Jitsuvax

The JITSUVAX External Advisory Board

External Ethics and Scientific Advisory Board (EAB)

The EAB provides an independent angle on the research, giving critical analysis and suggestions throughout the project. They act as a consultation body for the JITSUVAX consortium and their feedback is critical to the success of the project. Their expertise and experience will provide JITSUVAX with meaningful insights into the interests and views of their stakeholder communities. The members of the EAB will be strategically involved in key stages of JITSUVAX, ensuring that the needs of the stakeholders are at the forefront and paving the way for the effective uptake of the results.


Dr Robb Butler is a social scientist and public health promotion adviser and is Executive Director of WHO/Europe where between 2014 and 2018, he led the vaccine-preventable diseases and immunisation programme. His areas of experience and knowledge include behavioural/community insight methodology and social science interventions for public health. He is based in Copenhagen.


Dr Astrid Kause is a Junior Professor for Sustainability Science and Psychology at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg. She has studied health and environmental risk perception and communication, as well as behaviours affecting climate. In her current role she studies human judgements and decisions related to climate change. Astrid’s research goal is to improve the intuitive design of decision environments: By developing and testing very simple strategies individuals and police makers can apply in daily decisions, she aims at better informing individuals when facing complex and uncertain challenges.


Dr Alasdair Munro is is a Clinical Research Fellow in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at University Hospital Southampton specialising in pediatric infectious diseases, including early and late phase clinical trials of vaccines and antibiotics. Since March 2020 he has been leading the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health review of published evidence regarding COVID-19 in children, as well as working as senior fellow on a number of phase I – III COVID-19 vaccine candidate clinical trials, including the Oxford vaccine. Dr Munro sits on the NIHR Transmission of COVID-19 in Schools (ToCS) working group . Dr Munro also works as a clinician in paediatric emergency medicine and has a strong social media presence.


Dr Tanvi Rai is a senior mixed methods researcher with a PhD in public health. She is a co-applicant and researcher on an ESRC-funded project exploring the experiences of people and families affected by Covid-19, with a focus on how the pandemic has worsened existing social and health inequalities as well as leading a project exploring decision-making about infant feeding among mothers and birthing parents living with HIV in the UK. She has expertise in recruitment of participants who are ethnically and socioeconomically diverse. She is based in the UK.

Dr Ute Teichert is a physician and the head of the Department of Health Protection, Health Safety and Sustainability in the German Federal Ministry of Health.


Dr Angus Thomson is Senior Social Scientist: Demand for Immunization, in the Health Section, UNICEF HQ, and is based in Lyon. He is also Adjunct Clinical Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, USA. He is currently developing a global Social Listening & Engagement program that aims to understand and address disinformation and concerns related to COVID-19 and immunisation in both digital and non-digital social networks.