BUA Institution

Charité Universitätsmedizin

Research Description

My research focuses on loneliness in older age, with a particular emphasis on lower- and middle-income countries, such as  Myanmar. I use multiple methodological and transdisciplinary approaches to understand loneliness across diverse contexts and identify solutions to the problem. In my own research group, the CARE lab, we investigate the relationship between loneliness and climate change.

Where in the world has your career been largely based until now?

Myanmar, UK, USA, and Germany

I moved to Berlin in 2014 to study psychology (BSc and MSc) at the HU Berlin and am happy to be back after my PhD at King's College London.

What major short-term goal are you currently working towards with your research?

I want to focus on establishing my own research group, the Climate, Aging, and Relationships (CARE) lab at the Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane.

How did you become interested in your specific topic?

When I lived in Myeik, Myanmar for a year in 2019, I started to become interested in loneliness while I was doing my Master's thesis research. I wanted to understand why people felt lonely in a society that is very socially close-knit and where people rarely live alone.

What is your preferred way to communicate your research to the broader public or other specific sectors beyond academia? Where can we see, hear or read you next?

As I am passionate about participatory research, one of my projects presented research results of older participants from Myanmar in a self-curated photo exhibition in Thailand and the UK. I have also spoken about my research on several podcasts and been featured in news outlets, including in Science Magazine, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The Guardian and BBC radio. 

If you could have a radical career change for a week, what would it be?

I've been dancing since I'm a kid. Although I do not dance professionally, I would love to experience life as a professional dancer for a week.