The International Relations Office is delighted to welcome Professor Soraya Seedat, our new Bath Woman Global Chair, on her first visit to our University from 3 to 11 March 2020.

Professor Soraya Seedat is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Executive Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Stellenbosch University.

She is a prominent expert on post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders, and has more than 20 years of clinical, epidemiological and basic neuroscience research experience as a psychiatrist, including as a prestigious South African Research Chair. With a focus on the mental health of children and adolescents, she has worked with the some of the most vulnerable population groups in South Africa, while leading collaborative efforts to build research capacities across lower and middle-income countries in South-East Asia and Latin America.

The Women Global Chair Scheme highlights women in academia through the funding of distinguished international visiting professorships to enrich the celebration of women academics across all disciplines at the University of Bath. Professor Seedat’s Global Chair is hosted by Professor Sarah Halligan in the Department of Psychology. Her appointment lends further support to Bath's strong partnerships in South Africa and will strengthen our University's global research networks in the field of mental health.

During her visit to Bath, Professor Seedat will be delivering a public lecture on Trauma and Alcohol Abuse: Two Intersecting Epidemics and will be meeting colleagues from across our University community to explore new opportunities for collaboration. Professor Seedat will also be providing expert teaching and mentoring to our undergraduate psychology students and will be meeting with national and international experts in the field of child and adolescent mental health and development.

Looking forward to her visit, Professor Seedat comments:

I feel deeply honoured and I am really grateful to the University of Bath for my appointment as Global Chair. The appointment will allow me to further develop my relationship with Prof Sarah Halligan and her team. We have overlapping research interests in the longitudinal trajectories of youth from high adversity environments and in identifying early psychobiological signatures of persistent PTSD that may be targets for early intervention. I am very excited about engaging with staff and students and generating new research ideas and collaborations at Bath and across the G4 alliance.

Professor Sarah Halligan comments:

We are extremely fortunate to be hosting Soraya Seedat in March, which will be the first of two visits in 2020. In addition to conversations with colleagues across the University, we will be hosting a meeting during Soraya’s visit where we will be joined by experts in child trauma and PTSD from other institutions. We are excited about the activities we have planned, and the potential for these to yield new collaborations.

All colleagues are welcome to join us for Professor Seedat's Public Lecture on Trauma and Alcohol Abuse: Two Intersecting Epidemics, which will take place on Wednesday 4 March at 5.15pm in 10 West 2.47.