We have been in touch with one of our PhD students, Sara Estecha Querol as part of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) global campaign for International Day of Women and Girls in Science which runs from 11 February and continues until International Women's Day on 8 March.

Sara is a PhD student on our NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Improving Health in Slums, and here Sara tells us how her journey in Science and Health research began:

"My interest in health research started when I joined a fantastic
group of young female researchers in the challenging task of
collecting data from 1,000 school children participating in a
European multi-centre cohort study. This experience taught me
the importance of data collection and evidence generation in Global
Health and Nutrition Research."

Sara is very interested in studying deeply the triple burden of malnutrition (coexistence of undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and overnutrition) in South Asian countries. Her PhD focuses on Malnutrition among Pakistani adolescents in collaboration with our Unit partner, Aga Khan University. In 2020, Sara visited Karachi, Pakistan to plan and undertake some fieldwork.

Street stalls in Karachi during Sara's fieldwork

Sara reflects on her first data collection experience and how it has shaped her research career:

"Seven years later and with many more such experiences under my belt, I want to go one step further by translating health research data into evidence-based global health policies."

Sara is in her third year of research, find out more here.

23 February, 2021