Senior researcher
Noorjehan Joosub is an established academic and Counselling Psychologist with a speciality in Neuropsychology. She lectures on undergraduate, Honours, and Masters levels at the University of Johannesburg and is experienced in Masters and Doctoral supervision. Her academic interests include neuropsychological rehabilitation, community interventions and feminist critical perspectives.

Professor Renos Papadopoulos

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
Senior researcher
Renos K. Papadopoulos, Ph.D. is Professor in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, Director of the ‘Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees’ and of the postgraduate programmes in ‘Refugee Care’, a member of the ‘Human Rights Centre’, at the University of Essex, as well as Honorary Clinical Psychologist and Systemic Family Psychotherapist at the Tavistock Clinic. He is a practising Clinical Psychologist, Family Therapist, and Jungian Psychoanalyst who spent most of his professional life training and supervising specialists in these three spheres. As consultant to the UN and other organisations, he has been working with refugees, tortured persons, trafficked people, and other survivors of political violence and disasters in many countries. His writings have appeared in eighteen languages. Recently, he has been given Awards by the European Family Therapy Association (for Lifetime ‘Outstanding contribution to the field of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice’), by the University of Essex (for the best ‘International Research Impact’), by two Mexican Foundations (for his ‘exceptional work with vulnerable children and families in Mexico’), and by the International Association for Jungian Studies (for his lifetime contribution to Jungian studies). His last two books are on ‘Moral Injury’ and on ‘Involuntary Dislocation’. In particular, the one on ‘Involuntary Dislocation’ has been receiving remarkably positive reviews and hailed as a genuine milestone in the field, inaugurating a new paradigm.

Tadesse Kassaye Woldetsadik

HEALTH POVERTY ACTION
Community engagement co-lead
Tadesse started at Health Poverty Action in June 2005. Tadesse, an Ethiopian medical practitioner, received his Masters in Public Health from the Universitae de Libre in 2002, and has worked with CARE International in Ethiopia as a senior health adviser and HIV/AIDS programme coordinator since early 2004. Prior to that, Tadesse held programme management posts with he Christian Children’s Children’s Fund (CCF), Ethiopia, after five years with the Ministry of Health.

Milena Simic

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
Senior Research and Project Manager
After gaining BSc and MSc in statistics in Canada, Ms Milena Simic moved to the UK and discovered her interest in mixed-methods research and work with marginalised groups. She has experience in surveys, in-depth interviews and focused group discussions with people affected by HIV and neglected tropical diseases in South East Asia, Western Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean Region. She worked both in academic environments (Imperial College, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, St George’s University), with charities (Lepra, Cancer Research UK) and as a consultant for international organisations (UNICEF, World Health Organization). She enjoys creating, analysing and appraising evidence for actionable insights and creating policy and practice briefs.

Dr Roomi Aziz

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX / MiHSA NETWORK
Senior Research Officer / Data Manager and Training Lead
Dr Roomi Aziz is a public health professional with 10+ years of experience, currently pursuing her PhD in public health at the University of Essex. As the regional coordinator for the Migration Health South Asia network, she is also coordinating the micro grant research projects in Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. She is also leading the Migration Health Research Priorities-setting exercise in Pakistan, and piloting of the Migrant Health Integration in Health Policy Barometer in Pakistan and Nepal.

Dr Neha Adsul

TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
Country Coordinator India

Neha Adsul is the Country Coordinator for GEMMS India and a member of the project’s global Governance Group. She supports quantitative research, field operations, and data management for the India site, working closely with migrant communities and local partners in Mumbai’s M-East Ward.

Neha holds a PhD in Health Systems from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, where her doctoral research focused on care work, migration, and health systems. Before joining GEMMS, she worked as a Senior Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health and as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB). Her work has been published in journals including PLOS Global Public Health, BMJ Open, and BMJ Global Health. She also serves as Assistant Editor for Health Policy at South Asia Research (SAGE Journals).

Phindile Ngobese

UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSBRAND
Associate Researcher and Country Coordinator South Africa
Ms. Phindile Ngobese (she/her) is a researcher at the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS), University of Witwatersrand. She has worked in the public health research space for over 4 years and is currently completing her doctoral studies at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University. She is currently an associate researcher at ACMS and joined the GEMMS project as a research coordinator for South Africa in 2004

Laura Kachale

HEALTH POVERTY ACTION
Community engagement co-lead
Laura is a Health Poverty Action programme officer for the Africa region. She has an MSc in Global Health from Queen Margaret University and BA in African Studies from SOAS. With over 10 years of programmatic experience from living and working in both the UK and Malawi, she joined HPA in 2022 supporting program implementation and development. Her interests are in health system strengthening, women’s empowerment and maternal rights.

Kunthea Soch

HEALTH POVERTY ACTION
Research Officer
Kunthea Soch is a Research Consultant at Health Poverty Action (HPA) Cambodia, with a Ph.D. in Public Health and qualifications in midwifery and business management. With over 30 years of experience, she has contributed to projects led by HPA, FHI360, US-CDC, and RHAC, focusing on mixed-method qualitative research, HIV/STI care, PMTCT, TB, NCD integration, and health system strengthening. Her work promotes service quality, equity, safety, and coordinated efforts across national and sub national levels. Since joining HPA in June 2025, she has trained the enumerators and led quality assurance in qualitative data collection and currently manages the GEMMS Project, guiding its strategic direction. She has published several articles in journals including IJSA, JIAS, the International Archives of Public Health, and the International University Journal. Her research interests center on health equity and issues affecting marginalized populations.

Leakhena Ouk

HEALTH POVERTY ACTION
Field Research Officer
Leakhena holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, majoring in Finance and Banking. She has over 15 years of experience in conducting cross-sectional surveys and joined HPA as a Field Research Officer in 2024. Her role includes liaising with local authorities and relevant institutions, coordinating fieldwork logistics, leading survey teams, ensuring data quality, observing field activities, and preparing field reports. She is passionate about research in gender, violence, mental health, food security, education systems, and economic development. Driven by a commitment to impactful fieldwork, Leakhena believes that strong community engagement and meticulous data collection are key to producing meaningful research that supports social change.

Stanley Muravha

UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSBRAND
Researcher
Stanley holds a BA in Development Studies, an Honours in Industrial Sociology, and a Master’s in Sociology from the University of Johannesburg. He is responsible for data collection, data capturing, and language translation, contributing to the project’s exploration of gendered violence and migrant mental health. His interests span religion, gender, food safety, worker health and well-being, and broader social dynamics. His master’s research examined the health and well-being of supermarket cashiers. Stanley has published op-eds on youth unemployment and food poisoning in South African townships, applying a structural violence lens. His research combines theoretical depth with practical insight into lived experiences. Stanley values research rooted in real-life experience and is inspired by 80s/90s HIP-HOP for its commentary on identity and resistance. He lives by the words of KRS-ONE: “Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone.”

Leonore Longwe

UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSBRAND
Operations and Logistics Officer
Lenore supports the GEMMS project at the University of the Witwatersrand’s African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS), focusing on operations and logistics. She manages operational planning, logistics coordination, and administrative support to ensure the smooth running of GEMMS project activities. Lenore holds a degree in Public Administration, with expertise in organisational management and operational support. Lenore believes that efficient operations and logistics are critical to the success of research projects, providing the foundation that allows fieldwork and analysis to thrive.

Sisianda Gqoboka

UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSBRAND
Finance Officer
Sisianda holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree, with a focus on financial management and administration. She manages all financial operations related to the GEMMS project at the University of the Witwatersrand’s African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS), ensuring compliance, budgeting, and financial reporting. Committed to supporting impactful research through strong financial stewardship, Sisanda believes that sound financial practices are essential to enabling meaningful social change through research.

Doofan Udendeh

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
Research Assistant
An early career researcher and a recent graduate of the MSc Global Public Health program at the University of Essex, with a focus on intersectional health equity and health system strengthening. Her previous work with the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria centred on expanding access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services and information, particularly among vulnerable populations in Nigeria. Her current research explores pre-hospital system barriers contributing to health inequities in East Suffolk and North Essex, as part of the CoastGEM project. She has also supported the INNOVATE project, which applies an intersectional theory of change to address health inequities in Mid and South Essex. Within this, she is leading qualitative analysis of project data to better understand the lived experiences and structural inequities faced by people living with mental health challenges in the region.

Anushree

TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
Research Assistant
Anushree (she/her) is an early-career researcher currently working as a Research Assistant with NIHR GEMMS, India. Her research focuses on gender, sexuality, and mental health, and how these intersect with violence, policy, and development—primarily explored through both research and field-based engagements in the past. She holds a postgraduate degree in Social Work, specializing in Women- Centered Practices from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai (2022). At GEMMS, she has engaged with existing evidence and identified knowledge gaps to inform research design. She is presently contributing to the qualitative component in India, working with migrants and service providers to build an understanding of the burden of mental health (MH) and gender-based violence (GBV) challenges experienced by migrants living and working in precarious conditions. Her role spans supporting data collection, engaging critically with emerging insights, fostering relationships with communities, navigating ethical complexities in the field, and reflecting on how such learnings can inform meaningful and sustained support interventions in the future. Grounded in feminist approaches, Anushree deeply values the importance of care, relationships, and everyday ethics in research. She is learning to balance responsibility with empathy in her work and aims to contribute to knowledge-building that is thoughtful, collaborative, and rooted in justice.

Xinze Li

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX

Xinze is a finance and research administration professional working in the University of Essex. She holds an MSc from the University of Bristol and has experience across financial analysis, research support, and project coordination within higher education environment. She currently works on the NIHR-funded global health research group GEMMS, supporting financial administration, data management, and research coordination across the project.

Coster Chinamatira

UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSBRAND
Research Assistant

Blessing Mkuvura

UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSBRAND
Research Assistant

Aastha Niranjan

TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
Research Assistant
Aastha Niranjan is an early-career researcher currently working as a Research Assistant on the GEMMS project. Her work spans coordinating community-based engagements, conducting training, supervising and facilitating qualitative data collection, and contributing to research conceptualisation and analysis. She holds a Master’s degree in Applied Psychology, with a specialization in Clinical and Counselling Psychology, from TISS. Her research interests lie at the intersection of identity, power, and social policy through a critical theory lens. In her previous work, she has explored how broader social and cultural dynamics shape identity, marginalization, and well-being. She is particularly interested in how these factors influence the accessibility and effectiveness of social interventions and policy. Aastha hopes for her research to reflect the co-production of knowledge- rooted in relationships of respect and responsibility.

Wellington Mvundura

AFRICA UNIVERSITY

Surekha Patil

TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

Fadzie Chipato

TSURO

Stanley Tiffah Zauya

UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSBRAND
Fieldwork Support
Tiffah is affiliated with the Gendered Experiences of Migration and Mobility in Southern Africa (GEMMS) project through Future Families Musina, an implementing partner of the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) SRHR-HIV Knows No Borders (KNB) program. He serves as a Field Research Assistant, offering on-the-ground coordination, research support, and community engagement. · Facilitates community-level data collection with migrant populations in Musina, including farmworkers, sex workers, and informal traders. Tiffah Coordinates field visits, mobilizes participants, and ensures ethical engagement during interviews and surveys, acting as a bridge between researchers and community members to enhance cultural sensitivity and field efficiency. Participates in research reflections, the GEMMS Annual Meeting, and the Winter School as a practitioner researcher, helping to translate academic insights into grassroots actions and policy recommendations. Tiffah is trained as a Paralegal, with a strong foundation in community development, youth work, and social justice advocacy. His professional background includes experience in child and youth development, SRHR-HIV rights, migration support services, and conflict mediation. His leadership skills have positioned him in key platforms where community voices influence local development.

Lydia Moyo

UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSBRAND
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Lydia Moyo is a postdoctoral research fellow at ACMS under the GEMMS project. She holds a doctorate from the University of Johannesburg, and her thesis was titled “Geopolitics of Relocating: The Integration Experiences of Zimbabwean Venda-Speaking Migrants Residing in Pretoria, South Africa.” She also holds a master’s degree as well as an honours degree from the University of Johannesburg. She did her undergraduate degree at the University of Zimbabwe. She has worked on a project looking at the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits as a research coordinator. She is a multilingual individual speaking almost 6 languages (Tshivenda, English, Pedi, Isizulu, Ndebele, Shona). She has worked as an enumerator in various projects, but her most significant role was conducting the largest surveys at GEMMS and being a qualitative lead as well as being appointed a supervisor. Her research interest is on migration, xenophobia, language, and integration.

Oncemore Mbeve

WITS UNIVERSITY

Oncemore Mbeve is currently a doctoral researcher at the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS), Wits University. He joined GEMMS as a part-time researcher to help with data collection in Musina, and is transcribing some of the qualitative interviews for the team. He holds an Honors’ Degree in Social Work, and a Master’s in Psychology. Oncemore’s PhD is on Migration and Displacement. It focuses on the sexual health for young migrant men, with a specific interest on the mediators of their sexual decision making. His current research interests are broad, exploring several issues relating to migration such as mental health, coping strategies to economic challenges, and their integration into the host society. As an emerging researcher, Oncemore has published a couple of articles in international journals, and contributed a book chapter. He has also supervised research students whose work has contributed to understanding migrants’ experiences, especially in the Southern Africa region. Oncemore has also presented his work to international platforms, as well as developed and taught causes on migration internationally, such as in the University of Tübingen, Germany. His personal interest is on a deeper understanding of migrants’ experiences in different settings, with a passion in demonstrating not only the challenges and vulnerabilities that they may experience, but also their strengths and coping strategies. This is often an overlooked aspect, and overlooks migrants’ coping mechanisms, with possibly a negative effect on how support programmes are designed and rolled out.

Tawanda Mangezvop

Rebecca Walker

UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSBRAND
Senior Research Fellow

Sostina Matina

UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSBRAND
Research Fellow

Mukul Bhowmick

PHD STUDENT
Mukul’s PhD explores migration experiences of queer men in India and how mobility shapes queer mental health and well-being. Using qualitative methods, I examine migration motivations, psychosocial stressors and access to support in the context of queer migration. My work contributes to understanding queer mobilities within the Global South and informs inclusive public health and social care interventions and policies in the region.

Obindra Chand

PHD STUDENT
Obindra’s PhD will explore intersecting inequities faced by returnee migrants with disabilities from Gulf countries and Malaysia as they reintegrate into communities in Koshi and Bagmati provinces, Nepal. It examines their lived experiences, barriers, and facilitators throughout their migration journey. The findings will contribute to scholarship on migration health, disability, and equity, informing evidence-based policies and interventions in major labor-sending countries like Nepal.

Tanatswa Silvanus Chineka

PHD STUDENT
Tanatswa’s research looks at how the intersection of gender, agency and best interest determination shapes unaccompanied migrant children’s access to healthcare. Centring children’s voices in the migration-health dialogue, he draws on theoretical and methodological frameworks that allow migrant children to see and represent themselves, and to value their knowledge and co-contribution to the research process.

Melisa Dlamini

PHD STUDENT
Melisa’s research is on understanding the maternal lived experiences of internal and cross-border migrant women in accessing continuity of care in their mobile state. Using the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) framework and the Intersectionality theory, the research will also shed light on the challenges faced by health care workers of maintaining continuity of maternal care in South Africa where public healthcare resources are increasingly constrained.