Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
The importance of electoral democracy for the
creation of welfare state politics in Sweden and Canada. To
what extent can citizens actually change their everyday life
through the formal processes of democratic representation?
Project:
Elin Naurin
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
University of Gothenburg
Host University:
McGill University, Montreal,
Quebec
Abstract: Democratic welfare states aim at making a difference in
everyday lives of citizens. An important challenge for social scientists is
to figure out in what situations welfare state policies actually succeed in
achieving such effects on individuals’ personal situations. This project
focus on what is often perceived as the most important source of
legitimacy when welfare state policies are designed, namely the public
will. More specifically, it centres on the theoretically crucial relationship
between electoral democracy and citizens’ everyday life: To what extent
can citizens affect their everyday life through the formal channels of
democratic representation? The empirical analyses of the project will
be concentrated to two countries where welfare state politics is often
perceived to have consequences in citizens’ everyday lives, namely
Sweden and Canada. Both these countries have, in a comparative
perspective, long traditions of focusing on welfare state issues.
Career plan: To establish myself as a scholar highly skilled on
normative and empirical research about the relationship between
citizens and representatives. In October 2009, I defended my dissertation
Promising Democracy which sheds light on what I call the Pledge Puzzle:
Why are citizens so convinced that parties usually break their election
promises, while scholars tend to claim the opposite – that parties mostly
fulfill their election promises? At present I am the project manager of
the Multidisciplinary Opinion and Democracy Research Group at the
University of Gothenburg and I leave for Montreal to collaborate with
the Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship at McGill University.
I very much look forward to be able to make use of both these two
highly skilled research environments. Furthermore, I am one of three
initiators and coordinators of the Comparative Party Pledges Group
(CPPG) which has been able to finance new research on election pledges
in several different countries. The Marie Curie stipend will enable me to
fully focus on my research, something that I value tremendously. I will
allow myself to take time to elaborate a theoretical framework that I
have longed to focus on. My empirical analysis will be elaborated from
my earlier work on opinion formation and party behaviour, which is
described in for example my book Election Promises, Party Behaviour
and Voter Perceptions (Palgrave 2011).
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Child victimization: Epidemiological studies
about trends and new behaviors in internet-related abuse,
re-victimization-patterns and co-occurrence of different types
of violence
Project:
Gisela Priebe
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Lund University, Dept. of
Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry
www.lu.se
Host University:
University of New Hampshire,
Department of Sociology,
USA
www.unh.edu
Abstract: The Internet is an integrated part of young people’s daily life.
New behaviors related to Internet use emerge frequently and some of
them might be harmful to those who are engaged in it. Some examples
are online bullying and so called sexting (youth using new technologies
such as cell phones in order to create and distribute sexually explicit
images of themselves and /or peers). Previous research has shown that
youth who have experienced internet-related victimization often have
been exposed to offline victimization, too. Offline victimization may include sexual or physical abuse, bullying at school or witnessing of family
violence. Many of those who have experienced one type of offline victimization have experienced other types of victimization as well, so called
poly-victimization.
It is important to track changes in youth behavior and exposure to
victimization in recurrent research studies in order to inform prevention,
treatment and support efforts about trends and new behaviors. I collaborate with the researchers at The Crimes against Children Research
Center in two of their current studies, The National Study of Internet
and Technology-Facilitated Risks to Youth (YISS-3) and The National
Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (Nat SCEV-2). The data are
based on telephone surveys of children, youths and their caretakers. As
the studies follow up previous surveys, investigation of trends and new
developments are possible. Similar recurrent studies have not been carried out in Sweden yet. I will 1) analyze trends in the number and types
of threats youth encounter using Internet, 2) assess risks to youth of new
behaviors related to Internet, including youth creating and distributing
sexual images of themselves and/or peers, and 3) analyze re-victimization
patterns and specify how different forms of violence exposure “cluster”
or co-occur.
Career plan: I have been working as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist before I started a second career as a researcher. I received
a PhD at Lund University in 2009 and have been involved in several
epidemiological population-based studies about youth sexuality, sexual
abuse and sexual exploitation. Some months ago, I came to the United
States as a COFAS fellow. Coming from a small research group in Sweden, I can already say that it is an invaluable experience to collaborate
with Prof. D. Finkelhor and his research group at The Crimes against
Children Research Center (CCRC). At the CCRC, I work together with
sociologists, social workers, psychologists and researchers from other
disciplines. After having returned to Sweden, I want to establish my own
research group and develop new ways for multidisciplinary research and
education that is relevant for practice and that contributes to the prevention of child victimization as well as to the development and evaluation
of programs for treatment and support.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Uncertainties and Ethical Dilemmas in Translational
Research: North American and Swedish Stakeholders’
Experience of Initiation and Design of Phase 1 Trials
Project:
Hannah Grankvist
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Linköping University
Department of Thematic
Studies – Technology and
social change
SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden
Host University:
McGill University,
Biomedical Ethics Unit
3647 Peel St., Montreal, QC
H3A 1X1, Canada
Abstract: Introducing novel interventions into clinical testing presents
numerous technical, social, and ethical challenges. Phase 1 trials of novel
agents lack established frameworks, like clinical equipoise, for guiding
decisions surrounding their initiation and conduct. Consequently, such
studies present two recurrent questions that present ethical challenges:
when should human trials be initiated, and how should they be designed?
The main aim of our research project is to provide a grounded
description of how various stakeholders negotiate uncertainties
surrounding initiation and design of phase 1 trials, in order to increase
knowledge about decision-making in translational medical research.
Key issues to be explored include how preclinical researchers, clinical
investigator and research sponsors, in two translational medical areas
(North America and Sweden), negotiate scientific and ethical issues
in designing phase 1 trials and justify the initiation of these trials in
the face of uncertainty about risks to participants. The project also
examine the extent to which investigator confidence of the potential
for translational success plays a role in trial initiation. By undertaking
the research within two areas of research – fetal tissue transplantation
for Parkinson’s disease, a highly contentious research area, and drug
development in the cancer arena, which contains less contended
applications – both contested and uncontested areas of research are
investigated. By examining both contested and uncontested areas of
research the goal is to contribute to gaps in knowledge about the affect
of science controversy on how various stakeholders negotiate the ethical
and translational issues surrounding the design and initiation of first-inhuman-trials.
Career plan: The project aims at resulting in at least three articles in
peer-reviewed journals as well as being actively disseminated to key
figures through conferences, workshops and seminar presentations.
To maximize impact, publications will be sought in two different venues:
1) high-impact venues reaching researchers and policymakers, and,
2) journals reaching translational researchers.
The main goal whit this COFAS fellowship is to position myself
for an academic position and to establish myself as an independent
researcher. The achievements of my goal in connection with my academic
background, will constitute a valuable asset both in regard to being
competitive when applying for an academic position at a University and
in future applications for research funding.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
How do social status and gender matter for health
when dealing with high work-related demands?
Project:
Helena
Falkenberg
Email:
[email protected]
Home University:
Stockholm University
Host University:
University College
London
Abstract: That social status has a large impact of individuals’ health
is something that for example epidemiologists and sociologists have
recognized in decades. In this post-doctoral project gender is seen as
a status characteristic. In work and organizational psychology the
research about these factors is much more limited. Although social status
and gender are factors that generally have a fundamental influence on
individuals’ life they may be especially important when individuals have
to mobilize resources to meet high demands. It is possible to argue that
employees with high social status would be in a better position to handle
high work-related demands since they have more resources, such as
access to information, control over the work situation and influence over
decision-making, than employees on a lower level. Demands that are
controllable are not likely to be associated with ill-health. On the other
hand, the demands for employees on high positions could be so high that
the resources they access are not enough to outweigh the negative effects
of the high demands.
The general aim with this project is to investigate how social status
and gender matter when employees are challenged with three specific
work-related demands. These demands are organizational changes,
work-family conflict and illegitimate tasks, and are a significant part
of the contemporary working life. An increased understanding of the
implications of social status and gender for these demands would both
mean a contribution to the scientific knowledge of social status and
gender in working life, but the knowledge could also be used to identify
groups that are more vulnerable to work-related demands, and hence a
possibility to direct resources to where they are most needed.
Career plan: A conclusion from the thesis that I defended in April
2010 was that social status was important to consider in order to
understand the consequences of organizational changes. I therefore
wanted to continue to investigate these issues in a broader context. A
first step in this direction was when I got the opportunity to spend the
autumn 2011 in the Whitehall II-group at University College London.
During the stay I started to collaborate with several researchers in the
Whitehall II-group and my further stay in this research group will make
it possible to maintain and develop collaborations with scientists from
different research fields and different countries that all share a common
research interest in social status. During the post-doctoral programme I
plan to further develop my statistical knowledge, especially longitudinal
analysis, and to use large databases. I will also continue to develop
skills in writing publications together with researchers from different
disciplines and to communicate research results.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Exploring malaria negative fevers in childhood, focusing on aetiology and progression of pneumonia symptoms
Project:
Helena Hildenwall
E-mail:
[email protected].
Home University:
Karolinska Institute,
Dept Public Health Sciences,
Div Global Health
www.ki.se
Host University:
London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine,
United Kingdom and
Kilimanjaro Christian
Medical Centre, Joint Malaria
Programme, Tanzania
www.lshtm.ac.uk/
www.kcmc.ac.tz
Abstract: Up to one in five children in sub-Saharan Africa does not survive to its fifth birthday and much of this mortality is due to treatable illnesses, particularly malaria and pneumonia. Recent reductions in malaria
transmission increases the risk that other causes of fever, such as pneumonia, are incorrectly treated as malaria. Increased cost of antimalarial
treatment and availability of low-cost rapid diagnostic tests for malaria
(mRDTs) have led to a change in guidelines for malaria management and
it is now recommended to restrict antimalarial drugs to those with parasitological evidence of malaria wherever possible. This important policy
change results in a reduced number of patients being diagnosed and
treated for malaria and there is a need to develop guidelines for improved
management of febrile patients with a negative malaria test.
In contrast to antimalarials, antibiotic treatment is still presumptively given to any child with clinical symptoms of pneumonia, and the
aetiology of disease remains unknown in most cases. Few studies have
explored antimicrobial resistance but some reports present alarming
degrees of therapeutic limitations of first-line antibiotics against common
pneumonia-causing bacteria, leading into use of more expensive first line
antibiotics. This increases the need for improved diagnostics, through
clinical or biomedical markers, in order to limit costs in already burdened health budgets.
The aim is to present alternative microbiological causes of acute
febrile illness in children with a negative rapid diagnostic test for malaria
and to identify predictors/point of the care tests (POC) that are capable
of identifying bacterial illness and that can be easily used in resourcepoor settings. The results will inform policies on first-line treatment of
pneumonia and ideally also present predictors capable of identifying
children at risk of developing severe illness.
Career plan: Medical School with degree in 2007. PhD in Global
Health at Karolinska Institutet, January 2009, thesis title “Beyond fever
– Managing children with pneumonia symptoms in malaria endemic
Uganda”. My PhD studies were done partly at the Paediatric Acute Care
Unit at the main referral hospital in Kampala, and partly in the Iganga/
Mayuge Demographic Surveillance Site (DSS) in eastern Uganda. Experience from both qualitative and quantitative studies and analysis and
field work experience from Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. Since January 2011 I am a COFAS post doctoral fellow at Joint Malaria Programme
and live with my family in Tanga, Tanzania. The study I am working on
is at a semi-rural district hospital and I am working with a very experienced team while have previously done several clinical-based studies in
low-income countries. I expect the research I am doing here to make me
better prepared not only for future research projects but also for the next
step in my clinical career to become a specialist.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
EPIOMICS, a model for combining epidemiological
and molecular research with application to the disease
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Project:
Henrik Källberg
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Karolinska Institute, The
Institute of Environmental
Medicine (IMM)
www.ki.se
Host University:
Harvard Medical School,
Boston, USA
www.harvard.edu
Abstract: Traditional public health research on risk factors for developing common diseases such as cancers and cardiovascular diseases have
focused solely on environmental factors without information on genetic
factors. On the other hand, most of the research on genetic factors has
not considered the impact of environmental factors. Many common
diseases are however considered to be caused by both environmental and
genetic risk factors acting together as well as by themselves. Recent progresses in the development of methods for analysing genes have led to an
explosion of data. Unfortunately new methods and algorithms for data
processing and data analysis regarding large amounts of data have not
progressed with the same speed as the molecular methods used and still
environmental and genetic information is often considered separately.
This project aims to develop algorithms for processing and analysing
large amounts of data regarding environmental-molecular factors and to
use these algorithms for processing and analysing data regarding one of
the most common arthritic diseases called Rheumatoid Arthritis. In this
environmental-genetic context different definitions of gene-environmental
interaction and synergism will be considered as well as different subtypes
of Rheumatoid Arthritis. The algorithms will be used for analysing data
from the EIRA (Epidemiological Investigation of Rheumatoid Arthritis)
study in which more than 4000 cases and controls have been analyzed
for more than 300000 genetic markers. Cases and controls have answered a questionnaire regarding environmental exposures such as smoking.
We also plan to replicate potential findings in studies carried out in the
US on Rheumatoid Arthritis. We also plan to develop a visualisation tool
for visualisation of combinations of risk factors for different diseases
and disorders. In conclusion, this project is important for future public
health research due to the combination of epidemiological and molecular
research.
Career plan: Being one of the lucky few with the opportunity to get
finance through COFAS made it possible to spend my time as a Post Doc
at Harvard Medical School and Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.
This made it possible for me to meet many of the top researchers in the
field of Genomics and epidemiology and make contacts that will make
future collaborations possible. It also made me aware of how important
it is to have strong computational resources in order to produce high
quality research and that we need similar resources in Sweden. We are
now trying to set up a group of computational researchers with the ability to tackle computational problems related to combining public health
information with molecular data. In conclusion, I believe that my Post
Doc experience funded through COFAS was very useful for me and for
others as well.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
What moves health providers to incorporate intimate
partner violence management within their daily practice? A
gender-sensitive realistic evaluation of primary level health
facilities in Spain
Project:
Isabel Goicela
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Umeå University
Host University:
Umeå University,
Epidemiology and Global
Health Unit- Department of
Public Health and Clinical
Medicine
Abstract: Despite intimate partner violence (IPV) has been recognized
as a public health problem, the actual integration of the prevention and
management of IPV within health services remains a challenge. Laws,
plans, and protocols exist, but many providers remain unsympathetic or
feel unprepared to deal with IPV. Where integration has been carried out
impact evaluations are ongoing; however, realistic evaluations exploring
the mechanisms behind the success or failure of such interventions are
lacking.
This research project aims to explore why and how certain providers
choose to get involved in the fight against IPV in their daily practices
in primary level health facilities in Spain, where policies have been
passed and strong efforts have been done to implement them within the
national health system. An evaluation methodology has been chosen to
elucidate which are the mechanisms that move certain health facilities
and providers to assume this challenge. In coordination with national
researchers and decisions makers, selected primary level health facilities
that have successfully integrated the detection and management of
IPV will be in-depth explored using observation and interviews. These
first-hand qualitative data will be combined with the review of existing
information to ascertain the contextual factors and inner mechanisms
behind the success of existing intervention in the selected facilities.
It is expected that results will illuminate efforts to integrate the
detection and management of IPV within health facilities, thereby
become an opportunity to further develop the methodology of realistic
evaluation by critically assessing it from a gender perspective.
Career plan: I completed a PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health
in 2009 (Umea University), with a thesis that explored adolescent
pregnancies in Ecuador’s rainforest. I broadened my research interests
to include gender, masculinities and how health systems address young
people’s health needs. The exploration of these topics confirmed the
strong links between intimate partner violence (IPV), gender and health,
and motivated my COFAS research project, which aims to explore
in depth how health services in Spain are managing IPV. During this
research project I will be part of a multidisciplinary team composed of
researchers from Spain and Sweden with expertise in the fields of IPV,
gender issues, and public health. During the first two years I will focus
on developing competencies and skills in researching IPV and health
services in Spain, under the mentorship of the department of Community
Nursing, Preventive Medicine and Public Health of the University of
Alicante, and building on its expertise and leading position on IPV
research in Spain.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Civic participation in late modern society – the case
of volunteering in hybrid organisations
Project:
Johan von Essen
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Ersta Sköndal University
College
Host University:
University of Ghent
Abstract: The purpose of this project is to open up and contribute to
a research agenda dealing with the meaning of civic participation in
late modern society. The project consists of a study of volunteering in
hybrid organisations. Overall questions are: What characterize hybrid
organisations as volunteer settings and what meaning do volunteers in
hybrid organisations attribute to their efforts? Volunteering is carried out in civil society organisations that foster
civility and produce welfare service. When they become influenced by
principles belonging in other spheres or when civil society principles are
adopted by organisations in other spheres so that defining characteristics
are altered organisations becoming hybridized. The quest is for new
forms of volunteering, re-embedded in hybrid organisations, and how
the interplay between individuals and the society is perceived from that
perspective.
To alleviate the lack of comparative discussions on late modern
volunteering across different welfare regimes, the project is a part of
an international research network. It is aiming to develop a common
theoretical and conceptual framework of volunteering in hybrid settings
to make comparisons possible.
Theoretically, the project’s point of departure is the relationships
between institutional structures and the perceptions and values that
guide actors. Therefore, the project will take studies in worldviews
as one of its theoretical and methodological approaches and will
investigate individuals’ interpretations of reality and how these are
shaped as contextually dependent schemata. The project will take
a phenomenological perspective and involve: The Stockholm police
department, Stockholms Stadsmission, a corporation using corporate
volunteers and a local sports club for children and youth.
Career plan: My goal with the COFAS outgoing post doc and
the position in University in Ghent is to deepening my international
networks with researchers in Europe and the US to be able to do
comparative studies between Sweden, other European countries and the
US. These resources will allow me to join and/or initiate research projects
including cross-national collaborations. My plan is to publish at least
two articles in A rated international journals, edit one anthology and
write two chapters or more in domestic anthologies. After my COFAS
position I will write a monograph based on my research. The project
will make me an assistant professor and from that position I will be
competitive for positions in domestic and international Universities.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Project:
Business as usual? SKF and Metall in South Africa
1967–2007
Jonas Sjölander
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Linnæus University, School
of Humanities, History
www.lnu.se
Host University:
Rhodes University,
Department of History,
South Africa
www.ru.ac.za
Abstract: The project concerns parts of the Swedish South Africa Policy
during the period 1967 to 2007. Focus is directed on The Swedish Metal
Workers Union (Metall), and its South African sister unions towards,
apartheid and disinvestment. The activities of the Swedish multinational
SKF (ball bearings) are examined. Work- and union conditions during
and after the liberation from Apartheid are studied in depth. Interviews
with former workers and unionists in South Africa are one of the main
sources in the study. Some of the interviews have been done in the township Kwanobuhle outside “Africa’s Detroit”, Uitenhage, where many of
the unemployed SKF-workers live. The attitude to economic sanctions
against South Africa constituted a crucial frontier in the debate about
Swedish attitudes to the apartheid system. In Sweden there was popular
support for disinvestment and sanctions against South Africa during the
1980s. Metall preferred anyhow to support the black and non racial
trade unions through direct links rather than unreservedly joining the
Anti-Apartheid international campaign for total disinvestment. Metall
found it hard to accept that SKF was denied small but necessary reinvestments in machinery when SKF’s giant neighbour, Volkswagen made a
huge direct investment in building a new painting unit. The German investment occurred without protest or discussion. The different positions
concerning the Swedish South Africa policy are of central importance in
the survey. The study relates to and corresponds with perspectives and
analytical concepts that have been developed within newer research on
international labour and solidarity. As well economic and trade union
power relationships, as coinciding and antagonistic interests average
workers and companies are studied. My research also contains discussions on social movement unionism, and conflicting perspectives between
traditional trade unions and the anti-apartheid movement in Sweden
and South Africa. The crucial role of organized trade union movement,
nationally and internationally, in the successful struggle against apartheid
is one main result that I already now would like to emphasize.
Career plan: I’m a Marie Curie fellow at Rhodes University in South
Africa (2010-2012). It has been a fantastic experience to be here so far.
Many interviews have been done and the archives are very useful to me.
I have had one seminar at Rhodes and one article has been published in
the South African Labour Bulletin. I’m planning to get another article published in an international publication for Social History during 2011. The
final results of the project will be published in a book by the end of 2012.
This is the first time someone from Sweden has been in contact with
the SKF workers in Uitenhage since the factory was closed down in June
2007. Many of them are very interested in telling their story and to give
their opinion on for example the question of disinvestment and sanctions
during the days of apartheid. The fellowship has made it possible for
me to continue the research approach that I was developing in my PhD
thesis. Now I have been given the opportunity to give new perspectives
on those issues.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Libertarian Paternalism and the Moral Limits of
Public Health Policy
Project:
Kalle Grill
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Research Institute for Law,
Politics and Justice,
Uppsala University
www.uu.se
Host University:
Keele University, Centre for
Law, Ethics, and Society,
United Kingdom
www.keele.ac.uk
Abstract: The concept of Libertarian Paternalism was introduced in a
2003 article by the behavioural economist Richard Thaler and the legal
scholar Cass Sunstein. In 2008 the same scholars published a much noted
book-length defence of their approach. The core idea is to combine the
best of libertarianism with the best of paternalism, preserving freedom of
choice while designing choice situations so as to promote wise choices.
In a parallel development, public health ethics is finding its place as
an independent area of research. One of the central areas of debate is the
strong commitment to individual autonomy in contemporary medical
ethics and how and if that commitment applies to the public health setting.
This project aims to investigate to what extent libertarian paternalism
can help public health find a balance between the values of liberty and
health. To this purpose, libertarian paternalism will be placed within the
larger context of various liberal objections to public health policy. Based
on that contextualisation, several recent challenges to libertarian paternalism will be evaluated. It will be argued that libertarian paternalism
must distance itself from traditional, principled libertarianism. These arguments will pave the way for a constructive proposal for a new strategy
for public health work, based on the distinction between the background
living environment and foreground manipulation of choice. The theoretical arguments, and especially the proposed strategy, will be applied in an
ethical analysis of actual public health programs.
About me and this project: I have a PhD in Philosophy from the
Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, 2009. I have taught various
courses in ethics and published academic articles (most single authored)
in Journal of Medical Ethics, Res Publica, Public Health Ethics and Public Reason, in addition to book chapters, encyclopaedia entries, reviews
and popular articles. Between finishing my dissertation and starting the
project in January of 2011, I was unemployed for a few months, on parental leave for almost a year, and worked as Lecturer in Practical philosophy at Uppsala University for one semester (while also working with a
government investigation of faulty state welfare payments). The COFAS
fellowship is giving me time to establish sound research routines in a supportive environment, while having ample time for research and publication. Working at a medium sized university in the central UK means I
have the stimulus of esteemed colleagues and most larger universities
within 2 hours travel time, while standing out as the only visiting fellow
at the centre and only one of 12 this year at the university generally.
Thanks to the generous mobility allowance (and the good exchange rate
and the reasonable housing prices this far from London), my wife and
one-year-old son can live comfortably though she has no work here.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Project:
The role of the brain in chronic low back pain
Abstract: Chronic low back pain (cLBP) represents one of the most
common reasons for seeking health care and the disability leads to major
suffering and staggering health care costs for society. In parallell to other
musceloskeletal pain problems, most cLBP patients suffer from their
symptoms in absence of any detectable physical damage and there is
growing evidence that the symptoms are caused by dysfunctions within
the central nervous system. Neuroimaging tools can contribute to the
investigation of brain function in cLBP. The present project will use two
novel approaches for fast and non-invasive assessments of clinical pain:
Karin Jensen
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Karolinska Institute, Department of Clinical Neuroscience
www.ki.se
Host University:
Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital
Laboratory for Neuroimaging
Applications to Pain, Acupuncture & Placebo Research, USA
www.massgeneral.org
1. Arterial Spin Labeling: a completely non-invasive application to
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), offering a unique possibility to
measure the brain activity during clinical pain in cLBP.
2. Default Mode Network connectivity: an MRI method for investigating the resting brain; i.e. when it is not actively engaged in a special
task. The presence of chronic pain affects the entire brain and there
are studies indicating altered intrinsic brain function in cLBP. Investigating the brain during rest will provide crucial understanding of the
processes responsible for the general reorganisation of brain function
in cLBP.
The short-term goal for the proposed project is to find biomarkers for
cLBP through a fast, accessible and non-invasive methodology. The longterm goal is to provide biomarkers for development of effective treatments for cLBP and other centrally mediated pain conditions.
Career goals: My line of research has focused on the role of the brain
in pain processing. My aim is to deepen the understanding of the brain
processes involved in the initiation and maintenance of chronic pain and
to search for biomarkers that can lead to development of effective treatment. During my doctoral studies, I investigated the brain’s response to
experimentally induced pain, a method that led to new insights about
dysfunctional pain processing in chronic pain. In order to increase the
understanding of the brain’s role in pain pathology, my current post-doc
position will provide the methods for investigating the brain response to
naturally occurring pain in cLBP. Custom-made techniques for provoking
back pain will be used during neuroimaging and state-of-the-art methods
for functional MRI will allow for measurement of the intrinsic brain
function in cLBP. My future goal is to establish an independent research
group that uses the latest innovations in neuroimaging in order to develop better understanding and treatment of patients with chronic pain.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
What is private, what is public and what is
professional? – Work life relations between leaders and led
through web 2.0
Project:
Lena Lid Falkman
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Stockholm School of
Economics, Sweden
Host University:
ESADE Business School,
Ramon Llull University,
Barcelona, Spain
Abstract: Is it ok to blog about your work place? Should you add your
boss as a friend on Facebook?
Social media takes up a large part of many people’s life, for example
by interaction on Internet-based social networks like LinkedIn and
Facebook. This involvement has been described as an unused resource
in society. For example, it is claimed that social media can be used
in education or in public relations purpose, or to give a comparative
advantage to work places. Social media is of course also a way to
socialize. What is then the impact of this development on work life?
The aim of this research project is to contribute to knowledge on
leaders and managers work life. Specifically the effect of technological
development in, and use of social media on the process of leadership; on
the relationship by leaders and led.
This will be performed with a combination of quantitative and
qualitative methodology with a multi-disciplinary approach combining
information technology, leadership theory with theories from the area of
communication and rhetoric. The empirical material will be case studies
on managers in Spain and Sweden.
The expected contribution of the project is to develop theory by
testing hypothesis of value-based leadership theories, such as charisma
with concepts as integrity and authenticity. The hypothesis will take
stand in contemporary research results such as the GLOBE study and the
scholarly area nature of managerial work.
Further, the understanding of concepts such as private, professional
and public will be analyzed, to see how online interaction effect
boundaries between private and work life. With qualitative in-depth
studies, the project is also expected to contribute to understanding of the
impact of social media on the work life of today. Lastly, the project aims
at finding strategies and solutions for leaders and managers on how to
handle social media as a part of their public and private life.
Career plan: I have three scholarly goals in my career and in COFAS;
Firstly; develop and deepen my multi-disciplinary approach, specifically
combining leadership and management studies with the area of
communication and rhetoric. Secondly; increasing my theory creation
skills. Thirdly; practicing skills in performing both qualitative and
quantitative methods.
ESADE is chosen as host institution since they have research in the
expertise area; combining leadership and rhetoric. For example is ESADE
the home of the network and conferences of RNMR – Rhetoric and
Narratives in Management Research. Another important objective is to
increase and practice my ability to translate research into the handicraft
of leadership.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Contested Boundaries. An ethnographic study of
activist practices for the inclusion of excluded migrants in
Sweden, Denmark and the UK
Project:
Maja Sager
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Lund University, Sweden
Host University:
Lancaster University, UK
Abstract: The purpose of the study is to contribute to theoretical
debates on citizenship, rights, migration and national/local belonging
through a qualitative comparative analysis of the role of civil society
in relation to repressive and exclusionary migration regimes. Based
on ethnographic material gathered through a participatory study with
networks and groups organizing for migrants’ rights in cities in Sweden,
Denmark and the UK questions related to rights, inclusion and belonging
will be discussed.
Through challenging and renegotiating the boundaries of inclusion/
exclusion drawn by migration policies, these networks and groups could
be described as yet another node in the complex and contradictory web
of European migration regime/s. This will be accomplished through
the construction of alternative routes towards inclusion and welfare
access. Further, the study aims to contextualize activist practices in the
similarities and differences between the research sites, on a national
level, in terms of welfare, migration and gender regimes, and on a local
level, in terms of approaches to integration and processes of inclusion/
exclusion.
The central research questions are: which are the practices at the
level of civil society aiming to provide support and welfare access for
undocumented migrants? How are belonging and community directly or
indirectly conceptualized through these practices?
The material will be gathered through ethnographic fieldwork in
Malmö, Sweden; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Manchester, the UK. I
understand collective processes of social organizing as central sites of
knowledge production and take a feminist epistemological approach
to knowledge as being situated and partial. In the field I will draw on
experiences from my own activist work within the field of migration
rights to conduct participatory observation along with more traditional
in-depth interviews and data gathering.
Career plan: I will spend the first two years of the project period
at Lancaster University, that provides an inspiring interdisciplinary
environment and I will be able to develop my research in the context
of several relevant research groups, with the Centre for Gender and
Women’s Studies (CGWS) and the Centre for Mobilities Research
(CeMoRe) being the most central ones with long standing traditions of
interdisciplinary work on gender, ethnicity, social inclusion and social
policy in the case of CGWS and migration and mobility in the case of
CeMoRe.
The last year of the project will take place at Lund University, Centre
for Gender Studies. That will give access to the academic networks I
might need, to re-establish in the Swedish academic context after the
years abroad.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
What cognitive skills and compensatory strategies
are used by children with cochlear implants and children
with dyslexia?
Project:
Malin Wass
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Linköping University, Department of Behavioural Sciences
and Learning – IBL,
Host University:
ARC Centre of Excellence in
Cognition and its Disorders,
Macquarie University, Sydney,
Australia, and Linnaeus Centre
HEAD, Linkoping University
Abstract: Phonological skills and phonological representations
are generally considered to be important prerequisites for reading
development. Two groups of children, those who have profound hearing
impairments/deafness and wear cochlear implants (CI), and children with
dyslexia, both have poor phonological representations and skills. These
conditions make development of basic reading skills more difficult and
should be expected to have consequences also for later stages in reading
development where whole words are generally recognized quickly and
automatically. Previous research has reported that these children often
experience reading problems even as adolescents and adults, which may
have consequences for their everyday lives and careers. This project
aims to find out what cognitive skills and compensatory strategies are
necessary for these children to develop skilled reading. The cognitive
skills that will be investigated are working memory, lexical access,
phonological skills, and association between phonological and visual
information. Increased knowledge about how these populations acquire
skilled reading is very important in order to provide them with the best
support in terms of education and intervention programs.
Career plan: When I started my doctoral studies in 2003 very little
research had been performed in the field of cognition in children with
CI. A large part of my PhD work involved developing a computer-based
test battery to test working memory, lexical access and phonological
skills in this population. The results from these studies indicated that
children with CI generally have lower performance levels than hearing
controls on most cognitive tests and that they had specific problems with
phonological skills and phonological working memory. Despite that they
had relatively high reading skills. The results are intriguing and the aim
of my COFAS project is therefore to explore how these children learn
to read quickly and efficiently despite poorer capacity in the cognitive
domains which are considered prerequisites for reading development.
The development of reading skills and cognitive ability in these children
will be compared with another group of children, who also have poor
phonological skills, i.e. children with dyslexia.
COFAS provides a unique opportunity for me to perform this research
at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition its Disorders, Macquarie
University Australia. A stay at the ARC Centre will make me develop as
a researcher in both theoretical and methodological aspects. This project
involves data collection in both Sweden and Australia and will give me
important experience in coordinating a large research project at different
times and sites.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Development of social cognition in infancy:
Exploring the roots of spontaneous mentalizing abilities.
Project:
Marek Meristo
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
University of Gothenburg,
Department of Psychology
www.gu.se
Host University:
University of Trento, Center
for Mind/Brain Sciences,
Italy
www.unitn.it
Abstract: The aim of my Marie Curie postdoctoral project is to follow typically developing infants and deaf children on the development
of mentalizing abilities, i.e. the ability to understand the minds of other
people, how their behaviour is related to their beliefs and goals. Recently
a couple of international studies have reported that children at the age
of 13 to 15 months already possess a rudimentary ability to attribute
mental states to others when the tasks are administered completely
non-verbally using eye-tracking technology. To this date, these findings
have been replicated only in a few studies and it is too early to draw any
definitive conclusions about infants’ understanding of other minds. In
my postdoctoral research I will be studying the nature and roots of this
early understanding, how this early competence relates to children’s communicative and general cognitive development. Specifically, the effects of
mental state talk of parents and the children’s own language development
on children’s early mindreading competence will be studied. A further
aim is to investigate whether or not there are individual differences in
executive functioning skills that may account for the differences in early
mentalizing abilities. If successful, this project has potential to provide a
better basis for advancing our understanding of both typical and atypical
development of social cognition.
Career plan: I am working as researcher at the Department of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg since January 2008. My research
examines infants’ and children’s cognitive development, focusing on how
they learn about other people and how this is related to the development
of language and executive functioning skills. Of particular interest are
disabilities affecting language and communication, which includes studies
with deaf children who grow up with different language experiences.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Martin Eklund
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Karolinska Institutet
Host University:
University of California,
San Francisco
Reduced mortality of breast cancer by early detection
and personalized primary prevention
Project:
Abstract: 1 500 women die of breast cancer in Sweden each year. As
opposed to trying to cure breast cancer the vision of this project to try to
significantly reduce the number of women who die from breast cancer by
preventing the disease from occurring.
We know that lifestyle (e.g. exercise and obesity) and genetic
factors strongly influence the risk of developing breast cancer. But this
knowledge is not currently used in clinical practice. To change this and
ensure that new research results quicker can be used in the fight against
breast cancer, two pioneering project has been launched: KARMA in
Sweden and Athena in California. KARMA and Athena collect data on
lifestyle factors, blood, mammograms, and tissue samples from a total
of a quarter million Swedish and American women in order to better
predict which women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer.
This research project will use the data collected in KARMA and
Athena. Information on lifestyle and hereditary factors from individual
women will be combined in mathematical models. The models will be
able to predict the risk of a woman developing breast cancer and how
quickly the disease will develop. Today, all women are treated the same
way by the health care system, despite the fact that different women have
very different risk of developing breast cancer. Using predictions from
the mathematical models, we can instead tailor prevention programs to
each individual woman. The prevention programs will reduce the risk
of developing breast cancer and increase the chance of detecting the
disease as early as possible. By trying to reduce the number of women
dying from breast cancer through prevention rather than to try to find
more effective ways to cure the disease, research results can be used to
save lives in the health care system much faster (within five to ten years
instead of twenty to thirty years).
Career plan: After completing my COFAS postdoctoral training,
I will establish myself as an independent researcher with my own
research group. I will contact network acquired during my postdoc
to develop individualized strategies for breast cancer management by
exploiting the vast research potential in the bio banks and nationwide
registries available in Sweden, combined with high-throughput biological
techniques and novel statistical methodology. I will disseminate research
results outside the scientific community to increase the awareness of
breast cancer management in the general population and to affect health
care guidelines.
In ten years I want to be a professor of cancer epidemiology with
my own research group, be at the forefront of the fight against cancer
and take active part in international, multidisciplinary consortia to help
eradicate the disease.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Exploring smoking, alcohol consumption and other
cardiovascular risk factors among HIV infected individuals:
extending horizons, envisioning the future of the double
jeopardy in sub-Sahara Africa
Project:
Olalekan A. Uthman
Email:
[email protected]
Home University:
Department of Epidemiology
and Community Health,
University of Ilorin, Ilorin,
Nigeria
Host University:
Global Health (IHCAR),
Dept of Public Health,
Karolinska Institutet
Stockholm, Sweden
Abstract: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains the region most heavily
affected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In 2010, about 68%
of all people living with HIV resided in sub-Saharan Africa, a region
with only 12% of the global population. The cost of the AIDS epidemic
is incurred not only in dollars, but also in the suffering and death of
friends, family, and loved ones. The loss to society is untold. Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are now major sources of morbidity
and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. NCDs are projected to overtake
infectious diseases by 2030 in SSA. The introduction of effective
antiretroviral therapy (ART) has resulted in the reduction of AIDSrelated mortality and increased the life expectancy. The incidence of
cardiovascular disease is greatly increased in the HIV-infected individuals
compared with people of the same age without HIV. NCDs now threaten
the successes borne out of unprecedented resources have been invested
in HIV/AIDS. One vital element in improving this situation is the need
for a comprehensive and relevant evidence base that would equip subSaharan Africa countries to take informed actions. The overarching aim
of the proposed research project is to improve our understanding of the
individual and contextual factors associated with cardiovascular risk
factors among HIV infected individuals in SSA. This project aims to
explore and draw attention to the effects of a large unexplored body of
contextual factors; and provide important for policy makers in deciding
priority areas for intervention particularly crucial for sub-Saharan
Africa countries with limited resources. My goal in seeking research
career development award is to acquire the necessary training, practical
experience, and knowledge to become a leading independent researcher.
Career plan: Upon completion of the proposed FAS International
Postdoc Fellowship programme, my primary career objective is to
obtain a tenure-track faculty position at a university, to pursue a career
in research and teaching and experience the excitement and satisfaction
of being at the forefront of this vast expanding field. By pursuing the
specific aims, I will acquire essential skills and experience necessary to
pursue the following research ideas:
Cohort study: To design a population-specific disease burden; genetic
heterogeneity; geographical, social, and cultural; practices and secular
trends that may be associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
Intervention study: conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial of
multifactorial lifestyle intervention for high-risk cardiovascular. This
will provide a short term results by nested randomized intervention trial
within the cohorts.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
The effects of prolonged sitting on postprandial
long-term memory and executive functions with and without
intermittent bouts of light-intensity physical activity in older
overweight adults – an experimental study
Project:
Patrik Wennberg
E-mail:
patrik.wennberg@fammed.
umu.se
Home University:
Umeå University, Umeå,
Sweden
Host University:
Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes
Institute, Melbourne, Australia
Abstract: Prolonged sitting is a ubiquitous component of adults’
working, commuting, and domestic lives. Epidemiological and
experimental findings have identified unique metabolic correlates and
consequences of sedentary behavior (time spent sitting). These are
independent from the effects of not meeting the public health guidelines
for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (being inactive). A recent
study investigated the acute effects of prolonged sitting on health-related
metabolic outcomes in overweight adults. Interrupting sitting time with
intermittent short bouts of either light- or moderate-intensity walking
was found to lower acute postprandial glucose and insulin levels in
overweight/obese adults. Interrupting prolonged sitting with lightintensity breaks may have other physiological benefits that could further
motivate workplace implementation of such strategy. Can intermittent
bouts of light-intensity physical activity also counteract potential
negative effects on cognition from prolonged sitting?
We hypothesize that also postprandial cognitive performance may
be improved if a single bout of prolonged sitting is interrupted by
intermittent short bouts of light-intensity activity. The proposed trial
will add important knowledge to this research area by investigating the
effects of interrupting sitting time with short bouts of physical activity on
postprandial long-term memory and executive functions in overweight
adults. To our knowledge, this is the first trial that combines postprandial
tests of cognitive functions with systematic experimental manipulation of
intermittent activity bouts. The study will be conducted in a laboratory
setting that mimic a typical office workday and the results may therefore
be directly translated into workplace interventions.
Career plan: The long-term career plan includes:
• The establishment of a research group within the field of physical
activity and health with a focus on the primary health care setting.
Dr. Wennberg is currently supervising two medical students who are
interested in future doctoral studies.
• A strengthening of the competence in epidemiological and
experimental research, using both quantitative and qualitative
methods and further experience in research leadership and
international collaborations.
• Advancement to associate professor.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Petter Ljungman
E-mail:
[email protected]
Home University:
Karolinska Institute, The
Institute of Environmenal
Medicine (IMM)
Host University:
Harvard Medical School,
Boston, USA
Project:
Air pollution effects on vascular function
Abstract: Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of
death globally. Ambient air pollution has been associated with
cardiovascular disease in over 100 epidemiological studies across the
world and represents a universally present risk factor to public health
with a substantial preventive potential. Air pollution is composed of a
fluctuating mixture of different gases and particulate matter stemming
from various sources. To date it is unclear which sources or mixtures
of air pollution are responsible for detrimental effects on the vascular
system.
Objective: To study how exposure to air pollution over a short period
(hours-days) or long period (years) affects the vascular system in the
short term and long term. In particular we wish to see the different
effects of individual pollutants, sources or mixtures of pollutants.
Experimental approach: Using data on vascular function collected
in two world-renown study populations of the Framingham Study and
air pollution data gathered through a network of air pollution monitors
and satellite data, we will analyze both the acute and chronic effects of
air pollution exposure on vascular function. With the help of advanced
geographical exposure models we will also be able to investigate which
individual pollutants, sources or mixtures of pollutants cause the most
harm.
Significance: This will be the first large population-based study that
to examine the health effects of both short-term and long-term exposure
to different sources and mixtures of air pollution. We will better explain
how health effects of air pollution can vary geographically and over time.
This information will help decision-makers develop more effective air
quality regulations that can prevent disease and save many lives.
Career plan: My long term goal is to combine clinical work with
research within cardiovascular epidemiology. In my doctoral work I
have investigated effects of air pollution on cardiovascular health using
different research approaches. With the help of COFAS support I will
now have the opportunity to work with leading researchers in the field
of air pollution research and cardiovascular epidemiology with a strong
emphasis on developing and exploring new methodologies. I hope to
gain a thorough understanding and practice in epidemiological methods
as well as a basis for long-term international collaboration. Through
my postdoctoral work in a multi-disciplinary research environment in
Boston, I hope to acquire new knowledge and tools to enable me to
effectively launch an independent research career.
Awarded COFAS Marie Curie fellows
– For the FOIP programme
Screening for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) against
women in healthcare in Uganda: barriers and possibilities.
Project:
Stephen Lawoko
E-mail:
[email protected].
Home University:
Karolinska Institute,
Department of Public Health
Sciences, Social Medicine
www.ki.se
Host University:
Makerere University, School
of Public Health, Kampala,
Uganda
www.mak.ac.ug
Abstract: Intimate partner violence against women (IPV) is a worldwide problem associated with a range of health problems including
physical ailments, reproductive health complications, depression, anxiety
and post-traumatic stress disorder. Despite the inaction of laws and
policies to manage IPV in several countries, the prevalence of such abuse
remains alarmingly high in both developing and industrialised economies, ranging between 11 and 59 per cent with variations depending on
the context studied. The high prevalence of IPV suggests that secondary
prevention measures such as law enforcement and legal redress on their
own may not be reaching the desired goal in the management of IPV, indicating that perhaps efforts and resources should be re-directed toward
primary prevention. The healthcare sector can play a major role in this
regard through screening for IPV. Indeed, both healthcare professionals
and women patients acknowledge that screening for IPV in healthcare is
in many ways beneficial for its management.
This view notwithstanding, barriers and challenges to screening have
so far remained an issue of peripheral debate and research globally, with
only a few studies from Europe and USA showing that factors inherent
in the healthcare providers work roles and ethics, attitudes toward
women and training may conflict with screening activity. The screening
behaviour and related barriers of healthcare personal in other parts of
the world remains elusive. Using quantitative and qualitative research
methods, this project attempts to identify some of these barriers in SubSaharan Africa, using the Ugandan context.
Career plan: I have been involved as principal investigator in a series
of projects concerning domestic violence. These projects have generated
15 publications in peer review journals. Factors that increase the likelihood of violent behaviour and exposure in intimate partner relations are
identified at the individual, community, country and regional levels. The
studies also indicate that women exposed to domestic violence, when
compared to unexposed peers, are more likely to suffer from reproductive health problems such as terminated pregnancies and still births.
The current study financed by FAS extends the work to Uganda, using
both quantitative and qualitative methods. Strengthening research in this
field requires networking in interdisciplinary groups, as well as contacts
with policy makers and health services. This provides a good basis for
developing capacity to engage in long term public health research and
practice internationally. The project therefore falls in line with the
COFAS grant which emphasises international collaboration, innovation
and timeliness as key aspects of this collaborative postdoctoral research.