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Helle Samuelsen

Associate Professor

  • Øster Farimagsgade 5, Opgang E

    1353 København V

  • Source: Scopus
1992 …2024

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Current research

Thematic focus: Medical anthropology, global health, epidemics, young people and HIV/AIDS, health systems research, global development and political anthropology.

Regional focus: West Africa (Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana), East Africa (Tanzania),

My research in medical anthropology focus mainly on Africa. I am currently Principal Investigator on a new research project Promoting Climate Change Adaptation in a Context of Multiple Crises: The Role of Civil Servants (2024-2029) funded by DANIDA. I have also served as PI for a. cross-disciplinary research project "EMERGING EPIDEMICS: Improving Preparedness in Burkina Faso" (2018-2024), funded by DANIDA. It is a collaborative project between University of Copenhagen and research institutions in Burkina Faso. I have been involved in a number of projects in Burkina Faso with specific focus on health care systems, perceptions of health, disease and treatment, malaria prevention and HIV/AIDS. I was responsible (PI) on a  project "Fragile Futures: Rural LIves in Times of Conflict" funded by Danida's research committee. In this project we investigated the critical relationship between the civil society and the state. One of the main objectives was to analyse imaginaries of the state and its local represtatives from a rural perspective. In Ghana I have been involved in a couple of projects focusing on health and development in urban areas. I am also involved in a project entitled CLIMSA (Climate Change Mitigation on Health in Burkina Faso) with Pascal Magnussen as PI and a project in Benin funded by IDRC, Canada with Prof. Anders Dalsgaard as PI This project focuses on CC impacts on health in various areas around Cotonou. Furthermore, together with Britt Tersbøl (PI), I am involved in a project in Tanzania in 2022 called "HImili Pamoja. Gendered Encounters in Climate Change Adaptation in Tanzania" in collaboration with colleagues in Tanzania.

In addtion, I have been attached to a couple of research- and teaching projects in Vietnam and India respectivel.

Keywords: Medical anthropology, the anthropology of health, health care systems, global health, West Africa.

CV


Date and place of birth
22 November 1959, Denmark

Educational background
Ph.D. Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen 1999. Mag.scient. in Anthropology (medical anthropology), University of Copenhagen, 1987.  A-levels mathematics and social science, Næstved Gymnasium, 1978

Employment

  • Jan, 1. 2020 - Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen
  • Jan, 1. 2007 - 31. Dec, 2019 Head of Department, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen (reappointed Jan, 1. 2015).
  • April, 1. 2004 - Associate Professor, Dept. of International Health, University of Copenhagen.
  • 2000 - 2004 Assistant Professor Dept. of International Health, University of Copenhagen.
  • 1999 - 2000 Assistant Research Professor, Dept. of International Health, University of Copenhagen
  • 1994 - 99: Research fellow at Danish Bilharziasis Laboratory (6 months maternity leave 1995-96)
  • 1991-94: Course Coordinator at Danida's Training Centre, Hornbaek
  • 1990: Consultant for the Danish Nursing Association, Copenhagen
  • 1990: Research Fellow at Institute of Anthropology, Copenhagen
  • (6 months maternity leave 89-90)
  • 1987-89: Assistant Programme Officer, UNICEF, Pakistan
  • 1984-86: Research Fellow for the Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen

Organizational and administrative functions

  • External board member at the Faculty of Social Science, University of Bergen (2021-2025)
  • Board member of Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) 2014-2018
  • Member of "Det Udviklingspolitiske Råd"/Danida's council for Devleopment Policy 2013-16
  • Member of Admission Board for MSc in Global Health 2013-2015
  • Editor "Tidsskriftet Antropologi" 2009-2015
  • Study-director, Master of International Health, 2004-2007
  • Vice study-director, Master of International Health, 2002-2003
  • Guest editor of "Anthropology & Medicine", (Vol 11(1) April 2004)
  • Guest editor of Tidsskriftet Antropologi, nr. 29, 1994
  • Course coordinator for Orientation courses and Country Briefings at Danida's Training Centre, 1991-94

Fellowship
Carlsberg Senior Research Fellowship at Churchill College, Cambridge University, 2003

Research Activities (selected projects)

2024-2029 PI on research project Promoting Climate Change Adaptation in a Context of Multiple Crises in Burkina Faso: The Role of Civil Servants, funded by DANIDA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Total amount: DKK 10,3 mio.

2018- 2023 PI on Research Project "EMERGING EPIDEMICS: Improving Preparedness in Burkina Faso", funded by FFU, (Danida's research Council) Total amount DKK 10 mio.

2012- 2017  PI on Research project "Fragile Futures: Rural Lives in Times of Conflict" funded by FFU (Danida's Research Council). Total amount DKK 6.3 mio.

2011-2015 Research Project: "Sustainal Sanitation Solutions - Ghana" (SUSA). WP2 responsible. Funded by FFU (Danida's Research Council) PI. Prof. Flemming Konradsen.

2010 Research project (PI) “Revisiting the Field: Changes of health care seeking patterns in Burkina Faso over the last decade” financed by Carlsbergfondet.

2009 Research Consultant for the Danish Embassy in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso, Recherce action PAMAC et partenaires communautaires”

2006-2007 Responsible for qualitative component of “Assessment of child mortality in selected districts in Tanzania”. Funded by the Danish embassy and the Health Sector Support Program.

2004-2006 Project leader (PI), Research project: “The impact of waste water irrigation on human health and food safety among urban communities in the VoltaBasin – opportunities and risks” in collaboration with IWMI, KVL and Kwame Nkrumah University, Ghana

2004-2005 Project responsible (PI) “Viden og Forandring: En kvalitativ undersøgelse af indvandrere og flygtninges viden, holdninger og erfaringer med prævention og reproduktiv sundhed og brug af sundhedstilbud. Finansieret af Sundhedsstyrelsen

2002 Research project: “HIV/AIDS Communication and Prevention: A Health Communication Research Project 2001-2004” (funded by the Council for Development Research, Denmark 2001), in collaboration with Thomas Tufte, University of Copenhagen

2001 PI on project “The medical field: Why are local healers so popular and why are the public health services underutilized in rural Burkina Faso” (funded by the Council for Development Research, Denmark),

Fieldwork
Fieldwork conducted in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan, Denmark and Tanzania. Fieldvisit in Vietnam.

Reviewer activities:
Social Science & Medicine (since 1999 - >20 reviews in total)

Health, Policy & Planning (2000 & 2005)

Medical Anthropology (2004 & 2005, 2021)

Tropical Medicine & International Health (2005, 2006)

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (MAN) (2008, 2010)

Culture, Health and Sexuality (2009, 2011)

Water International (2011)

American Journal of Public Health (2013)

Anthropological Theory (2014)

Ethnos (2015)

Africa Education Review (2015)

GeoJournal (2020)

Scientific Report (2024)

Anthropology & Ageing (2024)

Ph.D supervision:
Frank Ringsted - Faint Appearance. Kulegea. Early Homebased recognition of aneamia (co-supervisor)

Thilde Rheinländer: The Social Reality of hygiene and sanitation (co-supervisor)

Sine Plambech: Points of Departure. Migration control and Anti-Trafficking in the ILves of Nigerian Sex Worker Migrants after Deportation from Europe

Issa Sombié: Participation communautaire et gouvernance du système de santé   : dynamique, logique d’acteurs, conflits et relations de pouvoir (co-supervisor)

ssa Sombié “Participation Communautaire et gouvernance du system de Santé: dynamique, logique d’acteurs, conflits et relations.” Université de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 2015.

Leticia Ackun “An Ethnographic Study of Sanitation and Defecatory Practices in a Peri-Urban Community: the case of Prampram in the greater Accra Region of Ghana”, University of Legon, Ghana, 2015.

John Boulard Forkuor “Regulation of Street Foods in Kumasi: Stakeholder Practices and Perceptions, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana, 2015.

Lise Rosendal Østergaard ”Fragile encounters: exploring public healthcare in Boulgou Province, Burkina Faso”, UCPH, 2016.

Pia Juul Bjertrup, affiliated to "Emerging Epidemics. Improving Preparedness in Burkina Faso" 2022.

Huguette Tynou, affilitated to "emerging Epidimics. Improving Preparedness in Burkina Faso", 2024.

 

Current research

I am responsible for the project "Promoting Climate Change in a Context of Multiple Crises in Burkina Faso: The role of civil servants", The project aims at identifying and studying the potentialities for the civil servants to promote climate change adaptation and sustainable development within a context where the climatic crisis overlaps with a health crisis, a political crisis and a security crisis. The projeect has a strong focus on capacity building and includes researchers from Burkina Faso and Denmark (including 3 PhDs and 2 postdocs from Burkina Faso).

Teaching

Medical anthropology, Global Health, Health Care Systems, Applied Anthropology, Qualitative methods.

Fields of interest

Key Words: Medical Antropology, Global Health, Health Care Systems, Epidemics, Development,Africa,  Burkina Faso.

Member of the researcher group: Health and Life Conditions.

 

Keywords

  • Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Medical Anthropology
  • Anthropology of health
  • Global Health
  • Global development
  • Health Systems
  • Burkina Faso
  • West Africa

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or