Research expertise

Houssynatou Sy looks back to 18 years of experience in international cooperation, including 12 years in health, focusing on fragile contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa. Having started her career as a Business Engineer at the Solvay Business School (Université Libre de Bruxelles), Houssynatou reinforced her professional expertise in 2010 with a master’s in development sciences at the Institute for Development Policy at the University of Antwerp. During this master, she got funded by the Flemish Interuniversity Council to perform her very first a qualitative field research on the contribution of migrants as local development actors in Mali. After, she coordinated EU funded research programs in Morocco, Ghana, Mozambique, Guinea, Ethiopia, Senegal, and Togo programs at the Institute of tropical Medicine of Antwerp. These research projects focused in biomedical and clinical science topics including one-health approaches to disease control, as well as interventional research into epidemics such as Ebola or Zika.

Furthermore, she gained experience in public health by managing programs aiming at strengthening health systems actors in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, and Benin. In 2022, she obtained a Master of Sciences in Public Health  at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. Her Master thesis explored how external actors contribute to health systems strengthening in fragile settings.

She is currently a researcher in the Department of Public Health. Her research focuses on the conditions for co-creation with the most vulnerable communities, such as internally displaced people in urban areas in regions affected by conflict and climate change. This research is rooted in an eco-health approach.  She is strengthening her skills in realist methodologies.

Houssynatou brings to her unit and research group a broader perspective based on her experience of multidisciplinary as well as transdisciplinary projects. Finally, she has a strong interest in translating (inclusive) research output and outcome to policies and practices.