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Researcher

Séverine Thys

  • Research Expertise:Dr. Séverine Thys graduated as Master in Anthropology (2004) and in Public Health (2009). Considering herself today as a One Health anthropologist, she also recently obtained her PhD degree in Veterinary Sciences from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Ghent (Belgium) for her dissertation on “The added value of Anthropology for integrated control of Neglected Zoonotic Diseases in the One Health movement”. Through three case-studies, she assessed cultural, cognitive and social drivers explaining people’s knowledge, perceptions and behaviour with regard to animal husbandry, zoonoses and their control in their specific ecosystem as well as how to foster interdisciplinarity research in such field. After 9 years working as an academic assistant at the Institute of Tropical Medicine of Antwerp, she also coordinated a strategic network on Zoonoses and Neglected Diseases to foster intersectoral collaboration and promote the "One Health" concept (Belgian Development Cooperation) and was co-investigator in three FP7 EU projects (ICONZ, ADVANZ, NEXTGEN). Drawn from her ethnographic observations and first field experiences in a context of epidemic during the Ebola Virus Diseases epidemic in West Africa (for GOARN-WHO), she got further interested in the role of anthropology in addressing outbreak interventions and narratives around them. Since June 2020, Séverine works at the Centre for Evaluation of Vaccinations and the Global Health Institute at the University of Antwerp for the EBOVAC3 project. She lectures on qualitative methodologies in several master programs in Belgium and abroad, and is involved in the Belgian One Health Network.
  • Keywords:ZOONOTIC DISEASES, MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, ONE HEALTH, Medicine
  • Disciplines:Public health care not elsewhere classified, Epidemiology, Clinical trials, Other medical and health sciences not elsewhere classified, Other veterinary sciences not elsewhere classified, Medical anthropology, Social and cultural anthropology
  • Research techniques:Qualitative Research Methodologies (Focus Group Discussions, Individual interviews, participative observations, ...); action-research, operational research, participative epidemiology, socio-ecological research, stake-holder mapping
  • Users of research expertise:Epidemiologists, medical doctors, veterinarians (researchers and practitioners), ecologists, disease control managers, Health programme managers, Public Health services, farmers, communities, care users and providers, All abovementioned targets groups from Europe and low and middle income countries.