Assane joined the team as a Research Fellow in 2022.  He gained a PhD in Geoinformatics at the University of Namur, Belgium in 2017 and his research interest focuses on spatial epidemiology, health geography, and population modelling. He has worked extensively in Senegal, and his doctoral research focused on health inequalities in the capital city of Dakar. He was also part of the team responsible for coordinating and providing technical assistance for the 2013 population and housing census for the southern portion of Senegal.

His current research is focused on population modelling aimed at producing high-resolution population data for countries in low- and middle-income countries. Such population estimates are useful for estimating the population at risk of a specific disease, assessing vulnerabilities, and deriving health or development goal indicators, such as the SDGs, which are useful for development organisations and low and middle-income countries.