Dr Rinita Dam is currently working as a community engagement researcher on the HumBug project funded by the Gates Foundation.  At every stage of the project, Rinita will interact with the communities from rural Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with the intention of encouraging the mobilisation and adoption of the HumBug sensor.  Rinita has conducted a literature review on vector surveillance using mobile phones and smartphones; designed a randomised controlled trial (RCT) protocol which is currently being implemented with participants in rural Tanzania and which will also be implemented in rural Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2022; obtained the relevant approvals for the RCT, developed a project community engagement plan and various surveys.

Prior to her current role, Rinita has worked on a project that was funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 programme that supported structural change in research organisations to promote Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI).  She conducted research into RRI within the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) with a focus on the gender element of RRI.

Rinita has worked on a variety of health management projects as a postdoctoral researcher.  At the University of Manchester, within the School of Health Sciences, Rinita has worked as a qualitative researcher on an evaluation programme study that focused on enhancing understanding of the new health care commissioning system in England.  Still at the University of Manchester, Rinita conducted a qualitative study that evaluated the effectiveness of a childhood obesity awareness-raising intervention aimed at parents in Manchester.

Rinita has a background in Biomedical Sciences and Global Public Health, with a placement year at Pfizer pharmaceuticals. She has a Master’s degree in Reproductive and Sexual Health Research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and for her dissertation, she carried out quantitative analysis on primary data regarding the risk factors for entering sex work, particularly for women living in poverty in Tanzania. Following this, she studied for a PhD (which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council) at the University of Birmingham, examining the impact of HIV and AIDS on 59 women and men from Kolkata, India, with regards to their personal coping strategies and accessing treatment and support services for the disease.  Data was collected through semi-structured interviews.

Selected Publications

Shah SGS, Dam R, Milano MJ, Edmunds LD, Henderson LR, Hartley CR, Coxall O, Ovseiko PV et al. (2021). Gender parity in scientific authorship in a National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre: a bibliometric analysis. BMJ Open. 2021;11: e037935. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037935

Cowdell F, Dyson J, Sykes M, Dam R., Pendleton R. (2020). How and how well have older people been engaged in healthcare intervention design, development or delivery using co-methodologies: A scoping review with narrative summary. Health Soc Care Community. 00:1-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13199

Henderson LR, Shah SGS, Ovseiko PV, Dam R., Buchan AM, McShane H, et al. (2020) Markers of achievement for assessing and monitoring gender equity in a UK National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre: A two-factor model. PLoS ONE 15(10): e0239589. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239589

Dam, R., Robinson, H.A., Vince-Cain, S., Heaton, G., Greenstein, A., Sperrin.M., Hassan, L. (2019) Engaging parents using web-based feedback on child growth to reduce childhood obesity: a mixed methods study. BMC Public Health, Volume 19:300.  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6618-3

Robinson, H., Dam, R., Hassan, L., Jenkins, D., Buchan, I., Sperrin, M. (2019). Post-2000 growth trajectories in children aged 4-11 years: A review and quantitative analysis. Preventive Medicine Reports, Volume 14, 100834.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2019.100834

Weckesser, A., Farmer, N., Dam, R., Wilson, A., Morton Hodgetts V., Morris, R.K. (2019). Women’s perspectives on caesarean section recovery, infection and the PREPS trial: a qualitative pilot study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, Volume 19:245. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-019-2402-8

Checkland, K., Dam, R., Hammond, J., Coleman, A., Allen, P., Mays, N. (2017) Being Autonomous and Having Space in which to Act: Commissioning in the ‘New NHS’ in England. Journal of Social Policy, 1-19. doi:10.1017/S0047279417000587

Hammond, J., Lorne, C., Coleman, A., Allen, P., Mays, N., Dam, R., Mason, T., Checkland, K. (2017) The spatial politics of place and health policy: Exploring Sustainability and Transformation Plans in the English NHS.  Social Science & Medicine, Volume 190; 217-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.08.007

Dam, R., and Lunn, J. (2014) First impressions count: identity, access and the ethical dilemmas of being a ‘native’ or a ‘foreign’ researcher. Book chapter. Routledge. http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415628419/