I have a long-term interest in the social dynamics and politics of infectious disease surveillance and care, particularly the tacit skills and locally-embedded diagnostic knowledge of frontline healthcare workers and lay experts, as well as evolving approaches to how scientists see and know infectious diseases at a population level through diagnostic and information technologies.

I use ethnographic and other social science methods to understand the complexities of public health programming which affect crisis-affected communities and connect them to global aid structures and trends. As the COVID-19 pandemic spread to humanitarian contexts, the social dynamics and politics of COVID-19 surveillance amongst forcibly displaced populations was a key area that I researched and provided guidance on.

I also use these methods to understand the histories and dynamics of public health systems and communities of practice, which helps identify contextually appropriate opportunities for system-wide support and change.

I have supervised PhD and DrPH students at LSHTM who have studied a range of issues (including humanitarian coordination, epidemic decision-making, the role of health workers in humanitarian service delivery, vaccine uptake, risk perceptions, sleeping sickness technology engagements, disability and gender-based violence) mainly in crisis-affected contexts including South Sudan, Uganda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, DR Congo, Iraq, Ukraine, Bangladesh and Lebanon.