Dr Alun Davies
Contact information
Alun Davies
KWTRP Schools Engagement Lead
Using a participatory action research approach and drawing from his background in health research and 13 years as a secondary school science teacher in the UK and Kenya, Alun Davies has established the KWTRP Schools Engagement Programme. Funding from three Wellcome Trust International Engagement Awards and a strong working relationship with education partners, has enabled the Schools Engagement Programme to conduct engagement activities with students and teachers from over 40 schools across Kenya. These activities are aimed at promoting mutual-understanding between researchers and the community; positive attitudes towards school science and science in general; and positive educational aspirations among school students.
School engagement activities include an annual 3-month attachment scheme for very talented Kilifi secondary school-leavers, and visits to the KWTRP laboratories by up to 1000 local school students per year, for interactive activities with researchers and a lab tour. Alun is a mixed-method researcher, combining qualitative and quantitative methods with participatory video. The latter, as well as providing a means of evaluating engagement, offers an exciting means of communication between communities, researchers and broader audiences.
Alun is currently working on several research and engagement projects with colleagues in Kilifi and Nairobi:
- A comparison between sexual and reproductive health education programmes with implementation experiences and needs of students, teachers and school stakeholders with Nancy Mwangome
- The up-scaling of on-line engagement between researchers and schools in Nairobi and Kilifi with Steve Adala and Grace Mwango
- Initiating Young Persons Advisory Groups in Kilifi with Nancy Mwangome
- Evaluating on-line engagement
- using a participatory action research approach to develop and implement a primary school engagement programme with Shadrack Baraka.
Key publications
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Who should decide about children's and adolescents' participation in health research? The views of children and adults in rural Kenya.
Marsh V. et al, (2019), BMC medical ethics, 20
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Evolution of a programme to engage school students with health research and science in Kenya.
Davies A. et al, (2019), Wellcome open research, 4
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Reflections on the ethics of participatory visual methods to engage communities in global health research
Black GF. et al, (2018), Global Bioethics, 29, 22 - 38
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Seeing ‘With my Own Eyes’: Strengthening Interactions between Researchers and Schools*
Davies A. et al, (2012), IDS Bulletin, 43, 61 - 67
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Strengthening the Informed Consent Process in International Health Research through Community Engagement: The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme Experience
Boga M. et al, (2011), PLoS Medicine, 8, e1001089 - e1001089
Recent publications
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Who should decide about children's and adolescents' participation in health research? The views of children and adults in rural Kenya.
Marsh V. et al, (2019), BMC medical ethics, 20
-
Evolution of a programme to engage school students with health research and science in Kenya.
Davies A. et al, (2019), Wellcome open research, 4
-
Reflections on the ethics of participatory visual methods to engage communities in global health research
Black GF. et al, (2018), Global Bioethics, 29, 22 - 38
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Heterosexual behaviours among men who sell sex to men in coastal Kenya
Smith AD. et al, (2015), AIDS, 29, S201 - S210
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Consent and Community Engagement in Diverse Research Contexts: Reviewing and Developing Research and Practice
Molyneux S. and Bull S., (2013), Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 8, 1 - 18