Pandemic Ethics

This project aims at providing an ethical contribution to identifying prioritization criteria for situations of global pandemics, where policymakers face the dilemma that the fulfilment of responsibilities to different groups of people clash, and prioritization is necessary. Another dilemma arises when partly incommensurable values such as respect for health and for democratic freedoms must be weighed against each other because respect for one will put the other in jeopardy. Contact person: Ezio Di Nucci & Anne Lykkeskov

Reflexive prediction in epigenetics

This project investigates the concerns that ‘learning one’s genetic risk changes physiology independent of actual genetic risk’ (Turnwald et al. 2018) and that beliefs about genetic information impact the expression of genes to match that information—a so-called self-fulfilling prophecy (Vineis 2004). Mertens theorizes the ways in which predictions about gene-expression impact gene-expression itself and offers an analysis of the epistemic and ethical implications. Contact person: Mayli Mertens

Aging and retirement

Retirement is a significant transition in the life course of European citizens. Many countries are encouraging people to stay longer in the workforce and flexible retirement schemes are on the rise. This project explores the consequences of these developments and decisions about retirement relate to questions about health, social networks, economy and quality of life. The project is funded by the Nordea Foundation until December 2024. Contact person: Karsten Vrangbæk

Equity and the Socioeconomic Impact of Disease Management Programmes in Denmark

The EQUIP project analyses the origin and implementation of disease management programmes in Denmark. Through a health economics assessment of the programmes, it assess their impact on selected groups of patients. It does so with the help of health registry and survey data, and with a specific focus on equity. The project is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation until December 2024. Contact person: Karsten Vrangbæk

Technology Assisted Healthy Aging

This project is a collaborative network between key researchers in Japan (Osaka university) and researchers in Denmark (Center for Healthy Aging at UCPH). Through comparisons of aging services and the use of assistive technologies and public-private collaborations in the two countries, the project aims to gain deeper insight into the potentials and pitfalls, costs and benefits of different solutions for ageing populations. The project is funded by the Danish Research Council until November 2023. Contact person: Karsten Vrangbæk

Crisis Management and the COVID-19 Pandemic

This project compares and evaluates crisis management responses of the Nordic countries, transferring knowledge between communities on best practices and strategies in tackling future crises. It involves leading scholars in the field of crisis management from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland and strengthens the regional cooperation in this field. The project is funded by the Icelandic Research Fund until 2025. Contact person: Karsten Vrangbæk

Marketization of health and elderly care

This project investigates whether and how welfare markets in primary care and elder care in Sweden undermine the equitable distribution of services. The project is made up of four work packages that run in parallel and employ a variety of methods including quantitative register studies, interviews, and questionnaires. It addresses one of the most salient political and scientific questions of our time; namely how social welfare is best provided and what the respective roles of states and markets should be. The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council until 2028. Contact person: Karsten Vrangbæk

Universal Health Systems and Financial Protection

This project involves an analysis of household budget survey microdata to produce indicators of catastrophic and impoverishing health spending, and putting these findings in the context of policy coverage, health spending trends and data on unmet need for health services. The aim of the analysis is to identify context-specific recommendations for policy. This project is a collaboration with WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing. Contact person: Karsten Vrangbæk

MeInWe (Personalized Medicine in the Danish Welfare State)

MeInWe explores the ethical, organizational, and legal aspects of personalized medicine. It takes a specific interest in how relationships between person (the me) and collectivities (the we) are shaped and negotiated with the introduction of personalized medicine in Denmark. MeInWe integrates different approaches and disciplines from social science, law, and the humanities. Contact person: Mette Nordahl Svendsen

PREPARE

This project explores the hopes and concerns of stem cell research and therapy. Nested within the larger reNEW project aimed at delivering safe and efficient stem cell treatments, this work package explores the social dynamics of stem cell research and therapy. 

Placed at both Section for Health Services Research and Medical Museion, we explore the hopes and concerns associated with stem cell research and therapy as they have developed over time and in different communities. We follow the experiences of patients, the information pathways of consumers, and the public debates around stem cells. Contact person: Klaus Hoeyer

Digitization of pathology departments work practices in Denmark

This project explores the nuances and complexity of the imaging and data-intensive technology, what is known as digital pathology, in diagnostic and knowledge practices regarding cancer diseases. In this ethnographic study, I draw from science and technology studies (STS) perspectives to inquire about the implications of this technology for pathology diagnostics, their collaboration with clinical settings, and ultimately patients.  Contact person: Olsi Kusta

OPEN

The “OPEN” project brings together an international and intersectoral consortium of patient innovators, clinicians, social scientists, computer scientists, and patient advocacy organizations in order to investigate various aspects of Do-it-Yourself Artificial Pancreas Systems (DIYAPS) that are used by an increasing number of people with diabetes. Contact person: Henriette Langstrup

Brain and Technology Clinical Academic Group

The CAG Brain and Technology (BAT CAG) aims to improve diagnostics, monitoring and treatment of patients suffering from neurological disorders using digital technologies close to the patient (eDevices) and to ensure their sustainable implementation, The BAT CAG aims to strengthen research across medical specialties and the social and technical sciences. Contact person: Henriette Langstrup

Reflexive prediction in epigenetics

This project investigates the concerns that ‘learning one’s genetic risk changes physiology independent of actual genetic risk’ (Turnwald et al. 2018) and that beliefs about genetic information impact the expression of genes to match that information—a so-called self-fulfilling prophecy (Vineis 2004). Mertens theorizes the ways in which predictions about gene-expression impact gene-expression itself and offers an analysis of the epistemic and ethical implications. Contact person: Mayli Mertens

The Datafication of the Clinic.

This project explores the datafication of the clinic: how data change diagnosis and clinical practice. As a medical doctor using STS, philosophy of science and evidence-based medicine, I investigate how core concepts in medicine are changing due to scientific and societal developments. I work primarily with analytical and qualitative methods. Contact person: Christoffer Bjerre Haase.

TechnEmotion.

TechnEmotion focuses on the interaction between technology and emotion in innovative transplant medicine by exploring ethnographically the ethical and existential implications of new transplant technologies, such as xenotransplantation, new death criteria for organ donors, stem cell research, and ex-vivo technologies (organs in machines).  Contact person: Anja Marie Bornø Jensen

Refugee Minors and Integration (REMAIN)

Along with partners in Stockholm, Amsterdam and Vienna, this project aims to gain knowledge on strategies to improve the social integration of refugee minors/youth with mental ill-health. The Danish team contributes to work package 2, exploring the relationship between health and social integration in Denmark and Sweden from a comparative angle using nationwide registry data. Contact person: Christopher Jamil de Montgomery

Stroke incidence, care and outcomes in immigrants to Denmark

The project investigates incidence of stroke and mortality, and access to stroke care (acute care, inhospital care and post-discharge care) among immigrants/ethnic minorities compared with Danish-born residents using nationwide register data. Contact persons: Marie Louise Nørredam and George Frederick Mkoma

COVID-19 long-term outcomes/health consequences among migrants in Denmark

The main purpose of the project is to examine whether disparities in incidence of long COVID-19 diagnosis, symptoms, severity and healthcare utilisation exist between migrants/ethnic minorities relative to Danish-born individuals of Danish-born parents. The study is based on data from nationwide registers, clinical data and qualitative interviews among patients who either tested positive for COVID-19 and/or hospitalized due to COVID-19 from 2020 onwards in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. Contact persons: Marie Louise Nørredam, George Frederick Mkoma, and Maria Ingeborg Goldschmidt

The significance of asylum seekers’ characteristics and health upon arrival

This project explores how the personal history and health of asylum seekers right upon arrival to Denmark are associated with the outcome of asylum decisions and with the educational outcomes, language acquisition, labor market participation, and health of those children and adults that obtain the refugee status. Contact person: Camila Hvidtfedt at Rockwool foundation and Maria Marti Castaner 

Addressing Postpartum Depression in Refugees: Impact on Infants and the Role of Home Visiting Programs (REFUDEPRE)

This project takes a mixed-methods approach to understand the burden of postpartum depression on refugee women and their offspring and to explore the role of nurse home visiting programs to support the mental health of refugee women after giving birth. Contact person: Maria Marti Castaner 

Mobility and continuity of chronic disease care amongst forcibly displaced persons (CONTINUITY)

CONTINUITY seeks to develop an understanding of the intersections between mobility, community support and (dis)continuity of cardiometabolic disease care amongst South Sudanese refugees in South Sudan or Uganda. Contact person: Morten Skovdal

Communication skills for students of vocational Schools for Medical Professions: Design thinking for participatory medicine (DesignCARE)

The aim of the project is to promote communication skills, diversity competence and ethical principles among students and their teachers in secondary and post-secondary medical vocational schools in Croatia and Romania. In order to achieve this, a novel curriculum and online course will be developed for students and teachers. Contact person: Janne Sørensen, jans@sund.ku.dk 

OPEN

The “OPEN” project brings together an international and intersectoral consortium of patient innovators, clinicians, social scientists, computer scientists, and patient advocacy organizations in order to investigate various aspects of Do-it-Yourself Artificial Pancreas Systems (DIYAPS) that are used by an increasing number of people with diabetes. Contact person: Henriette Langstrup

Brain and Technology Clinical Academic Group

The CAG Brain and Technology (BAT CAG) aims to improve diagnostics, monitoring and treatment of patients suffering from neurological disorders using digital technologies close to the patient (eDevices) and to ensure their sustainable implementation, The BAT CAG aims to strengthen research across medical specialties and the social and technical sciences. Contact person: Henriette Langstrup

Digitization of pathology departments work practices in Denmark

This project explores the nuances and complexity of the imaging and data-intensive technology, what is known as digital pathology, in diagnostic and knowledge practices regarding cancer diseases. In this ethnographic study, I draw from science and technology studies (STS) perspectives to inquire about the implications of this technology for pathology diagnostics, their collaboration with clinical settings, and ultimately patients.  Contact person: Olsi Kusta

The Datafication of the Clinic.

This project explores the datafication of the clinic: how data change diagnosis and clinical practice. As a medical doctor using STS, philosophy of science and evidence-based medicine, I investigate how core concepts in medicine are changing due to scientific and societal developments. I work primarily with analytical and qualitative methods. Contact person: Christoffer Bjerre Haase.

Mobility and continuity of chronic disease care amongst forcibly displaced persons (CONTINUITY)

CONTINUITY seeks to develop an understanding of the intersections between mobility, community support and (dis)continuity of cardiometabolic disease care amongst South Sudanese refugees in South Sudan or Uganda. Contact person: Morten Skovdal

Young People’s Climate Change Engagement in Tanzania (Y-ENGAGE)

Y-ENGAGE aims to generate understandings of the patterns of daily life that shape how young people experience, interpret and respond to climate change. The project is participatory and seeks to co-construct theories and practical models for engaging young people in locally relevant and empowering climate actions. Contact person: Morten Skovdal

PrEPping health services in Denmark

The projects provides a user perspective on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, helping HIV prevention service providers in Denmark tailor their delivery of PrEP. The project draws on participatory methods to explore and understand the views, experiences, and practices of people either on or considering PrEP. Contact person: Morten Skovdal

Stroke incidence, care and outcomes in immigrants to Denmark

The project investigates incidence of stroke and mortality, and access to stroke care (acute care, inhospital care and post-discharge care) among immigrants/ethnic minorities compared with Danish-born residents using nationwide register data. Contact persons: Marie Louise Nørredam and George Frederick Mkoma

COVID-19 long-term outcomes/health consequences among migrants in Denmark

The main purpose of the project is to examine whether disparities in incidence of long COVID-19 diagnosis, symptoms, severity and healthcare utilisation exist between migrants/ethnic minorities relative to Danish-born individuals of Danish-born parents. The study is based on data from nationwide registers, clinical data and qualitative interviews among patients who either tested positive for COVID-19 and/or hospitalized due to COVID-19 from 2020 onwards in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. Contact persons: Marie Louise Nørredam, George Frederick Mkoma, and Maria Ingeborg Goldschmidt

Addressing Postpartum Depression in Refugees: Impact on Infants and the Role of Home Visiting Programs (REFUDEPRE)

This project takes a mixed-methods approach to understand the burden of postpartum depression on refugee women and their offspring and to explore the role of nurse home visiting programs to support the mental health of refugee women after giving birth. Contact person: Maria Marti Castaner 

Lighthouse Life Science

This project explores how to improve public-private innovation (PPI) focusing on solving societal challenges in public health under the Lighthouse Life Science initiative. Using stakeholder analysis and comprehensive, interdisciplinary approaches, the project identifies strategies for sustainable and impactful partnerships, thereby providing the evidence basis for future PPI. Contact person: Maria Kristiansen, Abirami Srivarathan, and Andrea Nedergaard Jensen.

mHealth coaching intervention to prevent overweight, obesity and diabetes in high-risk women

The Bump2Baby project is a multi-centre project designed to demonstrate the real-world implementation of an evidence-based, effective system of care for prevention of diabetes, overweight, and obesity. It involves a randomised controlled trial of an mHealth support programme for women at high risk of GDM. The project is funded by EU Horizon 2020 Framework Programme until 2024. Contact person: Karsten Vrangbæk

Video consultations in specialists’ practice

This research project examines the use of video consultations in medical specialists’ practice with a focus on how specialist doctors and patients experience video consultations and how video consultations affect care and the doctor-patient relationship. The study is based on participant observation of video consultations, interviews with specialists and patients and survey among specialists. Contact persons: Signe Smith Jervelund, Anja Bornø Jensen and Anne Sofie Børsch

Improving equity in access to early diagnosis of cancer: implementation research in different healthcare systems of Latin America (EquityCancer-LA)

This EU-funded project takes a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the contextual effectiveness of the implementation, with a participatory approach, of a multi-component integrated care intervention in improving early diagnosis of cancer in public health service networks in Chile, Colombia and Ecuador. Contact person: Signe Smith Jervelund

Development and validation of a stratification tool for identifying older patients with multimorbidity in need of extended coordination across sectors.

With the overall aim to improve coordinated care for frail older multi-morbid patients, the objective of this project is to develop and validate a co-created stratification tool to assess patients with multimorbidity eligible for cross-sectorial video meetings to increase patient safety, quality of care, care satisfaction and quality of life. Contact persons: Jon Christensen, Anne Frølich and Signe Smith Jervelund