HIVAN RESEARCHER ELECTED TO MRC VACCINE RESEARCH CAB

In March, Nicola Stanley, of HIVAN's Networking and Research team, was elected as Treasurer of the Community Advisory Board of the MRC's HIV Vaccine Research Unit.

Nicola joined HIVAN's multi-disciplinary team after five years in the field of land reform, where she gained extensive experience in participative research, project co-ordination and management. These skills relate directly to her current role on the eNtshongweni Land Reform project, which links HIVAN, the Department of Land Affairs and the Human Sciences Research Council with various NGO and government stakeholders.

Through her association with LifeLine, Nicola has been involved in HIV/AIDS counselling, and she has a strong background in lecturing, tutoring and small group facilitation. She did her Master's thesis on the transformation of labour relations in the public sector (SAPS).

Nicola's role in HIVAN is to facilitate interaction between local researchers, practitioners and policy-makers within and across public, private, NGO and CBO sectors engaged in the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She is also working on the South African component of an international research project, examining the cost-effectiveness of HIV/AIDS prevention strategies in five different countries.

"This new link with the MRC Vaccine Research Unit is very valuable for both HIVAN and the communities it serves," says Nicola. "The Community Advisory Board will assist in guiding the formulation of procedures and ethics policy in this cutting-edge area of academic research. This covers fifteen research projects based in various different countries attached to the global HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN)."

Nicola says that the MRC's Vaccine Research Unit CAB will play a vital role in strengthening critical links with CBOs and community residents by liaising with other national and international CAB members, and through education and mobilisation programmes for community-preparedness. HIVAN will showcase ongoing research being conducted by this Unit at joint seminars and in future issues of Sondela.

Other newly elected members of the executive hail from:

? The Durban Gay and Lesbian Community Health Care Centre (Chairperson)
? Acting HIV/AIDS Programme Co-ordinator, Mangosuthu Technikon (Deputy-Chairperson)
? UND Campus Law Clinic (Secretary)
? SANCO and NETCOM (additional members)

To contact Nicola:
Tel: (031) 268 5815
Fax: (031) 209 8883
Email: [email protected]

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