Dr Rinita Dam is based both within the WMS and CEDAR and is currently working as a Research Fellow on the MELD project (Mapping and Evaluating Services for Children with Learning Disabilities and Behaviours that Challenge) funded by the NIHR. Rinita's research duties include collecting and analysing two sets of case studies. The first set of case studies will involve Rinita exploring different service models by interviewing children with learning disabilities (LDs) and behaviours that challenge (BtC) by using "Talking Mats". In addition, she will be interviewing the children's family carers and a range of health and social care professionals. For the second set of case studies, Rinita will be exploring co-production in the services, again by interviewing children with LDs and BtC, their family carers and a range of health and social care professionals.

Prior to her current role, Rinita was based in the Department of Zoology within the University of Oxford, where she worked as a community engagement researcher on the HumBug project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. At every stage of the project, Rinita interacted 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 conducted a literature review on vector surveillance using mobile phones and smartphones; designed a randomised controlled trial (RCT) protocol which has been successfully implemented with participants in rural Tanzania and the DRC; obtained the relevant approvals for the RCT, developed a project community engagement plan and various surveys.

Prior to her role as a community engagement researcher, Rinita was based in the Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, where she 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 living in poverty in 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.