Afifah Rahman-Shepherd

4th year PhD candidate at SSHSPH

Before starting a PhD at the School of Public Health, I was a researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Chatham House and Institut Pasteur before that. I developed a deep interest and knowledge of global health broadly and health emergencies specifically. But whilst I was sure of a career in research, I was unsure whether I would pursue a PhD.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I was researching the state of solidarity at global, regional, and national levels. Compared to the global and national levels, there was something different happening at regional levels: solidarity was more readily mobilized and many regions of the world tackled the pandemic in ways that were efficient, effective, and equitable in their contexts. At the time, I was also very passionate and involved in the movement to decolonize global health. I believed in the role of regions and the value of regional cooperation in shifting leadership, ownership, and decision-making in global health, which sparked the initial idea for my PhD. For me, it only made sense to pursue a PhD in a region and at an institution with the potential to impact the governance architecture for health emergencies – and this led me to the School of Public Health.

My PhD explores regional cooperation and regional organizations in managing transborder threats to health, focusing on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the COVID-19 pandemic. What I find most rewarding about a PhD is the opportunity to sharpen my thinking and to continuously hone the arc and approach to my research by engaging with leading experts in the field; discovering and building upon different theories and frameworks; developing a series of studies that tell a story; and strengthening both qualitative and quantitative skillsets. Though the journey is not without challenge, seeing myself become a more thoughtful and thorough researcher and join a community of exceptional researchers and practitioners at the School is what I think a PhD is all about.