Social
Science
Unit
Integrating social science, humanities, and engaged research into CERI’s epidemic response — grounding biomedical innovation in lived experience and African social realities.
How the Unit Works
Conducting in-depth interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic studies to understand how communities experience disease and health interventions.
Building trust and partnerships with communities to ensure research is participatory, respectful, and grounded in local knowledge and priorities.
Embedding ethical reflection into genomic and biomedical research, addressing questions of consent, equity, data sovereignty, and benefit sharing.
Producing evidence that directly informs health policy, public communication strategies, and institutional responses to epidemics.
Centring African contexts, histories, and knowledge systems in the interpretation and application of genomic and public health research.
Bridging social science and biomedical research to ensure that scientific advances translate into equitable, culturally informed public health impact.
What the Unit
Explores
How communities understand, interpret, and respond to infectious diseases — and how stigma shapes health-seeking behaviour.
Social and cultural drivers of vaccine uptake, trust in health systems, and behavioural responses to immunisation campaigns.
Public understanding of genomic surveillance, consent in data collection, and community perspectives on being "sequenced".
How people navigate formal and informal health systems during outbreaks, and barriers to accessing care.
Effective communication of health risks across diverse communities, including misinformation dynamics and trust building.
"Genomic data only tells part of the story. Understanding the social world in which pathogens move — the communities, the inequalities, the trust — is essential to any effective epidemic response."
Working Across
CERI's Units
Embedding ethical and community frameworks into genomic data collection and consent processes.
Contextualising quantitative findings with qualitative insights to enrich surveillance dashboards and models.
Exploring human-animal-environment interfaces through a social and community lens.
Gender-sensitive qualitative research supporting maternal and reproductive health studies.
Science Needs
People.
Partner with the Social Science Unit for community engagement, qualitative research, and ethical guidance on your health research.
Social Science Unit Team
