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The Institute of Applied Health Sciences

Dr Lucia D'Ambruoso

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Dr Lucia D'Ambruoso
Dr Lucia D'Ambruoso
Dr Lucia D'Ambruoso

BSc (Hons); MSc; PhD; FHEA

Senior Lecturer

Accepting PhDs

About
Email Address
lucia.dambruoso@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 437127
Office Address

Aberdeen Centre for Health Dta Science (ACHDS) Room 1:172, Polwarth Building, Foresterhill Health Campus, Institute of Applied Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK

School/Department
School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition
Twitter
ResearchGate
Google Scholar
Personal Website

Biography

I am a social scientist and health policy and systems researcher interested in service organisation and delivery, the social determinants of health, and participatory theory and method. I work mainly with relativist theories and methods to understand and draw transferable learning on: health and wellbeing as shaped by social structures and systems; health systems as complex, adaptive, human and relational; policy norms and recognition; and social and political participation.  

I have worked internationally for 20 years in sub-Saharan Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda), Southeast Asia (India, Indonesia, Nepal) and Europe (Scotland, Sweden) with universities, research agencies and networks, civil society groups, social enterprises, UN organisations, and in governments at different levels. My research is supported by research councils and philanthropic organisations. I lead an 8-year Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) programme strengthening health systems in South Africa through people-centred and comprehensive primary care approaches to leverage inter-sectoral action.

I teach at postgraduate and undergraduate levels on health systems and policy, global health and development, and qualitative and participatory theory and methods. I am deputy director of the Centre for Global Development at the University of Aberdeen, Honorary Researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Global Affiliate of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Verbal Autopsy, Umeå Centre for Global Health Research, Umeå University, Sweden. I also serve on the Editorial Board of Global Health Action and the Steering Committee of the Politics of Health Group (POHG).

I welcome expressions of interest from those wishing to undertake PhD research in related areas.

Further information at: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/achds

Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) Pharamcology 
    1997 - University of Aberdeen 
  • MSc Public Health and Health Services Research 
    2003 - University of Aberdeen 
  • PhD Public Health 
    2011 - University of Aberdeen 
  • FHEA Higher Education 
    2017 - Higher Education Academy 
  • FRSPH Public Health 
    2020 - Royal Society for Public Health 

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships
  • Deputy Director and member Executive Committee, Centre for Global Development
  • Member Senior Management Team, Aberdeen Centre for Health Data Science
  • Steering Group Member Delivery of Care Research Group. Institute of Applied Health Sciences
  • Member Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team, Institute of Applied Health Science
External Memberships

External Recognition

  • 2025:  Fellow Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Study (STIAS) https://stias.ac.za/fellows/projects/bringing-unique-data-to-wicked-problems-developing-health-system-models-for-equitable-access-to-healthcare-in-sub-saharan-africa/
  • 2024 - date:  Tenured Funding Panel Member National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHTS) Funding Committee (Call 8)
  • 2024 - date: Member, Grampian Engagement Network, NHS Grampian
  • 2024 - date: Steering Group Member, Research & Evaluating Lived Experience Community of Practice: Steering Group, NHS Grampian
  • 2022 - date: Staff member WHO Collaborating Centre for Verbal Autopsy, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
  • 2022-24  Member National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHTS) Funding Committee (Calls 5 and 6)
  • 2021-22  Sub-committee member Health and Wellbeing Forum for Global Challenges, University of Birmingham 2021
  • 2017-date  Member Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Improving Scotland’s Health: 2021 and Beyond
  • 2015-date  Trustee Naretu Girls and Women Empowerment Programme, Kenya
  • 2014-19  Member Steering Committee Politics of Health Group (POHG)
  • 2011-17  Editorial Board BMC International Health and Human Rights
  • 2010-date  Editorial Board Global Health Action

Professional Memberships

  • 2021  FRSPH Fellow Royal Society for Public Health
  • 2017  FHEA Fellow Higher Education Academy

Visiting Academic Appointments

  • Extraordinary Senior Lecturer, Department of Global Health, Stellenbosch University, SOUTH AFRICA
  • Honorary Analyst, Public Health/Health Protection, National Health Service (NHS) Grampian, SCOTLAND, UK
  • Honorary Senior Researcher, MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Unit, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg SOUTH AFRICA
  • Global Affiliate, Epidemiology and Global Health, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine Umeå University, SWEDEN

Latest Publications

  • Space to see the future’?: A political economy analysis of child and adolescent mental health and well-being in Ethiopia including routes for change

    Engdawork Melese, K., D'Ambruoso, L., Hailu, T., Yared, M., Geletu, G. M., Gebremariam, S., Sebsibe, E., Abbott, P.
    Frontiers in Sociology
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Health System Governance for Injury Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: a survey of policymakers and policy implementors

    Ghalichi, L., D'Ambruoso, L., Equi-Injury Group, Davies, J., Chu, K., Bekele, A., Byiringiro, J. C., Razzak, J., Tabiri, S., Ignatowicz, A., Sitch, A., Amberbir, A., Bagahirwa, I., Sam, N. B., Alayande, B., Berhe, D. F., Konadu-Yeboah, D., Sarfo-Antwi, F., Atiq, H., Rahim, K. A., Ghalichi, L., Nkurunziza, L., Osei, R., MacQuene, T., Chand, Z. B., Wajidal, Z., Dramani, A., Acquaye, J., Amofa, E. K., Twizeyimana, E., Sahibjan, F., Umwali, G., Bukari, M., Mustafa, M., Mugisha, N., Nzasabimana, P., Jakhro, T.
    BMJ Global Health
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Learning sites for health systems research: Reflections on five programs in Africa, Asia, and Central America

    Witter, S., Regmi, S., Raven, J., Nzinga, J., Van der merwe, M., Flores, W., D'ambruoso, L.
    Learning Health Systems, e10475
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Cost of living/cost of smoking: a demonstration study of cooperative action learning to understand and address smoking in deprived communities within the cost-of-living crisis

    D'Ambruoso, L., Stephen, A., Cowan, E., Innocent, W., Marathia, E., Littlejohn, C., Duffy, S., Cost of Living/Cost of Smoking Learning Partnership
    Social Policy & Administration
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Opening decision spaces: A case study on the opportunities and constraints in the public health sector of Mpumalanga Province, South Africa

    Witter, S., Van Der Merwe, M., Twine, R., Mabetha, D., Hove, J., Tollman, S. M., D'Ambruoso, L.
    PloS ONE, vol. 19, no. 7, pp. e0304775
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

View My Publications

Prizes and Awards

Research

Research Overview

I work with two main methods: routine mortality surveillance accounting for social dimensions of unregistered deaths, and participatory methods to shift power towards those most directly affected to know, understand, act and transform. In 2015, I was awarded a development grant from the MRC, ESRC, DFID and Wellcome Trust as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) to progress these methods in a rural district in South Africa. In 2016, I was awarded a five-year programme grant from the same scheme to lead a team of academics, policy-makers, planners and fieldworkers to scale-up the method in the provincial health system. The programme aims to leverage inter-sectoral action by developing critical enquiry processes and partnerships among service users, providers and decision-makers at different levels. 

I am also interested in policy processes, innovation, technology and delivery, and the contexts and mechanisms of participation in health systems. I have recently secured funding from a US philanthropic organisation to examine policy norms and recognition for child and family wellbeing in high, middle and low-income countries, and I contribute to a GCRF initiative in The Gambia developing networks to strengthen emergency obstetric care with rapidly deployable, smart technologies. I also lead research in Scotland examining empowerment approaches to food poverty (including social enterprises, participatory budgeting from the local authority, and legislative shifts including the Community Empowerment Act) as part of an international research network.

My research is enabled through a wide network of collaborations, inlcuding with the MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Unit, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, a major research centre established in 1992, and the founding member of INDEPTH (the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health) a unique umbrella organisation of 53 demographic surveillance sites in 20 low and middle-income countries. I have worked with the MRC/Wits Unit since 2011 and was appointed Honorary staff in 2016. In the same year, I contributed to the INDEPTH Annual General Meeting in Kampala with a paper, presentation and grant-writing workshop entitled “Creating new multi-site, multi-sectoral research collaborations in demographic surveillance” to develop interdisciplinary collaborations connected to health care planning and management. 

 

Research Areas

Accepting PhDs

I am currently accepting PhDs in Applied Health Sciences.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.

Email Me

Applied Health Sciences

Supervising
Accepting PhDs
View Research Area

Funding and Grants

Active

D'Ambruoso (PI), van der Merwe M (CI). Building bridges: institutionalising practical solutions for community participation in rural South Africa through primary health care policy and practice engagement Changing Policy and Practice 

  

 

Medical Research Foundation

2024-25

29,960 GBP

D'Ambruoso (PI), Duffy S (CI), Watson K (CI), Littlejohn C (CI). Cost of living/cost of smoking: participatory research on smoking in deprived communities within the cost-of-living crisis

 

 

CRUK/ASH Scotland

2023

72,485 GBP

P Abbott (PI), Binagwaho A (PI), L D’Ambruoso (CI) et al. NIHR Global Health Research Group on Promoting Children’s and Adolescent’s Mental Wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa

 

 

NIHR

2022-26

2,717,954 GBP

Davies J (PI), Chu K (PI), D’Ambruoso L (CI) et al. NIHR Global Health Group on Equitable Access to Quality Health Care for Injured People in Four Low- or Middle-Income Countries: Equi-injury

 

 

NIHR

2022-26

2,955,703 GBP

Davies J (PI) D’Ambruoso L (CI) et al. Rwanda912: Use of an electronic communications platform to improve pre-hospital transport of injured people

 

 

NIHR

2022-27

3,199,931 GBP

 

Complete

D'Ambruoso L (PI), Byass P (Co-I), Witter S (Co-I), Kahn K (Co-I), Tollman S (Co-I), R Twine (Co-I), B Spies (Co-I), M van der Merwe (Co-I). Verbal Autopsy with Participatory Action Research (VAPAR): expanding the knowledge base through partnerships for action on health equity

 

 

MRC, ESRC, Wellcome Trust, DFID

2017-23

705,647 GBP

Loewenson R (PI), D'Ambruoso L (CI). Fostering policy support for child and family wellbeing - Learning from international experience

 

 

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

2018-20

289,600 USD

D'Ambruoso L (PI), Abbott P (Deputy-PI), Douglas F (CI), Okpo E (CI), McPherson E (CI). Empowerment approaches to food poverty in Northeast Scotland In: Learning from international experience on approaches to community power and participation in health

 

 

Training and Research Support Centre

2016-18

16,000 GBP

D'Ambruoso L (PI), Byass P (CI), Hurtig AK (CI), Kahn K (CI), Tollman S (CI). Verbal Autopsy with Participatory Action Research (VAPAR): Developing a people-centred health systems research methodology. Development Grant

 

 

MRC, ESRC, Wellcome Trust, DFID

2015-16

99,604 GBP

Hussein J (PI), Newlands D (CI), D’Ambruoso L (CI). Review of maternal and newborn health policies in five South Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan). Policy Review

 

 

UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia

2007-08

300,000 USD

 

SMALL GRANTS

Complete

D’Ambruoso L (PI), van der Merwe M (CI), Nombuyiselo (CI). Expanding a Community Health Worker training intervention in rural South Africa to transfer methods and maximise uptake and impact

 

 

UKRI-GCRF/Newton 

2023

9,868 GBP

D’Ambruoso L (PI), Ignatowicz A, Tshabalala K, Davies J (CI), Byiringiro JC (CI), Knowledge exchange for participation in health: participatory methods and capabilities for evidence-informed injury care in Rwanda

 

 

UKRI-GCRF/Newton

2023

9,786 GBP

D’Ambruoso L, van der Merwe M, Goosen G, Sigudla J, Ballantyne L, Littlejohn C, Duffy S. “Covid and the community”: International collaborative exchange developing whole systems community engagement as preventative interventions for COVID-19

 

 

Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund 

2022

17,765 GBP

D’Ambruoso L, Loewenson R, Okpo E, Shivaji T, Littlejohn C, Bell J, Paranjothy S, Black C. Developing learning health systems: building alliances and piloting processes to inform and support local decision-making for COVID-19

 

 

GCRF Institutional Pump Priming Fund 

2020

19,994 GBP

D’Ambruoso L, Witter S. Verbal Autopsy with Participatory Action Research (VAPAR): expanding the knowledge base through partnerships for action on health equity (COVID-19 Response)

 

 

Scottish Funding Council GCRF Covid-19 Response

2021

42,048 GBP

D’Ambruoso L, Witter S, Twine R, Kahn K, Tollman S. Verbal Autopsy with Participatory Action Research (VAPAR): expanding the knowledge base through partnerships for action on health equity (COVID-19 Response)

 

 

UKRI Covid-19 Extension Allocation Fund

2020-21

22,955 GBP

Anderson l, Camanda J, Chocolate FAM, Buco R, D’Ambruoso L, Lohfeld L. Evaluating opportunities and barriers to establishing an autonomous and functional sickle cell anaemia (SCA) unit in Cabinda, Angola

 

 

GCRF Institutional Pump Priming Fund 

2020

55,570 GBP

Abbott P (PI), D’Ambruoso L (CI) Strengthening health care systems in Rwanda and Ethiopia to provide care in the community

 

 

GCRF Institutional Pump Priming Fund 

2020

7,010 GBP

D’Ambruoso L (PI), Black C (CI); Van Der Merwe M (Co-I); Mdluli D (Co-I) Schneider H (Co-I); Witter S (Co-I). Developing learning health systems in South Africa: building interdisciplinary capacity for evidence- based decision-making and health systems strengthening to improve care and outcomes

 

 

GCRF Institutional Pump Priming Fund 

2019-20

9,990 GBP

D'Ambruoso L (PI), Byass P (CI). Extending verbal autopsy: developing routine field surveillance methods to measure and understand burden of disease in low- and middle-income countries

 

 

REF2021 Impact Support Award 

2018-19

9,944 GBP

N’Dow J (PI), D'Ambruoso L (CI). Women’s Health Outcomes Improvement for West Africa Initiative

 

 

 

Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) Scottish Funding Council 

2018

9,940 GBP

Martin K (PI), Macfarlane G (Co-I), D’Ambruoso L (Co-I). Maintaining Exercise Long Term: Determining Influences on Chronic widespread pain

 

 

NHS Endowment Fund

2014-15

9,709 GBP

D'Ambruoso L (PI). Supporting Work Based Placements with Health and Development Sector Organisations in Uganda, South Africa and Scotland

 

 

Making the Most of the Masters Scottish Funding Council (SFC)

2014-15

1,500 GBP

D'Ambruoso L. Developing a reader on participatory action research, Stockholm Writers Meeting. And Disseminating at the Third Global Symposium on Health Systems Research: Cape Town 2014

 

 

International Development Research Centre, Canada (IDRC) Conference Award

2013-14

3,016 GBP
Teaching

Courses

Teaching Responsibilities

Course coordinator:

  • BU5594: Health Policy and Systems Research

I also teach on:

  • PU5033: Introduction to Global Health
  • PU5505: Global Health
  • PU5521: Work-Based Placements with Health and Development Sector Organisations
  • PU5906: Global Health Research Project
  • PU5027: Fundamentals of Research Design (Online course)
  • ME33GH: Global Health and Humanities (Year 3 MBChB Medical Humanities SSC Option)
  • SX1012: Sustainable International Development (6th Century Course)
  • Africa: Sustainable Development for All? (Massive online open access course, MOOC) https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/africa-sustainable-development 
Publications

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