Her research is multidisciplinary and positioned at an intersection of social science approaches including health, gender and development. As a social scientist with training in demography and anthropology, her research uses mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) to understand the inter-relationships between social context and health-related behaviours, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health. She is the Principal Investigator of “Improving adolescent access to contraception and safe abortion in sub-Saharan Africa” and is the thematic lead for sexual and reproductive health on “Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence”. Dr Coast has acted as adviser to a number of organisations, including DFID, UNAIDS, Marie Stopes International and DANIDA, and has been a Visiting Scholar at the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC).