Pauline Oosterhoff, PhD, MA, MPH is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, where she has worked since 2014. A transdisciplinary researcher and visual artist with a particular fondness for anthropological approaches, she has led over thirty large-scale and boutique research and advisory programmes across South and South-East Asia, West Africa, and Europe. Her work spans femicide, sexual and reproductive health and rights, migration, gender-based violence, and participatory crisis response—always with a strong focus on innovative research, added value, equity, and engagement.
Pauline combines conventional qualitative and quantitative methods with visual, performative, and participatory approaches to generate layered understandings and communicate research in accessible and creative ways. She is Principal Investigator of White Bowls, Lost Souls, a collaboration among award-winning Vietnamese and UK social scientists, artists, documentary filmmakers, heritage ceramists, and activists. The project aims to improve reporting and inspire reflection and action to end intimate partner femicide.
At IDS, she has served as team leader, lead researcher, and advisor across a range of initiatives on bonded labour, child trafficking, digital sexuality education, gender-based violence, and public health outbreaks. She has acted as research director for large programmes managed by IDS, including co-directing research for Hamro Samman, a counter-trafficking programme in Nepal. She has also advised on gender and intersectionality in global COVID-19 responses, and co-led evaluations of global HIV prevention, treatment and care programmes, as well as Ebola crisis responses in Sierra Leone.
Pauline’s conceptual interests lie in power, the reproduction of public secrets, and socio-cultural norms. She often uses both biomedical data and materiality—including artefacts—as entry points to explore individual, familial, and social dynamics. She works to make complex evidence relevant and accessible to affected communities, civil society organisations, and policymakers.
Before joining IDS, Pauline held senior roles with KIT Royal Tropical Institute, UNDP, Médecins Sans Frontières, and MCNV. She has worked in over 30 countries and lived for extended periods in Vietnam, Togo, and Guinea. Her earlier career includes investigative journalism, human rights research, documentary filmmaking, and curating international human rights media festivals.
In addition to her role at IDS, she is the founder of The Inquisitive Artist, a creative practice that brings together visual art, documentary film, and social science research. Her work often centres on hidden or overlooked female histories. Projects like Nails—an immersive installation that honours the lives and aspirations of Vietnamese female migrant nail technicians—and Kledingstorm—a multidisciplinary exploration of Zeeland’s traditional costume and its restrictive gendered legacy—examine the privileges and exclusions women face in preserving, embodying, and challenging cultural heritage. Timelines, explores the aesthetics of touch in collaboration with blind and visually impaired art creators, challenging visual dominance in museum and public art spaces.
She also serves as an election observer for the OSCE/ODIHR and coordinates an honours course on femicide at the University of Amsterdam.
Pauline holds a PhD in Medical Anthropology from the University of Amsterdam, a Master’s in International Public Health, and an MA in Political Science. She is currently completing an advanced degree in Fine Arts (Expanded Painting) at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. She also serves on IDS’s Ethics Review Board and its Ethical Funding Committee, contributing to the institute’s research integrity and responsible funding practices.
Pauline is fluent in Dutch, English, French, and German, with working knowledge of Hindi, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
