Sarah Frances Rippon

I am a PhD student at the University of Strathclyde looking at the importance of measuring social capital as part of health project evaluation processes. I am especially interested in cost-effective methods for measuring social capital in low-income settings.

As a social anthropologist my research focuses on what can be learned about community dynamics and engagement from social capital data and includes exploring levels of trust, sense of belonging and experiences of social inclusion.

Using qualitative and quantitative data collected during a Healthy Settings project in Chikwawa, Southern Malawi as my primary data source, my research builds evidence of the varying levels of social capital among community groups depending on age, gender and status and how this can affect participation and sustainability of community-based health projects.

My research is supervised by Dr Tara Beattie and Dr Tracy Morse, University of Strathclyde.