PARC team
Team members
Professor Isabella Aboderin
Isabella is Perivoli Chair in Africa Research and Partnerships and Director of PARC. Alongside her work here, Isabella is Professor of Gerontology in Bristol’s School for Policy Studies. She is also an extraordinary professor at North West University, South Africa and Associate Fellow of the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Nairobi.
Among other roles, Isabella serves as regional chair for Africa of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG); as a member of the Global Commission on creating a Roadmap for Healthy Longevity; and as part of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Longevity.
Isabella is a trustee on the boards of the United Nations International Institute on Ageing (INIA) and the Population Reference Bureau (PRB).
Dr Susan Jim
Susan is Perivoli Africa Research Centre’s (PARC) Manager and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) Development Manager at the University of Bristol. Susan is also Chair of the WUN Coordinators Group serving on the WUN’s Academic Advisory Group, Global Challenges Steering Groups and Global Africa Group.
Susan also serves on the Coordination Committee of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA ) new university network, TransformU.
Email: susan.jim@bristol.ac.uk
Dr Eyob Balcha Gebremariam
Eyob is winner of the 2022 Thandika Mkandawire Prize for Outstanding Scholarship in African Political Economy. His areas of research and teaching are the politics of knowledge production in, on and about Africa, decolonial knowledge production, African political economy, the politics of development and young peoples’ engagement in politics. He has a doctoral degree in Development Policy and Management from the University of Manchester. Before joining PARC as a research associate, Eyob was a Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he convened and taught postgraduate courses on African Development and African Political Economy.
Eyob is also an adjunct professor of African Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), John Hopkins University. .
Dr Francis Naab
Francis holds a PhD in Applied Economics and Food Security from Newcastle University, where his research focused on social protection and households’ resilience to food insecurity in countries of Sub Saharan Africa. He has previously worked in the Centre for Rural Economy, Newcastle University and the GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he is currently an Associate Fellow.
Francis joins us as a Research Associate in PARC and the Africa Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC), where he is actively engaged in research to advance the development of transformative care systems and economies for Africa. Beyond this, Francis has a key interest in ‘resilience thinking and analysis’ and exploring intergenerational systems within economies of Africa.
Email: francis.naab@bristol.ac.uk
Ms Hilda Owii
Hilda Owii is a PhD student in Social Policy at the University of Bristol. At PARC, she forms part of a multi-disciplinary team to work, and build her doctoral thesis, on a research and policy engagement programme, Care Work and Economy Africa: toward transformative care systems and economies to harness Africa’s demographic transition. This chimes with her keen research interest long term care provision and receipt in sub-Saharan Africa, its dynamics, impacts, and interaction with culture.
Prior to her doctorate studies, Hilda earned an MSc. degree in Gerontology from the University of Southampton and worked at APHRC contributing to research aimed at illuminating the challenges and opportunities presented by ageing in sub-Saharan Africa, and the implications of these for development agendas in the region.
Hilda’s work experience spans long term care, health and wellbeing, resilience, and social pensions- where she has garnered considerable experience undertaking qualitative research on ageing issues.
Email: hilda.owii@bristol.ac.uk
Dr Robert Crowe
Robert is the International Research Partnerships Officer for both Perivoli Africa Research Centre and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN).
Robert has worked in the University of Bristol’s Research and Enterprise Division (RED) since 2013, first with the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research (EBI), then in the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS).
Email: robert.crowe@bristol.ac.uk
Heather Child
Heather has almost 20 years’ experience in marketing and communications, mainly in the non-profit sector. Her most recent role was at the University of Bristol as Senior Communications Officer for the Community Network for Vector-borne Plant Viruses. A former Chartered Marketer, she has managed communications and marketing at a range of organisations including Milestones Trust, a large health and social care charity, and has also worked as a freelance consultant.