Reader and Health Systems Cluster Lead
Division: Institute for Global Health and Development
Dr Karin Diaconu (PhD, MSc, BA) is a Reader and Health Systems Cluster Lead in the Institute for Global Health and Development.
- Overview
- Research Interests
- Research Publications
- Funded Projects
- Teaching & Learning
Dr. Diaconu is an expert in health policy and systems research and has worked in this area for over 10 years. Her research focuses on complex policy and intervention design, implementation and evaluation. She has worked across a range of settings in Africa and the Middle East. Karin's training is in epidemiology and health technology assessment. She currently uses participatory, complexity science and systems thinking methods in her research. Karin joined IGHD as Reader and health systems research cluster lead in 2023. Before this, she worked with Plan International Global Hub as research manager and was active in research consultancy. She had previously worked with IGHD between 2016-2021 as a research fellow.
Affiliations
- External member of Ethical Review Board, Plan International Global Hub
Karin is currently conducting research on health systems resilience as part of the Rebuild for Resilience consortium. She is also involved in research with UNHCR which aims to understand how health systems can better respond to, and meet the needs of refugee populations.
Active research interests
Health policy and systems research Complex intervention evaluation Urban health Health equity and human rights approaches to health Gender and intersectionality.
Research Methods
Systemic dynamics methods Participatory group model building Randomised controlled trials Complexity science methods for health policy and systems research.
Please see my research publications in eResearch – Queen Margaret University’s repository
Research Grants & Contracts Funding:
A Household Yeast Sensor for Cholera
NIH – Grant supporting development of novel cholera biosensor:
This work supports colleagues at Columbia University in the development of an innovative product for cholera surveillance and explores the product’s adoption, impact and cost-effectiveness when used in humanitarian- and low-resource settings.
System resilience in UNRWA health provision to Palestine refugees displaced by the Syria crisis (Health Systems Resilience)
This research will focus on the key vulnerabilities of UNRWA health systems in the face of disruptions associated with the displacement of Palestine refugees registered in Syria (PRS).
This research project is funded by Elrha’s Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) Programme which aims to improve health outcomes by strengthening the evidence base for public health interventions in humanitarian crises. Visit www.elrha.org/work/r2hc for more information.
The R2HC programme is funded equally by the Wellcome Trust and DFID, with Elrha overseeing the programme’s execution and management.
Find out more about Health Systems Resilience
Results4TB: Designing and evaluating provider results-based financing for tuberculosis care in Georgia: understanding costs, mechanisms of effect and impact
This 4-year project will help design a pilot results-based financing (RBF) scheme with Georgian policy-makers and programme managers, examine its impact and cost effectiveness and give further evidence to RBF and TB programming around the globe.
Karin is actively involved in teaching on global health research methods and health technology assessment and priority setting.
