I am a Medical Anthropologist based in Groningen, the Netherlands. My research interests focus on the local implications of governance. I am particularly interested in the role of civil society initiatives, from international NGOs to bottom-up citizen initiatives. While I have a background in global health, more recently I shifted my focus to the health impact of crisis-governance.

My research at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen examines a citizen-driven experiment aimed at improving governance around the strengthening of houses damaged by anthropogenic or induced earthquakes due to gas extraction and the effects this has on the psychological and physical health of inhabitants and social cohesion within the village. This started off as an interdisciplinary collaboration with engineers, and has now turned into a longitudinal case study to  investigate citizens’ resilience in the context of complex power relations in socially constructed crises.

At the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD) I am an external research fellow. Prior, I coordinated the Global Mental Health theme group and contributed to a research project on local governance structures in Malawi.

In May 2019, I defended my PhD dissertation at the University of Oslo. My Ph.D. research focused on the dynamic interactions around the local implementation of an international NGO project which aimed to reduce teenage pregnancies in Malawi. I hold a Master’s degree in Medical Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Amsterdam.

Feel free to reach out!