Patrick McKearney (he/him) is an Assistant Professor in social anthropology at the University of Amsterdam researching intellectual disability across cultures. His teaching  concentrates on the contribution of ethnographic research o debates about religion, health, disability, psychology, and ethics. He has conducted ethnographic projects with adults with intellectual disabilities in India, the UK, and Italy. Currently, he is focused on extending his longitudinal study of intellectual disability in Kerala and developing research infrastructures and connections for intellectual disability across the Global South.

Priyasha Choudhary (she/her) is a researcher exploring the intersections of disability, gender, sexuality, and care in India. She is a part-time Research Assistant at the University of Amsterdam and has worked as a Research Associate at IIT Hyderabad, contributing to projects on intellectual disability, gender, and long-term care. Trained in social science, she draws on critical disability studies, medical anthropology, kinship, and feminist ethnography to examine how ableism and patriarchy shape care and kinship. Her research is guided by critical and rights-based perspectives, centring lived experiences and feminist methodologies.

Sanne Lukkien (she/her) supports the Dutch Coalition on Disability and Development (DCDD) as a Communications Assistant, where she focuses on ethical storytelling and amplifying voices often overlooked in development debates. She develops evidence‑based communication materials that translate insights from research and lived‑experience into accessible outputs for policymakers and partners. She strengthens rights‑based policy engagement by improving accountability, supporting evidence uptake, and helping stakeholders reach more equitable and inclusive outcomes.

Sabeer VC (he/him) is a researcher at the intersection of international migration, trade, and development. He is currently a Research Associate at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi, and was previously a Visiting Researcher at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. With an MA and MPhil in applied economics, his work applies rigorous quantitative analysis to large-scale national and international datasets to examine how migration and trade shape development outcomes and generate policy-relevant insights. He also assists Patrick McKearney with ethnographic work in Kerala.

Benedek Bozó (he/him) is a graduate of the University of Amsterdam’s Medical Anthropology and Sociology programme. His research interests center on cognitive disabilities and the anthropology of childhood, with a focus on how young people navigate life-altering adversities in post-socialist welfare systems. Following his ethnographic work with Roma children in state care and homeless substance users in Hungary, he is now turning his attention to the everyday ethical practices of children with Special Educational Needs and their caregivers within the Hungarian care system.

Angela Rodriguez Almaz (she/her) is a master's student in Global Health Research at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Currently developing her thesis on the experiences of caregivers in handling compulsive eating tendencies of people with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) in Mexico. With a transdisciplinary design and in collaboration with Mexican NGO Fundación Maria José, the project focuses on understanding how cultural values and family dynamics influence the management of PWS.

Warren Walker Dansou (he/him) is a master's student in Global Health Research at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Currently developing his thesis on the experiences of caregivers in the management of children with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) in West Africa (Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroun). With a transdisciplinary design and in collaboration with IPWSO, the project meets at the intersection of sociocultural norms, expectations, and lived experiences and systemic support in the management of PWS from early prognosis throughout a child’s transition into adulthood.

Arnav Sethi is a final year PhD Candidate in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. His doctoral dissertation, based on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork with inpatient and community psychiatrists in Cambridge and Central/North London, considers practices of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment at the limits of words. A central question that his doctoral work asks is: how do psychiatrists in contemporary Britain come to render other minds knowable and legible as unwell? He brings his ethnography of epistemic practices in psychiatry into conversation with anthropologies of mind and the senses, foregrounding modes of contending with the uncertainty of opaque or absent speech. He is also interested in clinical intuition, sense-based diagnoses and alternative, non-discursive modes of emotional expression, particularly through sounds and silences. Some of his pre-fieldwork research has been published in Anthropology and Medicine. He is a recipient of the coveted Inlaks Scholarship as well as the Cambridge International Scholarship for his doctoral studies. Prior to coming to Cambridge, Arnav completed his M.Phil. at the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics where his dissertation titled, ‘Sensorily Speaking: Music and Mental Health as Cultural and Clinical Concern’ received the highest score. Arnav is also a trained Hindustani classical vocalist.

Aleksandrs Gross, a linguistics graduate from the University of Amsterdam, is a freelance journalist with a particular interest in how contested identities, such as that of Taiwan, are represented in international news discourse. His writing seeks to challenge ideologically driven narratives by examining activism among Taiwanese youth, and the development of grassroots civil society. Having lived in Taiwan and planning to soon study a masters there, Aleksandrs is focused on connecting to and translating the experiences of Taiwanese struggling with questions of identity.

Liv Wage (she/her) is a final-year medical student at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam with a strong interest in the intersection of care, society, and women's health. She holds a Master's in Medical Anthropology and Sociology from the University of Amsterdam, where her thesis explored menstrual narratives in Bali. Her work brings together clinical training and ethnographic perspectives to examine how care is shaped by social and cultural context. She contributed to the IDSRL project's initial scoping, helping to map organisations and infrastructures of intellectual disability support across the Global South.

Patrycja Andrychowicz (she/they) is a sociologist and data scientist whose research focuses on disability, emerging technologies, and gender. With a background in research-informed advocacy within the NGO sector, they combine methodological expertise with a strong focus on generating and communicating actionable insights. They are currently working on an ethnographic study examining how caregivers of people with Prader-Willi syndrome in India access diagnoses and navigate systems and practices of care.

Eduardo Giacomini (he/him) is a psychiatrist and researcher with a PhD and MSc in Biosciences and Health. His work addresses mental and public health, with emphasis on collaborative care, service organisation, and multidisciplinary practices, grounded in Institutional Analysis. He has over a decade of experience in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS), delivering psychiatric care, supporting teams across levels of care, and coordinating intersectoral initiatives for vulnerable populations. He also has experience in medical teaching and academic supervision.

PROFESSOR TONY HOLLAND (she/her) supports the Dutch Coalition on Disability and Development (DCDD) as a Communications Assistant, where she focuses on ethical storytelling and amplifying voices often overlooked in development debates. She develops evidence‑based communication materials that translate insights from research and lived‑experience into accessible outputs for policymakers and partners. She strengthens rights‑based policy engagement by improving accountability, supporting evidence uptake, and helping stakeholders reach more equitable and inclusive outcomes.