Bakita Kasadha
BA (Hons), MA
NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow
- Investigating experiences of peer and co-researchers
- Co-Investigator on Partnership for Black People's Health (QMUL led, NIHR PDG funded)
- Collaborator and peer researcher on Implementing Long-Acting Novel Antiretroviral treatment (QMUL led, ViiV Healthcare funded)
- CAB member on TARGET-ID Undiagnosed HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C in primary care (QMUL led with Oxford, Bristol and Leicester collab, NIHR SPCR funded)
Research interests: participatory research methods, arts-based methods and long-term health conditions.
Research summary
Bakita Kasadha proudly sits at the intersection of social science and organising work. Her background is in HIV advocacy and research. She is interested in using participatory and arts-based methods in long-term health and co-morbidities research.
She began her DPhil (PhD) in 2024, investigating the experiences of lived experience researchers in academic health studies, under the supervision of Prof Sue Ziebland, Dr Teresa Finlay, and Prof Cicely Marston (LSHTM). Bakita was awarded two scholarships and is a Medical Research Council DTP and Oxford-Reuben Black Academic Futures scholar. She has also been awarded an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship.
Bakita joined the department in 2021 as the field researcher on the NIHR RfPB-funded NOURISH-UK study. NOURISH-UK is a multi-award-winning study exploring attitudes towards infant feeding among new mothers, pregnant women and birthing parents living with HIV. She completed an NIHR Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in 2023.
She holds various roles in Sexual Health and HIV All East Research (SHARE) Collaborative (Queen Mary University of London), as a Co-Investigator on the Partnership for Black People’s Health; a collaborator and peer researcher on the Implementing Long-Acting Novel Antiretrovirals (ILANA); and a member of the Collaborative’s Community Advisory Board.
Bakita is also a poet. Her recent publications and commissions include the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Wasafiri (Issue 112) and the University of Edinburgh. She uses arts-based methods (namely poetic inquiry) in data collection, analysis and dissemination. She has applied this method in two EPSRC-funded projects: Telling Tales of Engagement (University of Edinburgh) and INTUIT (Newcastle University).
Pronouns: she/her.
Teaching experience
- Patients, Citizens & the Politics of Evidence module - TA and guest lecturer (2022/23 and 2023/24)
- UCL Remote Research Methods - Creative Methods panellist (2022/23 and 2023/24)
- 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)
Qualifications
- MA Applied Anthology & Community Development, Department of Anthropology and Department of Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.
- BA (Hons) English Literature with Creative Writing, School of Literature and Languages, University of Surrey, UK.
Special Collection on HIV and Women's Health: Where Are We Now?
Dr Shema Tariq (UCL) and Bakita Kasadha 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.
Recent publications
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How women living with HIV in the UK manage infant-feeding decisions and vertical transmission risk – a qualitative study
Journal article
Kasadha B. et al, (2024), BMC Public Health, 24
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Perspectives of people with HIV on implementing long acting cabotegravir plus rilpivirine in clinics and community settings in the UK: results from the anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-ageist ILANA study.
Journal article
Orkin C. et al, (2024), Clin Infect Dis
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"We decided together": a qualitative study about women with HIV navigating infant-feeding decisions with the father of their children.
Journal article
Kasadha B. et al, (2024), BMC Pregnancy Childbirth, 24
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Research priorities in HIV, aging and rehabilitation: building on a framework with the Canada-International HIV and Rehabilitation Research Collaborative
Journal article
O’Brien KK. et al, (2023), AIDS Research and Therapy, 20
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Tackling late HIV diagnosis: Lessons from the UK in the COVID-19 era.
Journal article
Boardman E. et al, (2023), Int J STD AIDS
Awards
- Prudence Mabele Prize (2024) - IAS 2024
- Award for Excellence (2023) - Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences
- ACM Best Paper (2022) - Investigating Daily Practices of Self-care to Inform the Design of Supportive Health Technologies for Living and Ageing Well with HIV. In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- 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