Catherine is a Researcher at the Institute of Development Studies, specialising in the role of transdisciplinarity, social science, and community involvement in epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response in Sub-Saharan Africa. She has worked on several large consortium projects in this area and her current research is focused on Sierra Leone. Current projects include: Transdisciplinary approaches to pandemic preparedness in Sierra Leone (TAPP-SL) and Zoonotic influenza preparedness: a transdisciplinary One Health approach (ZIP).
A recent past project was an anthropological project focusing on pandemic preparedness with fieldwork in Uganda and Sierra Leone, the Pandemic Preparedness project (PPP). This ran for four years and this research highlighted the importance of local perspectives to disease response which have not been fully recognised and supported in global discourses so far. Other past projects include the Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium, which involved undertaking original social science analysis and facilitating participatory modelling, supporting work across five African case studies to investigate drivers of disease. She worked across the modelling group, linking participatory modelling to empirical and process modelling being carried out by others based at Cambridge, the Institute of Zoology and Edinburgh. Her role involved co-ordination and management across the Consortium, including management of outputs, reporting and budgets, organising workshops, and policy influencing and impact analysis.
She has a specialised in producing rapid operationalisable research, particularly rapid reviews using innovative methods. For example she has provided technical assistance to policy makers through the Department for International Development (DFID) Human Development Resource Centre (HDRC) (2011-2012) DFID High-Quality Technical Assistance for Results (HEART) (2012-2016), FCDO K4D (2016-2019), the Ebola Response Anthropology Platform (2014-2016), Social Science and Humanitarian Action Platform (2023-), the Covid Collective (2023), Knowledge for Development and Diplomacy (K4D2) (2024-) and the People’s Agenda for Pandemic Preparedness (2023) and also writes policy reports for the FCDO and UNICEF. Catherine enjoys teaching and she co-convenes the Gender Identity and Inclusion module and teaches, marks and supervises on the following Masters courses: Gender, Identity and Inclusion, Ideas in Development and Debating Poverty and Vulnerability.
Prior to joining IDS in 2011, she conducted research for and had management roles in several international development organisations, managed an NHS research department and monitored clinical trials. Catherine has worked in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, Zambia, Cote D’Ivoire and South Africa.
