Dr Rebecca Walker is a social anthropologist and research consultant specialising in migration, health, and human rights in Southern Africa. She holds a Masters in Development and Research Methods and a PhD in Social Anthropology both from the University of Edinburgh. Rebecca’s research journey began in Sri Lanka where she spent a number of years examining the impact of civil war along the north and east coast of the country. She moved to South Africa in 2010 and has been with the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS), University of the Witwatersrand since 2014. Rebecca is currently a Senior Research Consultant and a part of the Disrupting the cycle of gendered violence & poor mental health among migrants in precarious situations (GEMMS) research group.
Rebecca’s work spans academic research, policy analysis, social justice and advocacy, with a strong focus on healthcare access, displacement, and gender. She has led and contributed to projects with the IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF, MSF and Save the Children, and the Health Justice Initiative, among others. Her primary focus is qualitative research and she has a keen interest in participatory visual and arts-based methodologies. Rebecca is widely published in peer-reviewed journals, policy reports, and media outlets, addressing issues from migrant health governance to the decriminalisation of sex work.
Beyond her consultancy and academic roles, she is a founding member of Collective Voices for Health and a member of the Asijiki Coalition for the Decriminalisation of Sex Work, and she regularly teaches, supervises, and peer reviews within the field.