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Current stories in global health

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Global Health - Current Stories in Global Health

Our Current Stories in Global Health online event series will run quarterly throughout 2023, and aims to simplify Global Health research, policy and practice.

Each session will demonstrate case studies of excellent Global Health interventions, bridging the gap between theory and practice.

We will showcase the world-class research that we are conducting at BSMS in more than 25 countries globally, and highlight the joys and challenges of working in Global Health.

This series is for people considering a career in Global Health, those already working in Global Health, or anyone interested in learning about the intersectional aspects of health, society and welfare through practical examples of research and intervention - and we welcome and encourage anyone considering the MSc in Global Health to attend.

You can see recordings of presentations from our previous events on this page >

Find out more about our MSc in Global Health >

BACKGROUND IMMother and childAGE FOR PANEL

Next event: Necropolitics and Migration

Wednesday 20 September 2023, 6pm-7:15pm UK time, online via Zoom

Book your free place now on Eventbrite >

Please join us for the third part of our Current Stories in Global Health online series, featuring talks on necropolitics and migration.

The ‘politics of life and death’ (necropolitics) is ever present in global health. Who decides who must live or die? Do governments and institutions prioritise certain populations at the detriment of others? Decisions that are not evidence-based can result in vulnerable populations being further marginalised and at the risk of death – whether physical, social or political. In this session, we explore how necropolitics has played a role in key global health issues around border enforcement, detention centres, unending asylum processes and, ultimately, the health of migrants.

Arianne Shahvisi will speak on "Letting die: the necropolitics of the hostile environment", while Hyab Yohannes and Tesfalem Yemane will speak on "The Refugee Condition as a Site of Necropolitics and Decolonial Possibilities", Mohammad will discuss access to health for Palestinians living in Occupied Palestine, and the colonial logic that controls this access.

  • Arianne Shahvisi (@ArianneShahvisi) Arianne Shahvisi is senior lecturer in ethics at BSMS, where her research focusses on applied philosophy, especially in relation to gender, race, and migration. She holds a PhD in philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. Her first book Arguing for a Better World was published in 2023
  • Hyab Yohannes (@HyabYohannes): Hyab Yohannes Phd, University of Glasgow, is a research associate and academic coordinator for CUSP N+. He conducts research, synthesises findings, draws expertise from various fields, and engages with academic and non-academic communities. Hyab recently signed a contract with Routledge for his upcoming book The Coloniality of the Refugee. He is a member of the RSE Young Academy of Scotland and holds several management and leadership roles outside academia
  • Tesfalem Yemane (@THYemane): Tesfalem Yemane works as a Post-doctoral Research Associate at the University of Liverpool. He works on an ESRC funded Channel Crossings research project that aims at examining and understanding the small boat crossings in the English Channel. Tesfalem is also a part-time PhD student at the University of Leeds. In his PhD research, Tesfalem investigates the factors that influence the destination preferences of Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers in the UK and their post-arrival experiences
  • Mohammad Salaymeh: Mohammad is an independent researcher from Palestine, who focuses on the political and social determinants of health. Currently, he is looking to apply public health research methods to understand the determinants of health under settler colonialism.

To find out more about global health teaching at BSMS, email us at: GlobalHealthTeaching@bsms.ac.uk and we will add you to our mailing list.

Session one: Stigma and Discrimination

At our first session in January, Global Health Lecturer Dr Diego Garcia Rodriguez, BSMS Global Health MSc alumna Bella Tomsett and BSMS PhD student Ursin Bayisenge each presented on their research, which focuses on topics related to stigma and discrimination in the UK, Rwanda and globally. You can watch their presentations below.

Dr Diego Garcia Rodriguez presents the findings on research conducted by a BSMS team of researchers on the impact of medicine-taking among people living with HIV in Brighton & Hove resulting from the PEDAL Study.

Bella Tomsett discusses her research on stigma in relation to domestic violence and modern slavery.

Ursin Bayisenge presents his research about the lived experience of refugees in a camp where scabies is highly prevalent due to overcrowding.

Session two: Decolonising Global Health

At our second online session as part of our Current Stories in Global Health series, we were joined by an international group of academics to discuss decolonisation and global health. This session took a critical lens to decolonisation efforts, thinking about what global health institutions in the global south and global north are currently doing – and what they should be doing. Discussion points included what it is that we are decolonising, how decolonisation can lead to reparative justice and meaningful acknowledgement and whether decolonising global health is even possible at all given the colonial histories of global health. You can watch the presentations below.

Prof María Cristina Quevedo-Gómez asks: can we transform our current global and local reality?

Dr Shahzad Amjad Khan discusses epistemic injustice at our session on decolonising global health.

Dr Ricardo Twumasi, King’s College London, discusses a decolonised approach to student assessment in higher education in the UK.