The Girl Innovation, Research, and Learning (GIRL) Center at the Population Council welcomes our second cohort of External Research Collaborators. This global network of researchers will drive innovative research on adolescent health priorities in low-and middle-income countries.
The 2025-2027 cohort brings together global experts in areas including climate change, economic empowerment, paid and unpaid care work, mental health, digital technology, and migration. Together, they will co-create and advance adolescent-focused research, mentor emerging scholars, and disseminate research for policy impact.
Laura Rossouw | LinkedIn
Laura is a health economist based at the Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office, University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Her research focuses on adolescent and maternal health, gender equity, and the role of fiscal policy in improving access to health and menstrual hygiene services.
Diahhadi (Ruri) Setyonaluri | LinkedIn | X
Ruri is an Assistant Professor at Universitas Indonesia. Her research spans youth transitions, gender norms, and social inclusion, applying mixed methods to inform inclusive policy and practice.
Emelia Afi Agblevor | LinkedIn | X
Emelia is a Research Fellow at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons. Her research focuses on adolescent mental, sexual, and reproductive health. She brings expertise in qualitative methods and stakeholder engagement for co-creating impactful interventions.
Rakesh is an Assistant Professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences in India. His research addresses sexual and reproductive health, digitalization in healthcare, and equity, with strong expertise in quantitative analysis.
Blessings Kaunda | X
Blessings is a post-doctoral fellow at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences in Malawi. Her work uses participatory methods to examines sexual reproductive health, resilience, and the water-energy-food nexus in adolescents across sub-Saharan Africa.
Justin Dansou | LinkedIn
Justin is a lecturer in demography at the University of Parakou in Benin. His research focuses on sexual and reproductive health, youth digital engagement, and residential mobility across sub-Saharan Africa.
Sneha Lamba | LinkedIn
Sneha is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in India. Her work investigates how the gendered burden of care work and disparities in time-use shape health and development outcomes in South Asia and how policies or alternative care arrangements can narrow these disparities.
Kajori Banerjee | LinkedIn | X
Kajori is an Assistant Professor at the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata, India. Her research links life-course events to maternal and adolescent health outcomes using advanced demographic and statistical modeling.
Yacouba Compaoré | LinkedIn
Yacouba is a demographer at the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé in Burkina Faso, where his research focuses on family dynamics, adolescent transitions, and climate–health linkages. He specializes in longitudinal data analysis, statistical modeling, and data visualization.
Ronda Zelezny-Green | LinkedIn | X
Ronda is a digital gender equity researcher based in Spain. Her work explores how digital ecosystems shape adolescent well-being, with a focus on mitigating gender-based violence online and advancing inclusive digital spaces.