2025-2026 Approved Faculty–Student Research Partnership Projects

Faculty:

Dr. Ruth Gibson - Scholar, Center for International Security and Cooperation

Professor Gary L. Darmstadt - Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine

Professor Paul H. Wise - Richard E. Behrman Professor of Child Health and Society

Academic and Policy Context

The African continent now faces simultaneous epidemics of coups d’état, genocidal violence, terrorist displacement, and deliberate obstruction of humanitarian corridors. This project will

1. Elevate the on-the-ground perspectives of African physicians and health leaders through exclusive video-recorded interviews.
2. Synthesize these testimonies with quantitative conflict, sanction, and aid-flow data,
3. Translate the combined evidence into both peer-reviewed publications and public-facing media that can inform more responsible global health policy.

Note: This work is already underway this semester with Dr. Gibson, Prof. Wise, and Stanford undergrad Tim Jing.

Progress to Date and Statement of Significance

In September 2025, The Lancet formally accepted the Series on Foreign Aid and Human Health (co-led by Dr. Gibson and Professor Darmstadt), which focused on the future of foreign aid and development, especially in Africa. Simultaneously, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences commissioned a chapter for its volume on the future of democracy and development in Africa, entitled “Conflict, Sanctions, and Health: A Tangled Web of Violence, Geopolitical Punishment, and Human Health” from Dr. Gibson and Prof. Wise. 

This faculty-student partnership constitutes the dedicated Africa strand of both initiatives. It documents and communicates how the convergence of USAID termination, NATO-driven reallocation of official development assistance to Africa to military budgets, unchecked arms transfers (e.g., UAE to the RSF in Sudan), and the expanding Wagner Group footprint across the Sahel are producing what is almost certainly the most severe retrogression in African health indicators which has been estimated to be up to fourteen million preventable deaths continent-wide by 2030.

Description of the Proposed Faculty-Student Collaboration 

The undergraduate research assistant (we are hoping for Tim Jing and perhaps others) will work under the direct supervision of Dr. Gibson, Professors Darmstadt and Wise. The collaboration has four interlocking components, each with measurable deliverables:

1. Evidence synthesis for flagship publications
   • Systematic literature review (English, French, Arabic) on aid disruption, sanctions, conflict events, and health outcomes in Sudan, Sahel, and Horn of Africa, 2020–2025.
   • Extension of ACLED, Uppsala, Global Sanction Database, and AidData datasets of Conflict in Africa.
2. Primary data collection via exclusive interviews
   • Conduct 20–30 semi-structured video interviews with African physicians, ministry officials, and NGO leaders in conflict-affected settings. This is already underway, and Dr. Gibson. Prof. Wise, and Tim Jing have samples of this work.
   • Pre-screen interviewees, draft tailored question guides, obtain informed consent, and record high-quality interviews (remote or in-person as feasible).
3. Multimedia dissemination and science communication
   • Edit interviews into (a) 30–90-second short-form clips optimized for social media; and (b) 8–12-minute long-form explainer videos to reach a broader audience on these issues
4. Formal involvement in the Lancet Series with Dr. Gibson and Prof. Darmstadt. 

Benefit for the Undergraduate Research Assistant

The selected students (Tim Jing and others) will receive intensive mentorship in global health policy research, field interviewing in sensitive settings, academic writing at the highest level, and professional multimedia production/science communication.

Faculty: Dr. Krish Seetah - Associate Professor | Environmental Social Sciences & Oceans

Legal and historical background

In 1968, Mauritius, a small African island that was a colony of Britain at the time, sought independence. Britain wished to retain Chagos, then part of Mauritius, to rent to the USA. The USA was undertaking a program of military expansion in strategic locations in response to the Cold War. Britain could only excise Chagos if there were no inhabitants. This was not the case. The Chagos Islands were inhabited by a people descended from Afro-Asian enslaved and indentured populations.

Using racist terminology describing the local population as ‘Tarzans’ and ‘Men Fridays’ and labelling them ‘transitional labor’, the UK and US forcibly removed 2000 Chagossians under appalling conditions. Through this human rights atrocity, the UK created the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), and the US installed a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest naval base in the Indian Ocean. Mauritius has contested the decision, and the Chagossians have fought for their right to return home since 1968.

Following intense international pressure from India, the EU, and African nations, on Oct. 3rd, 2024, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed to hand back sovereignty to Mauritius and support the process of repatriation and resettlement for the Chagossians. This historic decision was preempted by a meeting in February 2024, ‘Chagos Archipelago Marine Protected Area Workshop’, hosted by the government of Mauritius and supported by the UK. At this meeting, Seetah, PI, was invited by the UN Ambassador to Mauritius to serve as the Cultural Working Group (CWG) Lead, tasked by the government of Mauritius with integrating humanistic evidence – historical and cultural resources – into the handover process. For both the scientific and cultural perspectives, Stanford has taken the lead in bringing new expertise and a greater diversity of academic voices to the Chagos effort.

Methodology, including sources of evidence and analysis plan

For our study, we will use ‘Pupil Invisible’ and EEG headsets (Emotiv Insight) for eye-tracking, audio recordings to capture verbal reflections, and a notebook/tablet for observational notes. We propose to explore how individuals visually and emotionally engage with memory-related sensory cues, capturing cognitive and affective traces of what could be described as the

community members’ inner cultural landscapes. Working at the Chagos Refugee Community center, Port Louis, Mauritius, the following summarizes the ethno-historical component, Phase 1, foundational for the neurohumanistic aspect, Phase 2.

Phase 1: Seetah, ongoing and summer 2026

We undertake ethnographic research gathering stories, legends, poems, and cultural knowledge on dance, music, and the lived experience, alongside historical research. This will help to better understand local community needs, connection to place, and historical context, seeding the evidence we need for the neurohumanistic work.

Phase 2: Student guided by Seetah and DH partner, Elisa Corró (Venice)

Workflow and analysis plan for neurohumanistic phase:

1. Data collection: from eye-tracking, audio, and sensory reflections.

   Output: raw data, emotional tones, gaze patterns.

2. Prototype development: data migration into a digital platform using Python.

   Output: a prototype that maps sensory memories and responses.

For this phase, we need a student with competencies in Computer Science, ideally with prior experience with Python, and exporting and loading data from cloud storage. Training can be provided by team members, should this be needed. We would ideally like to integrate the student into our visualization and prototype development workflow, including developing text and accessibility descriptors for future installations/exhibits on Chagossian culture. We also see scope for the novel and innovative alignment of ‘gaze data’ from the eye tracker, with specific cues gathered from the interview process.

Ultimately, the student’s work will support the development of a prototype hybrid installation where physical objects (from Chagossian families) are displayed alongside sensory cues (audio, touch), providing an immersive experience, e.g., user sees a map of the Chagos Islands (new mapping resources will be provided as part of a collaboration with the Rumsey Map Center), designed to highlight emotional territories, not only geographic, but as a "Memory of Home"

Dedicated to the Chagossian community, the project opens dialogue on memory and recognition, offering a platform to voice, share, and preserve Chagossian sensory heritage, not only as remembrance, but as presence, resistance, and resilience.

Faculty: Dr. Leslie Adams - Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Pediatrics

Project Description

This project supports the early stages of an NIH R21/R33 proposal focused on developing and evaluating a mobile health (mHealth) platform for youth mental health and suicide risk in Lesotho. The work directly advances the theme of African Digital Futures by adapting smartphone-based real-time assessment and support systems, originally developed and tested in the U.S., into a locally grounded, low-bandwidth, Android-first ecosystem that integrates national health information systems. The project includes co-design with Basotho youth, localization to Sesotho/English, and clinic-linked alerting workflows. The long-term vision is a nationally scalable digital mental health platform that strengthens Lesotho’s health system through context-specific technology, capacity building, and LMIC-led research infrastructure.

During the 8-week spring or summer quarter, the undergraduate will conduct targeted literature reviews that will shape the subsequent design deliverables of the proposed NIH study. The first half of the quarter focuses on building a scholarly understanding of mobile user-centered (UX) design approaches in low-resource settings, culturally and linguistically grounded digital content for African youth, and global mental health guidelines relevant to the project. The second half centers on creating applied design materials, storyboards, app-flow diagrams, early message scripts, and visual tools that feed directly into ongoing co-design work with partners at Lesotho Boston Health Alliance (LeBoHA) and the Lesotho Ministry of Health. All components can be completed remotely, with a possible, optional 1–2-week travel opportunity (summer only) to observe and conduct human-centered design (HCD) sessions and contribute to on-the-ground preparation in August 2025.

Student Training

The student will complete all required research compliance and safety trainings before beginning project activities. This includes CITI Program training in human subjects’ research ethics and Stanford HIPAA training to ensure proper handling of any sensitive or identifiable information. In addition, the Adams Lab will provide lab-specific onboarding, including training in suicide risk assessment protocols, safety procedures for working with sensitive qualitative data, and procedures for escalating concerns. The student will also receive structured instruction in human-centered design (HCD) methods, including facilitation skills, storyboard development, message testing, and ethical engagement with youth participants. Together, these trainings will prepare the student to contribute responsibly and effectively to the project’s research, design, and cross-cultural collaboration activities.

Final deliverable

During Weeks 1–3, they will complete a focused literature review portfolio synthesizing evidence on mobile user experience, linguistic and cultural adaptation, and relevant WHO digital health guidance. Weeks 4–8 will center on developing human-centered design materials, including a summary packet of insights, storyboards, user-journey maps, a localized app-flow diagram, and a draft message library tailored for youth in Lesotho. They will also generate visual assets to support upcoming co-design sessions. The engagement will conclude with a fully integrated deliverables packet and slide deck, along with an optional field reflection memo if travel to Lesotho occurs.