Chelsea Coakley

Research Officer: Adolescent Engagement and Participation, Adolescent Accelerators Research Hub

Research Project(s)

Global Fund
HEY BABY (Helping Empower Youth Brought up in Adversity with their Babies and Young children)
Teen Advisory Groups

Research Interests

Adolescent and young people’s sexual and reproductive health and development in resource-limited settings
Participatory research methodology, intervention design and implementation science
Peer-delivered models of HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health promotion

Biography

Chelsea Coakley is a Research Officer in the Centre for Social Science Research at the University of Cape Town, where she leads adolescent engagement and participation in research activities at the Accelerate Research Hub. She is co-Principal Investigator on the AGYW-BLOOM & THRIVE research project, exploring relational wellbeing and safety in AI-enhanced health services amongst adolescent girls and young women. Previously, she was senior investigator on Teen Advisory Groups, and a co-Investigator on two cluster-randomised controlled trials evaluating school-based sexual and reproductive health programmes for young women learners in South African and Zambian secondary schools. Chelsea is a socio-behavioural scientist with a focus on adolescent and young people’s sexual and reproductive health and development. Her work experience spans large-scale intervention design, monitoring and evaluation, creative and participatory research methods, and programme guidance development across East and Southern African countries for international adolescent-focused NGOs, private philanthropic foundations, UNICEF as well as bilateral funding institutions in Canada and the United States.

She holds a BA in Psychology from McGill University, a MPhil from Stellenbosch University, and is a final year PhD Candidate in the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town where she is investigating pathways to positive health outcomes in Peer Provider-led sexual and reproductive health services.

Recent Publications

Sheira, L.A., Mulubwa, C., Chiu, C., Chipungu, J., Coakley, C., Smith, H., Upadhyay, U., Chilambe, C., Chibwe, B., Pry, J., Mkandawire, B., Musonda, M. Bolton-Moore, C., Liu, J. The impact of the SKILLZ intervention on sexual and reproductive health empowerment among Zambian adolescent girls and young women: results of a cluster randomized controlled trial. Reprod Health 22, 95 (2025).
Baartman, A., Baskiti, S., Coakley, C., Dyobiso, S., Hlekani, Y., et al. (2025). Reflecting on a Teen Advisory Group in participatory research in South Africa. In C. Lenette (Ed.), Anti-Colonial Research Praxis: Methods for Knowledge Justice (pp.XXX-XXX). Manchester University Press.
Coakley, C., Lee, D., Pike, C., Myers, L., Hartmann, M., Oduro, A., Ntlapo, N., Bekker, L. G., & Youth Investigators of the Goals for Girls study (2024). Realising agency: insights from participatory research with learners in a South African sexual and reproductive health programme. Frontiers in public health, 12, 1329425.
Pike, Coakley C, Lee D, Daniels D, Ahmed N, Hartmann M, Padian N, Bekker LG. (2023). Lessons learned from the implementation of a school-based sexual health education program for adolescent girls in Cape Town, South Africa. Global Health Science and Practice.
Pike C, Coakley C, Ahmed N, Lee D, Little F, Bekker LG. (2023). Goals for Girls: A cluster randomised trial to investigate a school-based sexual health programme amongst female learners in South Africa. Health Education Research.
Jochim J, Cluver L, Sidloyi L, Kelly J, Ornellas A, Mangqalaza H, Coakley C, George G, Toska E. (2023). Improving educational and reproductive outcomes for adolescent mothers in South Africa: A cross-sectional analysis towards realising policy goals. Global Public Health.