I am interested in social epidemiology, health equalities, social networks and in the design of impact evaluations. My research experience has been with HIV/AIDS among young women and among marginalised groups in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, I am working on a number of studies to characterise the HIV epidemic and to trial interventions among female sex workers in Zimbabwe and gay men and men who have sex with men (MSM) in South African and Kenya.

My PhD examined the associations between young women’s friendships and sexual behaviour in the context of HIV risk in South Africa. I worked in collaboration with HPTN 068, a randomised control trial examining the effect of monthly cash transfers to young women and their parent/guardians, conditional on their school attendance (University of North Carolina, University of the Witwatersrand and LSHTM).

Through my PhD research, I became interested in methodological as well as substantive aspects of social network analysis, including data collection, statistical analysis, and modelling of social networks in the absence of complete network data. I also have experience in using and examining respondent driven sampling methodologies(RDS), a method to sample 'hard to reach' populations in which participants recruit each other via their social networks.