Dr Duleeka Knipe
Expertise
Dr Knipe is a epidemiologist with an interest in the social determinants of mental health, especially suicide and self-harm.
Current positions
Associate Professor in Global Mental Health
Epidemiology and Health Data Science
Contact
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Biography
Dr Duleeka (Dee) Knipe is an epidemiologist with an interest in suicide and self-harm in low and middle income countries. She was funded on a Wellcome Trust doctoral fellowship to investigate the socioeconomic risk factors for suicidal behaviour in Sri Lanka at the University of Bristol. Her current work continues her work on the Wellcome trust funded large randomised controlled trial into the Safer Storage of pesticides as a means of suicide prevention.
She was awarded an ESRC fellowship to help translate her research findings into policy and practice, and has subsequently secured an Elizabeth Blackwell Institute Vice Chancellor's research fellowship to investigate the mental health consequences of parental emigration from Sri Lanka and the Philippines on children left behind in the country of origin. She has also received MRC pathfinder funding to explore the association between childhood adversity, domestic violence and self-harm in Sri Lanka.
Her background prior to starting her doctoral studies was in pathology and microbiology and public health.
Research interests
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
COVID-19 and self-harm in Sri Lanka
Principal Investigator
Description
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in March-April 2020, the government of Sri Lanka imposed a prohibitive, almost continuous lockdown in the form of a police-monitored curfew, where most…Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
03/06/2020 to 31/12/2024
The impact of COVID-19 on self-harm and suicidal behaviour: a living systematic review
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
The overarching aim of the review is to identify and appraise any newly published evidence from around the world that assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide deaths,…Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/05/2020 to 01/12/2022
Hospital based case-control study of self-poisoning in Sri Lanka
Principal Investigator
Description
Self-poisoning in Sri Lanka is the main form of hospital presenting self-harm. There is limited understanding of the life-course risk factors that contribute to self-poisoning risk in Sri Lanka. This…Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
08/03/2018 to 28/02/2019
Domestic Abuse and Suicide/self-harm
Principal Investigator
Description
The work stream is funded through a number of grants and is focused on understanding the association between suicide/self-harm and domestic abuse with the aim of identifying opportunities for interventionManaging organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/01/2018
HERA - Healthcare Responding to Violence and Abuse
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
HERA (Healthcare Responding to Violence and Abuse) aims to:
Understand how healthcare systems in LMIC can integrate and evaluate interventions for VAW that link with community organisations, and ultimately ensure better…Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (THS)Dates
01/04/2017 to 01/11/2021
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Recent publications
16/06/2026Changes in child suicide rates and characteristics during the COVID-19 pandemic in England
Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Is Perceived Poor School Connectedness Associated With Self-Poisoning in Adulthood in a Sri Lankan Population?
Crisis
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-harm and suicidal behaviours in children and young people
F1000Research
Global trends in youth suicide
BMJ
Characteristics of individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds who die by suicide
Journal of Affective Disorders
Related people
Emeritus Professor David Gunnell
Emeritus Professor
Bristol Medical School
Professor Chris Metcalfe
Professor of Medical Statistics
Bristol Medical School
Professor Laura Howe
Professor of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics
Epidemiology and Health Data Science
Professor Julian Higgins
Professor of Evidence Synthesis
Applied Health Research
Dr Emily Eyles
Research Fellow in Quantitative Research Applied Statistics
Applied Health Research