CIR-Lab Team
The People Behind CIR-Lab
A multidisciplinary team of scholars, practitioners and mentors united by a shared commitment to culturally integrative research and youth wellbeing.
Dr. Stephen Asatsa
Founding Director, CIR-Lab
Leadership
Director’s Profile
A Scholar-Practitioner-Researcher in Psychology, Indigenous Knowledge, Cultural Evolution and Human Development. He bridges academic work, research, practice and community service. He anchors the Lab on a Mentorship approach.
Core Team
Dr. Elizabeth Gichimu
Lab Associate Director
Dr Elizabeth Wangari Gichimu is a faculty member in the School of Psychology, Department of Clinical Psychology at Daystar University, Nairobi Kenya. She holds a Doctorate (PsyD) in Clinical Psychology. Her research has primarily focused on mental health, cultural influences on psychological well-being, and trauma interventions. She participated as a postdoctoral researcher on a Templeton Foundation-funded study exploring Luhya mourning rituals and their impact on psychological resilience.
John Makunda
Lab Statistician
John Makunda is a statistician, researcher, and data analyst with a strong focus on psychological and longitudinal research in African contexts. He is currently a PhD student at Kenyatta University, where he continues to advance his expertise in quantitative research methods and Biostatistics. John is actively involved in the Africa Long Life Study (ALLS), a multi-country longitudinal research project across Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa.