Carolyne Egesa is a PhD candidate in Medical Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Research Officer at the African Population and Health Research Center in Nairobi, Kenya. Built upon her interest in the socio-cultural determinants of reproductive health behavior, sexuality, gender, and sexual behavior, her topic focuses on ideas and notions of men and manliness that are being evoked in efforts to prevent gender-based violence in urban slums in Nairobi. Through ethnographic work, her research is centered on the complex nature of masculinity aspirations of poor Nairobi youth, which she shows to be fashioned at the crossroads of structural constraints and agentive projects for a good life, and simultaneously supportive and resistive of traditional hegemonic manliness ideals.

She also has a key interest in programs and policy debates on the issues that shape health outcomes among men in urban spaces in Sub-Saharan Africa. Of greatest concern are the living conditions in urban informal settlements which are characterized by limited opportunities, deprived livelihoods, poor environmental and health conditions as well as high HIV prevalence. Carolyne has also worked for over ten years as a researcher at the African Population and Health Research Center, a leading Africa-based, African-led, international research institution headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, which conducts policy-relevant research on population, health, education, urbanization, and related development issues on the continent.