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Bakita Kasadha

BA (Hons), MA


Doctoral Researcher

  • 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 the use of 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. She 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. Her DPhil supervisors are Prof Sue Ziebland (primary), Dr Teresa Finlay, and Prof Cicely Marston (LSHTM).

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).

Bakita has served on several national and international governance boards. Currently, she is the board chair of Glitch, a charity focused on online safety, particularly for Black women and marginalised people. Formerly, she was the chair of the Global Network of Young People Living with HIV.

Pronouns: she/her.

Teaching experience

  • Patients, Citizens & the Politics of Evidence module - TA and guest lecturer (2022/2023)
  • UCL Remote Research Methods - Creative Methods panellist (2022/23)
  • 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. 

 

Awards

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