Keynote Speakers

Dr John Lwanda

John Lwanda is a Malawian  physician, social researcher, political historian, writer, publisher and music producer. His Ph.D. was on the dynamics between culture, politics and medicine with reference to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Malawi. John’s research interests include collecting, archiving and recording popular and traditional music, still photography and collecting Malawi artistic and craft objects, including fabrics. He is a member of Scottish PEN, and a member of the Copyright Society of Malawi. He is a published author and also a publisher of books and music through his companies Dudu Nsomba Publications and Pamtondo. 

Prof Ama de-Graft Aikins

Ama de-Graft Aikins is Professor of Social Psychology and Dean of International Programmes at the University of Ghana (UG). She received her PhD in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Cambridge. Her research and publications focus on experiences and representations of chronic physical and mental illnesses, Africa's chronic non-communicable disease (NCD) burden and the social psychology of knowledge in African settings. 

Roundtable Speakers

Prof Catherine Burns

Catherine Burns is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Pretoria (a joint appointment between the Centre for Sexuality, AIDS and Gender and the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies). Catherine was educated at WITS, the Johns Hopkins University, and Northwestern University, where she earned her PhD in History. Her research interests focus on medical and health history, the history and ethnography of reproduction and sex, ethics in biomedical research, and the history of gender in southern Africa.

​Victoria Hume

Victoria Hume is a composer, arts manager and researcher specialising in the meeting points between the arts, medicine and health. She is currently based at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, working with the medical humanities initiative at WiSER (Wits Institute for Social & Economic Research and the Wits School of Arts. Before this she was an arts manager in the NHS for 15 years. She recently received a distinction for a Masters in Music and Health Communication focused on hospital-induced delirium. Her most recent EP, Closing (released on Lost Map records), featured on Lauren Laverne’s best of 2016 playlist (BBC Radio6 Music).
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