Lesley Gittings: Participatory and art-based approaches in health and development-related research with adolescents and young people

HUMA Doctoral Seminar Series

Speaker: Dr Lesley Gittings (University of Cape Town, South Africa and University of Toronto, Canada)

Adolescents are among the most left behind in international health initiatives and are often excluded from pandemic-related research, policy and programming. Participatory and arts-based research can shift power and elicit rich, context-specific evidence to respond to pressing global health challenges and advance global health equity. Two case studies will present empirical and methodological findings from participatory and arts-based pandemic research with adolescents.

About the speaker: Lesley Gittings is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Universities of Cape Town, South Africa and Toronto, Canada. Her research focuses on HIV, gender and sexual and reproductive health of vulnerable and marginalized adolescents using participatory and arts-based approaches. Lesley holds a PhD in Public Health and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Cape Town. She has 15 years of experience in HIV and health research and practice in sub-Saharan Africa and Canada.