Varunika Ruwanpura

Varunika Ruwanpura

PhD Candidate

Qualifications:

Master of Philosophy, The University of Adelaide, 2019; Master of Arts in Professional Communication (Journalism major), Deakin University, 2006; Diploma in Journalism, Wigan & Leigh College, United Kingdom, 2003

Research Topic:

Introducing radical cure for P. vivax malaria: stakeholder networks, policy processes and contextual factors influencing policy change in three countries

Location:

Darwin - Royal Darwin Hospital campus

Biography:

Varunika Ruwanpura is a journalist, author and social sciences researcher. She is currently doing her PhD in Public Health at the Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Australia. Her research focuses on developing improved policy interventions for P. vivax malaria to assist affected countries in achieving their malaria elimination goals. She previously worked as a journalism and media studies tutor for the University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide. Her master’s thesis, published in 2019, focused on exploring four Australian journalists’ nonfiction writing using a narrative analysis approach: Adelaide Research & Scholarship: Crafting true stories: an interpretation of four Australian journalists’ nonfiction writing practices.

Research project:

Varunika's PhD project explores the global, regional and national stakeholder networks involved in P. vivax policymaking; global and national malaria policy processes and contextual factors that influence national malaria policymaking. This is to understand and interpret how to better introduce new treatments and tools for the radical cure of P. vivax malaria in select endemic countries.