Welcome back to all guests at ICRH Belgium
Finally the COVID-19 situation is getting better in Belgium. We had a long period of lockdowns and working from home, but since February we can finally welcome our interns, PhD’s and other researchers on campus again.
In the upcoming months we are looking forward to welcoming even more (international) visitors!
Cecilia Akatukwasa is a PhD student from Uganda, working on the project ‘Improving Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health through a Participatory Parent-Child Communication Intervention in Uganda’. She will be working at ICRH Belgium for two months under the supervision of Kristien Michielsen.
Livia Monnoye started in February as a communications intern. She is affiliated with Artevelde Hogeschool in Ghent and will work at ICRH for three months. She assists with our social media, newsletter, websites and other communication at ICRH Belgium.
Arefayne Alenko arrived in Ghent in February. He has a BSc in clinical nursing and a MSc in Integrated clinical and community mental health. He held a position as a lecturer and assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at Jimma University, and as a clinician in the psychiatric clinic of Jimma Medical Center. Later, he participated in research and project activities related to mental health and effective teaching skills. Currently, he is a joint PhD fellow at Ghent University (with Ines Keygnaert) and Jimma University. His dissertation is about the social impact of movement disorders on sexual and reproductive health, and on the general well-being of individuals with movement disorders in Ethiopia.
Chea Stevenson is a PhD student of Kristien Michielsen and Souheila Abbedou and will stay in Belgium for three months. He works at Pwani university in Kilifi, Kenya. His PhD is about HIV and the brain: the relationship between neurocognition, mental health disorders and sexual risk taking behavior with HIV infection among emerging adults in a tertiary institution in Coastal Kenya.
Elisa Vanlerberghe is a master's student in Global Health and currently doing an internship at ICRH on the Management of small & nutritionally At-risk Infants under six months & their Mothers (MAMI) and maternal mental health. She has a background in nursing and health care management & policy, and she used to work as a policy officer at a psychiatric clinic.
Jeanne Bédé arrived this week as a new intern from France at ICRH Belgium. Together with her supervisor Emilie Peeters, Jeanne will be responsible for supporting the coordination of ANSER by facilitating collaboration between the different members and preparing their meetings. She will also do research on effective SRHR evidence to policy translation as well as further develop the 'ANSER Policy engagement toolkit for SRHR researchers' initiated by former interns. Jeanne is passionate about public health issues related to SRHR and is delighted to join the ICRH team to work with its committed members !
Besides the other staff members from China (Prof. Wei-Hong Zhang, Min Zhao and Yushan Yu) since the end of February Dr. ZhiYong Zhang has arrived in Belgium. More information can be found below.
ZhiYong Zhang obtained a Ph.D. from Wuhan University in 2006, and Postdoctoral position from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2010.He is the professor of School of Literature, Law and Economics in Wuhan University of Science and Technology, and the director of the Institute of Labor Economics. He has presided over and completed 8 government-funded projects (National Social Science Foundation of China，The Ministry of Education of China Humanities and Social Science Foundation,Chinese Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Hubei Provincial Social Science Foundation etc.).He has conducted research on issues such as overwork and employment of rural migrant workers in China.He is currently undertaking research on "Women's Overtime Work and Childbearing Choices."
