Mette Nordahl Svendsen

CV

Education

2004: PhD in anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.

1996: Msc in anthropology (Cand.scient.anth.), Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.

Prizes and awards

2017 Semper Ardens Distinction by the Carlsberg Foundation

2015 Steven Polgar Professional Paper Prize by the Society for Medical Anthropology for the best article in the journal Medical Anthropology Quarterly

2013 Sapere Aude distinction by the Danish Research Council for Independent Research for the research project “A Life Worth Living: Negotiating Worth in Human and Animal”

2012 Cultural Horizons Prize 2012 by the Society for Cultural Anthropology for the best article in the journal Cultural Anthropology in 2011. 

Current position

Professor and director of the Public Health Study Program, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

Professional Experience

2008-2017 Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen

2005-2008 Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

2004-2005 Project Manager, The Danish Institute of Health Services Research (DSI) (one maternity leave in the period).

1999-2004 PhD student, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen (two maternity leaves in the period).

1998 Research assistant, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

Research stay abroad

2015: Department of Anthropology, University of Santa Cruz

2002:  Department of Sociology, University of Lancaster, England.

1994: Fieldwork in Bucharest, Romania.

1992-1993: Erasmus student, Oxford Brookes University, UK.

Primære forskningsområder

Hvad vil det sige at være menneske?
Hvordan afgrænses og forstås det personlige?

Disse spørgsmål står centralt i min forskning om de etiske og sociale aspekter af ny medicinsk teknologi og videnskab.

Jeg undersøger, hvordan ”det personlige” forstås, når genundersøgelser bliver et led i at skræddersy diagnostik og forebyggelse til det enkelte individ, og hvordan leveværd forhandles, når mennesker står på kanten af livet.

Jeg er særlig optaget af, hvordan medicinsk teknologi og videnskab former relationen mellem individ og velfærdsstat.

Min forskning tager udgangspunkt i kvalitative studier, i hvilket det antropologiske feltarbejde står centralt.

Læs mere om min forskning her:

http://sund.ku.dk/nyheder/2017/09/antropologen-der-undersoeger-etikken-i-brugen-af-personlig-medicin/

http://meinwe.ku.dk

Aktuel forskning

“Personalized Medicine in the Welfare State”, Semper Ardens-bevilling Carlsbergfondet

”A Life Worth Living: Negotiating Worthiness in Human and Animal”, Sapere Aude-bevilling fra Det Frie Forskningsråd.

”Liv på grænsen. Gris og menneske i forskning, klinik og offentlighed”, bevilling fra Forskningsrådet for kultur og kommunikation.

Funktioner

Studieleder for Master of Public Health
Fagleder for kurser i kvalitativ metode MPH-uddannelserne.