Directors & Professors

Dr Val Curtis

Director, Reader in Hygiene

Val is a Senior Lecturer in Health Promotion. She trained as an engineer but now works as an epidemiologist with a particular interest in understanding human behaviour.

She is a founder of the Global Public Partnership for hand washing with soap.

Sandy Cairncross

Professor of Environmental Health

Sandy is a public health engineer and an epidemiologist and is interested in environmental interventions for disease control.

Sandy has spent much of his career in developing countries, involved with water, sanitation and public health programmes; he has also spent time doing research and teaching.

Sally Bloomfield

Honorary Professor

Sally qualified initially as a pharmacist, but then went on to develop a career in microbiology, with a specific interest in the prevention of infectious diseases and in microbial quality assurance.

For 25 years, Dr Bloomfield was an academic in the Department of Pharmacy, Kings College London.

Theme Leaders

Dr Robert Aunger

Senior Lecturer, Behaviour Change Theme Leader

Robert Aunger has a PhD in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has published a number of books, most recently on the spread of ideas through society.

Robert is currently working on the evolution of behaviour and how evolutionary psychology can be used in health promotion. Robert also has a personal website.

Dr Tom Clasen

Senior Lecturer, Household Water Management Theme Leader

Tom has worked in international law and business for over 20 years. For his PhD, he conducted a systematic review of randomised controlled trials of in-house water treatment. He continues to study the effectiveness of point-of-use water filtration in a series of trials in South America and Asia.

Steven Sugden

Research Fellow, Sanitation Theme Leader

Steven is the Hygiene Centre's technical advisor on sanitation. He has wide-ranging experience of sanitation programme management in developing countries.

He is currently working on sanitation marketing, eco-sanitation and solid waste management in urban areas.

Research

Dr Adam Biran

Lecturer

Adam has a degree in Psychology and a PhD in Biological Anthropology. Adam is interested in human responses to hygiene, sanitation and the control of disease.

Dr Mimi Jenkins

Assistant Research Engineer, University of California at Davis

Mimi is an expert in consumer demand for sanitation, her PhD dissertation examined household decisions to install pit latrines in Benin, West Africa.

Mimi continues to work on sanitation marketing in West Africa and Tanzania.

Dr Jeroen Ensink

Lecturer

Jeroen is a water resource engineer with interests in the link between (agricultural) water management and health.

Jereon has worked in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam on the domestic uses of irrigation water and its impact on childhood diarrhoea.

Sophie Boisson MSc

Research Fellow

Originally trained as a biologist, I completed my MSc in Control of Infectious Diseases at LSHTM in 2004.

Prior to joining the Environmental Health Group, I have been involved in household water treatment projects in Peru, the Dominican Republic and India and worked in infectious diseases surveillance at the HPA Centre for Infections, London.

Mícheál De Barra MSc

Research Assistant

Mícheál De Barra is an evolutionary psychologist and has conducted research on facial attractiveness and worked on behaviour change programs for children with autism.

His current research project is on hygiene and its relationship with disgust.

Diana Fleischman

Research Assistant

Diana joins the Hygiene Centre from the University of Texas at Austin where she is a PhD student in Evolutionary Psychology.

Diana has been appointed as a Research Assistant to develop and manage a programme of experimental and naturalistic research on human motivation, behaviour change and routine behaviour performance, particularly with relevance to everyday hygiene behaviours.

Diana has a BA in Psychology and spent a junior year at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Belen Torondel

Research Assistant

Belen joins the Environmental Health Group following the completion of her Master’s Degree in Public Health in Developing Countries at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Belen has been appointed as a Research Assistant to work on understanding decomposition processes and the influence of on-site sanitation design factors on performance to support bio-additive and/or pit latrine product development.

The project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will assess the potential of modern biotechnology to deliver effective bio-additives which can accelerate decomposition processes and extend the lifetime of pit latrines. It will also build a sound scientific understanding of the key factors. Belen has a Doctorate in Pharmacy from the University of Valencia in Spain.

Associates

Colin McCubbin

Colin has prepared his PhD thesis on "Sustainable Sanitation in Rural Tanzania; its measurements and determinents at village level".

Colin has an MSc in Water Resources Engineering and has spent 15 years working with non-governmental agencies across Africa. His particular interest is in rural sanitation, and his current research seeks to identify determining factors for sustainability in rural sanitation.

Myriam Sidibe

Myriam Sidibe is a water and waste engineer who has over eight years experience working in Asia and Africa mainly in designing, implementing and evaluating school hygiene programmes.

Her interests are hygiene, child behaviour change and her current research seeks to identify motivating factors for childrens hygiene behaviour.

Dr Kristof Bostoen

Kristof is an engineer who has worked with non-governmental agencies across the world.

He is designing a survey methodology that measures progress in improving hygiene practices and access to water and sanitation.

Students

Daniele Lantagne

Student

Daniele is an Environmental Engineer (MIT BS ’96, MIT M.Eng. ’01, PE ’03) currently pursuing her PhD at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)

Rachel Peletz

Student

Rachel is an Environmental Engineer currently researching drinking water quality in HIV-endemic settings in Zambia.

Gaby Judah

Student

Gaby completed her undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences at Cambridge, specialising in Experimental Psychology. Her focus is on developmental psychology, learning and motivation.

Support

Eileen Chappell

Business Manager, Administration and Finance Theme Leader

Eileen manages the Administration and Finance Team for the Hygiene Centre and the Environmental Health Group.

Eileen ensures the provision of support for the research and consultancies that the Group undertakes. She also helps with the external events that the Group hosts.