About Lauren

Lauren Stuart is a development and public health researcher whose work focuses on youth employability, informal work, and the design and evaluation of community-based interventions in low-income and marginalised settings. Her research uses mixed-methods and participatory approaches to examine how youth-led, place-based interventions can improve health, wellbeing, and economic outcomes across the Global South.

She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wits Health HUBB, University of the Witwatersrand, where she leads research on community-based health interventions that integrate youth employment with chronic disease prevention. Prior to joining the Health HUBB, she was a researcher at the Centre for Social Development in Africa (CSDA) at the University of Johannesburg, where her work focused on poverty and inequality, informal work, social justice, and the evaluation of development programmes. 

In 2026, Lauren was awarded the prestigious AXA Research Fund Postdoctoral Fellowship, through which she will lead a programme of research at the Alexandra Health HUBB investigating how community-based health initiatives can create sustainable employment opportunities for young people while improving health outcomes in underserved communities.