Dr Babatope Oluwadamilare Adebiyi holds a Bachelor of Technology Degree in physiology, a Postgraduate Diploma in HIV/AIDS Education and Management, Masters of Science Degree in Social Works (health Care option) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health. He is a Public health researcher with a medical, health, and social sciences background. He is currently a South African National Research Foundation postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Children, Families and Society, University of the Western Cape. He is interested in maternal and child health (developmental disabilities, especially Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), substance abuse, family issues, alcohol, parenting, migrant health, mental health, health systems strengthening and infectious diseases (COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS). He has expertise in an array of methods and techniques of inquiry.
Dr Adebiyi hold a PhD in Public Health from the University of the Western Cape. During his PhD, he developed guidelines to assist policymakers in developing policy for preventing and managing Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in South Africa. Also, one of his current projects focuses on developing guidelines for parents and stakeholders by assessing and exploring parenting approaches, the needs of parents and available support within the first 1000 days of Early Childhood Development.
Furthermore, He is part of the project titled: In the eye of the storm: An assessment and exploration of the contribution of COVID-19 to family life. The aim of the study will be to explore the contributory role of COVID-19 to family life in South Africa. Another project that he is part of is the lived experiences of asylum seekers and refugees during the COVID-19 containment measures in Cape Town, South Africa. The study aims to explore the lived experiences of asylum seekers and refugees in Cape Town on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic containment measures in South Africa.
In addition to the above, Dr Adebiyi is a research assistant on a project funded by the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI). The project title: Strengthening Capacity for Research and Policy Engagement in Shifting Notions of Motherhood and Fatherhood for Improved Children’s Wellbeing in Africa (SCaRPE-A). SCaRPE-A is a consortium of six partners including Makerere University, University of Witwatersrand, University of the Western Cape, University of Rwanda and Moi University of Kenya. The goal of SCaRPE-A is to strengthen the capacity of the collaborating universities’ Gender Studies and Social Work Departments/Schools to teach and research shifting notions of motherhood and fatherhood and to strengthen their engagement in research uptake strategies with policymakers and non-academic partners.
Over the years Dr Adebiyi has recorded various accomplishments. To start with, He has published about 20 research articles in peer-reviewed international journals with about 10 manuscripts under review. He has attended about 20 local and international conferences and presented in about thirteen of them. In 2016, he was awarded the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund. In 2018 and 2019, he received conference grants to attend Public Health Association South Africa Conference, South Africa. In 2019 and 2020, he received support bursaries [R13 travel grant funded by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)] to attend the 8th International Conference on Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and the 9th International Research Conference on Adolescents and Adults with FASD, Canada. In addition, he received a student grant to attend the 2nd Australasian FASD Conference in Australia. Furthermore, his poster presentation was judged to best poster presentation of the year at the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences 6th Annual Research Symposium in 2019. Moreover, he was recognised as the best PhD Graduate of the year (2019) during the University of the Western Cape research and innovation award in 2020.
