We are delighted to introduce two postdoctoral fellows who have joined the Cluster of Research Excellence (CoRE) in Migration & Health. Hosted by the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at Wits University in South Africa, Dr Fehmida Qaddus Rabbani & Dr Neusa Torres will be undertaking independent research projects & supporting the expansion of the CoRE.
Dr Fehmida Qaddus Rabbani
Dr Fehmida Qaddus Rabbani’s research explores the intersections of migration, health, and mobility, with a focus on South Asian communities in African urban contexts. Drawing on intersectionality and the concept of the “weight of elsewhere,” she examines how belonging, memory, and resilience shape migrant health outcomes and lived urban experiences.
She completed her PhD in Geography and Environmental Studies at Wits (2025). Her thesis, Recycling the City: Itinerant Informal Recyclers in Johannesburg, advanced the theory of mobile urbanism by reframing itinerancy as a spatial and political practice. Introducing “wasted movement as spatial production,” her work reconceptualises informal recyclers as active producers of urban space.
Previously, Dr Rabbani was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg (PDRF), where she co-supervised Honours students and contributed to collaborative research on small-business waste practices and EoL LIBs. She also holds an MSc in Environmental Sciences (North-West University), an MSc in Geography (PU Pakistan), and an Advanced Diploma in School Leadership and Management (UJ). A qualified educator (PGCE, UNISA) and certified copyeditor (UCT), she brings over six years of leadership experience as a school principal. Her transdisciplinary work bridges migration, health, and urban sustainability, advancing inclusive policy and equitable urban futures.
Dr Neusa Torres
Neusa Torres holds a Doctorate in Public Health from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She also earned an Honours degree in Social Sciences, a Bachelor’s in Anthropology, and a Master’s in Public Health from Eduardo Mondlane University. She has extensive experience in public health–oriented social science research, with a focus on health systems and health-seeking behaviour. Her expertise includes qualitative research, qualitative longitudinal research, and evidence synthesis methods. Neusa’s research interests lie at the intersection of public health and the socio-behavioural sciences/humanities, with particular attention to women’s and children’s health, medicine use, migration health, and patterns of health-seeking behaviour.