Background and activities

Research areas/methods/contexts of interest: global health, gender-based violence, reproductive health, women's health, migration and health, medical anthropology, resilience, implementation/applied research, narrative research, arts-based research, Nepal, South Asia.

 

Current research funding & project management:

2020-2025  Co-Principal Investigator of the second phase of the Addressing Domestic Violence in Antenatal Care Environments study (ADVANCE 2)

  • Awarded 5-years of funding from the Research Council of Norway (FRIPRO)
  • Collaboration between the Department of Public Health and Nursing at NTNU, University of South-Eastern Norway, Linnaeus University (Sweden), Kathmandu Medical College and Teaching Hospital (Nepal), Dhulikhel Hospital-Kathmandu School of Medical Sciences (Nepal), and Johns Hopkins University (USA).

2019-2022  Principal Investigator of the OPTIMISE study - Optimising pregnancy and childbirth care for immigrant women in Central Norway

  • Awarded 3-years of funding from the Regional Health Authority of Central Norway/Samarbeidsorganet
  • Collaboration between the Department of Public Health and Nursing at NTNU and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Kvinneklinikken) at St. Olavs University Hospital

Current supervision of research students:

  • PhD candidates: 4 (main supervisor), 1 (co-supervisor)
  • Master's students: 1 (main supervisor), 1 (co-supervisor)

Academic & professional history:

I completed my doctoral degree in social anthropology in New Zealand (2004-2008). My PhD research explored children's capacities for resilience in the context of domestic violence and other life adversities through a community-based intervention and life-story interviews.

I worked at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Geneva, Switzerland from 2008-2011 in project officer roles in the proposals, performance and strategic information teams. This work experience reinforced the challenges of providing global health financing and policy guidance that reflects the needs of intended beneficiaries; of fostering local participation and leadership in aid-donor relationships; and of accurately and meaningfully evaluating project results. I continue to explore these challenges in my current research.

I was postdoctoral researcher at the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) from 2011-2013, in the interdisciplinary Atlantic Diabetes in Pregnancy (ATLANTIC-DIP) project team. This project investigated screening and lifestyle modification to reduce long-term diabetes risks among women with gestational diabetes in two randomised controlled trials.

In 2014, I moved to Norway to take up a position at NTNU as postdoctoral researcher and project coordinator for the first phase of the Addressing Domestic Violence in Antenatal Care Environments (ADVANCE) study, led by Professor Berit Schei.

In addition to my research positions at NTNU, I have held temporary part-time positions as associate professor of global health since 2016. From 2016-2019, I supported the establishment of a new master's programme in global health and shared responsibility for lecturing, input on student research protocols, grading assignments, developing examinations, course coordination, and supervising and examining thesis research projects. From August 2021, I have scientific responsibility for the master's program in global health at NTNU.

Future research ideas/interests:

I am interested in contributing to future research collaborations, and supervising master's and PhD research, on topics and study designs such as below:

  • designing / adapting / improving research tools to measure: (i) domestic violence in pregnancy in clinical settings, (ii) the quality of maternity care, (iii) the cultural competence of healthcare providers
  • ethnographic research on immigrant women's experiences with pregnancy, birth and post-partum health care in Norway
  • studies of various designs focused on ensuring women's dignity and respectful treatment in maternity or reproductive health services (e.g. reducing disrespectful practices, ensuring safe and satisfactory birth experiences, prioritising women's rights and dignity, reducing hierarchies and horizontal violence in health systems, addressing health provider's own traumas and attitudinal constraints to delivering respectful care, empathy training or other patient-centered approaches to health education)
  • studies using the methodological techniques of narrative research, situational analysis/mapping, or rapid anthropological assessment (RAP)

Scientific, academic and artistic work

A selection of recent journal publications, artistic productions, books, including book and report excerpts. See all publications in the database

Journal publications

Books

Part of book/report