Doing a PhD in Population Health Sciences, with Lois King Black Future Dr

Note: Apologies for the audio quality of this episode for both sides of the interview; it’s just the beauty of recording a podcast virtually during a pandemic!
This week, I got the chance to speak with Lois King who is currently studying for a PhD in Population Health Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, specifically looking at global health governance and childhood pneumonia in Bangladesh. We start the episode with Lois explaining to me what global health governance is, and what drew her to this topic and field of research. This was particularly interesting as Lois originally wanted to pursue a degree in medicine, and so provides a great alternative to discussions I had in episode 3. We then discuss her experiences of being black and living in Scotland, and what it’s like to be a black student at such a prestigious university. As a result of her learning and experiences, she co-founded the university’s decolonising global health initiative, which now involves people all across the world. We finish the episode with some advice about supervision, time management, and how to stay focused on your PhD.
Guest bio
Lois is a 2nd year PhD student with the Global Health Governance Programme at the University of Edinburgh. Her PhD project is looking at the governance of childhood pneumonia in Bangladesh in the context of global-level agenda setting and political prioritisation in global health. Funded by NIHR as part of their global health research unit on respiratory health (RESPIRE), the research is mixed methods with a qualitative focus to observe how certain global health priorities are set and the impact of this at local level.
Lois is also co-founder of the University of Edinburgh's Decolonising Global Health Conference and Working Group, blog editor for Women in Global Health UK and has worked as a consultant for the World Health Organization. She holds a Masters in Public Health, with a background in Biomedical Sciences and conducts research analysing COVID-19-related policies of various governments worldwide. You can follow Lois on Twitter (@LoisEmilyKing), ResearchGate, and connect on LinkedIn.
Host bio
Nina Higson-Sweeney is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath. Her PhD is funded by the ESRC through the South West Doctoral Training Partnership, and she is using mixed methods to explore the symptom of fatigue within adolescent depression. Prior to her PhD, Nina completed a BSc in Psychology and a MSc Health Psychology at the University of the West of England. Nina has contributed to several peer-reviewed journal articles throughout her degrees, exploring topics such as depression, CFS/ME, HIV, and loneliness and mental health in children and young people. You can follow her on Twitter (@n_higsonsweeney) and ResearchGate.
Credits
Funding for this podcast is provided by the South West Doctoral Training Partnership (@_SWDTP on Twitter).
Cover art is by the talented Hannah Balogun (@hannah_balogun on Instagram).
Intro music is ‘I Was Messed Up (Instrumental Version)’ by Ella Faye, from Epidemic Sound.
Outro music is ‘Stereo (Instrumental Version)’ by Ella Faye, from Epidemic Sound.

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