Bakita Kasadha

I joined the department in 2021. I'm the main researcher on the NIHR RfPB-funded Nourish-UK study exploring attitudes towards infant feeding among new mothers, pregnant women and birthing parents living with HIV.

I am a collaborator and peer researcher on the Implementing Long-Acting Novel Antiretrovirals (ILANA), led by Queen Mary University London (ViiV Healthcare funded). The study will evaluate the feasibility of long-acting Cabotegravir and Rilpivirine (CAB and RPV LA) administration at NHS HIV clinics and community settings. ILANA is part of the Sexual Health and HIV All East Research (SHARE) Collaborative.

I previously worked as a peer researcher at Terrence Higgins Trust on the EPSRC-funded digital health research programme, INTUIT. This Newcastle University-led digital health study explored self-management and living well with HIV.

I hold an MA in Applied Anthropology and Community Development from Goldsmiths College. My dissertation was titled “I’m not ‘hard to reach’, you’re hard to engage with!” The weakness of healthcare frameworks: exposing and overcoming the myth that racialised groups are hard to reach. In 2021, I developed this into an essay for the anthology More Than Talk: Perspectives of Black and People of Colour (BPOC) working in Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) in the United Kingdom (UK).

I hold a BA in English Literature with Creative Writing, from the University of Surrey. I use arts-based methods, including poetic inquiry, in qualitative research. I have applied this method in two EPSRC-funded projects: INTUIT and Telling Tales of Engagement. 

Pronouns: she/her.

• Oxford Qualitative Research Methods tutor - Introduction to poetic inquiry (2021/22)

• Brighton and Sussex Medical School guest lecturer - Community engagement in global health research (2019/20 and 2020/21)

• Brighton and Sussex Medical School guest lecturer - Health service financing arrangements in example countries (2019/20 and 2020/21)

• Brighton and Sussex Medical School guest lecturer - Community mobilisation and international advocacy for affecting global health (2019/20 and 2020/21)

• PENTA-ID module co-coordinator -  Adolescents, Sexual Health and Living with HIV (2019/20 and 2021/22)

Dr Shema Tariq (UCL) and I co-edited a special collection on HIV and Women's Health: Where Are We Now? This is a joint collection between the Women's Health journal and Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease journal. 

• Young Investigator Award (2022) - 12th HIV & Women Workshop
• Highly Commended Poster (2022) - British HIV Association (BHIVA) Spring Conference
• Best Poster Winner (2022) - Children HIV Association (CHIVA) 16th Annual Conference
• Highly Commended Essay (2021) - The Heather Trickey Prize
• Semi-Finalist (2020) - UN Women Feminist and Women’s Movement Action Poetry Contest