LEADERSHIP TEAM
DR DEBBI STANISTREET
Principle Investigator
Dr Debbi Stanistreet is a senior lecturer at The Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin Ireland. She is an active researcher in the field of Household Air Pollution (HAP), specialising in using mixed methods to study uptake of cleaner fuels for cooking in low-income countries. In relation to this work, Debbi and her colleagues at the University of Liverpool were winners of the David Sackett award for Evidence Based Medicine for their HAP systematic review work, (2014) and also contributing authors to the WHO Household Energy Guidelines (2014). In addition, their work was identified as one of the top twenty impact case studies nationally during the last UK Research Excellence Framework review. Debbi continues to collaborate with her colleagues at the University of Liverpool and they have recently been awarded £1,987,000 from NIHR for a project entitled Global Health CLEAN-AIR (Africa)) to carry out research on clean cooking in Ghana, Kenya and Cameroon (2018).
She is Principal Investigator on the Smokeless Village Project which is funded by the Irish Research Council. You can find Debbi's publications here.
PROFESSOR JOSEPH MFUTSO-BENGO
Co-Principle Investigator
Professor Joseph Mfutso-Bengo is professor of Bioethics and current Director of the University of Malawi-Centre of Excellence in Ethics and Governance (CEEG) & Centre of Bioethics in Southern and Eastern Africa-(CEBESA). He heads up the Health Economics and Policy Unit (HEPU). Professor Mfutso-Bengo chairs the Malawi National Advisory Committee on Bioethics (NACOB). He is the ex-president of WHO-AFRO -Regional Global Summit of Nation Ethics Advisory Board and ex Chair of College of Medicine Research and Ethics Committee. He was visiting faculty for t John Hopkins Fogarty Bioethics Training Program for African Professionals and Michigan State University –Centre of Medical Ethics and humanities. He has served as a member of the Data Safety Monitoring Board for the NIH Division of AIDS and NIAD for 5 years. He has also served as reviewer of US Academy of Science- Institute of Medicine ad as a consultant for both UNESCO and WHO. Professor Mfutso-Bengo is co-principal investigator for The Smokeless Village project. He has published widely in Bioethics and behavioural studies
EUNICE PHILIP
Researcher
Eunice Philip is a healthcare professional with over 10 years’ experience in emergency nursing, TB and HIV care, mostly in developing countries and among vulnerable populations. She holds an MPH degree from the University College of Cork, Ireland, and her research and passion for global health issues, fuels her advocacy work which critically examines the health and inequities from climate change and air pollution. Her work on the impact of air pollution from fuel used for cooking and anaemia in women and children in sub-Saharan African countries was awarded the Jacqueline Horgan Bronze Medal award in 2018. She hopes her experience, knowledge and passion for health equities will enhance the ‘Smokeless Village’ project to improve the health and wellbeing of the participants and the farthest left behind through the translation of evidence-based practice into positive behavioural and policy changes. Eunice is a research assistant on The Smokeless Village project based at the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland.
VINCENT JUMBE
Researcher
Vincent Jumbe is a Health Social Scientist grounded in the disciplines of Global Health (PhD) focusing on Health Systems, Public Health (MPH) and Bioethics (MA). Currently he is a Lecturer, Researcher and Course Director for a Master of Science Program in Global Health Implementation under the Department of Health Systems and Policy, College of Medicine, The University of Malawi. , His research interests include health systems strengthening, and improving equity and access to health services among underserved, marginalized and vulnerable communities in Malawi. Using mixed methods, he has characterized HIV burden, assessed prevention needs and access to health care services among men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender persons, female sex workers and people who inject drugs in Malawi. He has also worked on research projects aimed at improving access to eye care services; musculoskeletal impairments services among children and repurposing of and access to Insecticide treated bednets in rural fishing communities in Malaw . Recently, he has been involved in researching on The Social Innovation in Health Initiative (SIHI) Malawi. Vincent is working as a Post-Doctoral Researcher on the Smokeless Village Project Medicine, based at The University of Malawi.
DR AISLING WALSH
Associate Investigator
Dr Aisling Walsh is a lecturer in the Dept of Public Health and Epidemiology at RCSI. She has experience of conducting qualitative and mixed-methods health research in Ireland and in Africa, in particular Malawi and Zambia. Aisling’s research interests are in health services and systems research, particularly in the areas of maternal and child health, disability, and health research ethics in Africa. She has coordinated two global health research networks and has trained researchers in qualitative and mixed methods research in Africa through these roles. She has experience in engaging with health policy makers at community, national and international levels. She is currently an associate investigator on a project investigating infant feeding policy implementation in Malawi to support exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, which is funded by the Irish Research Council. She is an associate investigator on the Smokeless Village Project.
DR. MIKE CLIFFORD
Associate Investigator
Dr. Mike Clifford is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham. His research interests are in natural fibre composites, aquaponics, biomass briquetting, cookstove design and other appropriate and sustainable technologies. He works extensively with charitable organisations such as Tearfund, Enactus, Engineers Without Borders and Creativenergie on technological solutions to tackle global challenges.
He was recently honoured by Universitas 21 (a global network of research universities) for his efforts regarding internationalisation in education both within and beyond the engineering classroom. U21 writes that "[Mike] created international experiences for students which impact positively on communities with a particular focus on Africa, but also across the globe, including Cambodia, India, Malaysia and Tajikistan." You can find Mike’s publications here:
SARAH JEWITT
Associate Investigator
Professor Sarah Jewitt is a Professor of Human Geography and Development in the School of Geography, University of Nottingham. Her research interests lie mainly at the interface between environment and development although gender-environment relations form an important element of her work. Building on past research on the interactions between agriculture/household energy/respiratory-health and sanitation issues in rural India and southern Africa, she is currently involved in projects associated with household air pollution and lung health in Nepal and improving nitrogen use efficiency among smallholders in Brazil. She also has interests in gender and sanitation-related issues including the impacts of menstruation and puberty on girls' spatial mobility and life chances. You can find Sarah’s publications here:https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/geography/people/sarah.jewitt
DR MARIA HOLDEN
Associate Investigator
Dr Maria Holden is a Lecturer in Children’s and Young Peoples Nursing at the University of Nottingham, UK. In 2018, Maria completed her PhD entitled “An exploration of the factors associated with paediatric burn injuries in rural and peri-urban Malawi”. The study employed a qualitative approach to uncover parental, health professional and key stakeholder perceptions of burn injury risks and their prevention across four Malawian communities exposed to different cooking technologies. Since the completion of her PhD Maria has continued to undertake qualitative research to explore the use of alternative household energy sources in Tanzania. Maria also works as a Research Assistant for the Centre for Global Burn Injury Policy and Research (CGBIPR). As part of this work Maria has participated in the development of the Basic Burns Care training programme for primary-level health care workers in resource limited settings. More recently, Maria is leading a project at CGBIPR to assist with the design, delivery and evaluation of an implementation and improvement science course for nurses working in burns units across Malawi and Ethiopia. You can find Maria’s publications here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maria_Holden4/research
