Research

The members of the Centre are currently involved in the projects listed below.

Exchange systems for human biological matter

Klaus Hoeyer
In this project the author investigates how matter stemming from human bodies is being incorporated in a growing bio-economy and the implications this has for the parties and institutions involved. The project provides a thematic contribution to studies of the political, financial and epistemological conditions for medical knowledge production and empirical studies of medical technological innovation.

Life at the Margins: Relations between pigs and humans in research, the clinic and the public

Lene Koch, Mette N. Svendsen, Vibeke Pihl
Originating in the use of pigs in both established and new bio-medical research and treatment, the authors investigate how knowledge and biological material (e.g. genes) are exchanged between pigs and humans, how to set borders between the pig and the human in such exchanges, and how questions regarding care for and instrumentation of humans and animals is negotiated in research, in the clinic and among the public. The project is linked to the growing interest in the organizational, social and ethical implications of translational medicine and its importance regarding cooperation between basic research and clinical application. More specifically, the project focuses on premature pigs as animal models in neonatology, on transgenic (humanized) pigs as disease models in future neurological treatments, and on the obese pig as an animal model in obesity research and obesity surgery. The project provides a thematic contribution to studies of the political, financial and epistemological conditions for medical knowledge production; to laboratory studies as well as to empirical studies of medical technological innovation.

Perception, medical imaging technologies and the problem of inter-observational variation in the reading of images

Jan Kyrre Berg Friis
This project is both a theoretical study and an empirical study of individual perception, with emphasis on understanding the mechanism behind inter-observational variation in medical imaging diagnostics. The profile of the project is theoretical science, philosophy of technology and experimental philosophy. Thematically, the project comes under "User and everyday life studies of the use of medical technologies".

Home self-care technologies and clinic-home infrastructures in the treatment of persons with haemophilia and persons with asthma

Henriette Langstrup
This project is a comparative ethnographic study of establishing and maintaining channels and boundaries between the home and the clinic in the treatment of individuals with chronic asthma or haemophilia. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the patient's home as being a special space for treatment and hence contribute to developing a concept for self-care supported by information technology. The project draws on everyday sociology, actor-network theory and socio-technical studies of the organisation of the health care system. Thematically, the project comes under "User and everyday life studies of the use of medical technologies".

Social categories in epidemiological research - what they say and what they do

Signild Vallgårda
Epidemiological research makes use of a wide range of categories in order to divide the population according to social criteria. In this project the author examines what the categorization, on which causality is explicitly or implicit based, reveals about the causal explanations and how the chosen categories influence research results. The project is inspired by the theories of Ludwik Flecks and Quentin Skinners. Emphasis is on the research carried out over the last 50 years.

The use of social categories and social taxonomies in social-epidemiological knowledge production - 1850 to 1960

Ivan Lind Christensen
Here, the author examines the historical development of the social categories and social taxonomies within Danish social-epidemiological knowledge production from the mid-1800s up until the 1960s. The project is a historical science study with the aim of analysing where the social-epidemiological knowledge production stemmed from, both historically and socially. Specific focus is on the implicit and explicit theoretical assumptions and causalities that the social categories and taxonomies are expressions of and the consequences of their use within social-epidemiological knowledge production.

Conceptualisations of gender and masculinity in Danish research on aggression in the 20th century

Marie-Louise Holm
In this historical-science project the author examines how the concepts of aggression and masculinity have been associated in theoretical and empirical research within different scientific fields, including the health sciences, in Denmark from 1900 to 2000, and which norms of normality and abnormality this association has implicated in relation to gender in combination with other social categories. Selected research projects are analysed to examine if and how the association of aggression with masculinity has affected definitions of normal and abnormal/pathological aggression, definitions of patient groups, and categorising, diagnosing, and treatment of individuals.

Pre-natal diagnostics and decision processes

Nete Schwennesen
The project is an ethnographic study of how space for possibilities and decisions in pre-natal diagnostics is created in the intersection between politics, clinical praxis, technology and user. The aim is to examine how ethical norms such as "the informed choice" are concretized in the encounter between user and clinical praxis, and to illustrate the tension and the new problematics that arise when abstract norms are realised in concrete praxis. Thematically, the project contributes to ethical and empirical studies of how technologies are used in praxis and also to user and everyday life studies of the use of medical technologies.

Decision-making regarding treatment within the cardiovascular risk complex

Sarah Wadmann
In this project the author examines how decisions on preventive pharmacological treatment in cardiovascular disease are shaped by conditions for medical knowledge production and by the continual transformation of medical knowledge. Thematically, the project contributes to studies of the political, financial and epistemological conditions for medical knowledge production and to studies of pharmacological data production.

A historical analysis of the concept of successful aging and its relation to the idea of human enhancement

Morten Hillgaard Bülow
The aim of this project is to study the development of the concept of successful aging from its dissemination in the 1980s until today. In this period aging research has gone from primarily being concerned with the treatment of diseases in the later part of a life course to an increased focus on prevention of diseases and to a broader public health oriented approach to aging involving scientific fields beyond the biomedical sciences. The project particularly focuses on the development of the concept of successful aging within neuroscience and the possible connection between notions of successful aging and the current merging discourse on 'human enhancement', especially cognitive enhancement. Notions of successful aging and human enhancement often appear in the same context, as aging research allows for the possible use of medical technology for improving human beings and as pressure is laid on the health sciences to develop life extending and life improving medicine. To investigate the historical development and possible interconnectedness of the two concepts, the project inquires into both the specific social and cultural context of the concepts and into the conceptual and material aspects of knowledge production within the neurosciences.

From genetic to proteomics

Adam Bencard
The project traces the development from an informational genetic understanding of life in molecular biology founded in genetics, to a material and relational understanding founded in protein research. These readings of molecular biology are mirrored in contemporary philosophical concerns about materialism and realism.

Transnationalizing Sperm - Transnationalizing Standards. Mapping the Clinical Organization of Sperm Donation

Sebastian Mohr

This project looks at the standards of sperm donation as applied by Danish sperm banks and their international partners. It will provide an insight into which medical evidence, transnational policies, company rules and guidelines, as well as social and cultural criteria they involve. The project investigates how these elements translate into actual practice in the sperm banks and among their partners through selection and screening of sperm donors, processing of sperm, matching of sperm donors and recipients of donor sperm, and marketing of sperm. Furthermore, the project will find out what effects the standards have on the sperm donors, the men who were rejected as such, and the recipients of donor sperm. Providing answers to these questions will help to develop better standards in sperm donation programs, and help to understand the needs of the patients involved in donor insemination as well as the requirements for men to participate in sperm donation programs.

Globalizing Health Care Technologies and Practices

Annegrete Juul Nielsen
My research interest lies within the intersection between organization, policy and practice in health care. My primary theoretical resource is Science and Technology Studies (STS). Empirically my research has so far focused on two related themes: patient involvement in healthcare and the organization of disease preventive and health promoting efforts. In the coming years I will focus on globalizing health care technologies and practices.

IT-supported self-care for ICD-patient

Karen Dam Nielsen
In this project the author studies the social and organizational consequences of the implementation of a specific IT-supported self-care tool for ICD-patients and the professionals involved in their care. Special attention is directed at exploring the effects on the distribution of work, knowledge, and responsibility between patients and health professionals as well as between various groups of health professionals. The overall aim of the project is to provide insights that can help inform and qualify the ongoing design and implementation of the specific tool as well as other IT-solutions supporting infrastructures of chronic care.

ICD technology for prevention of sudden cardiac arrest: Relations between patients, clinic, and politics
Julie Grew
In this project the author explores the shaping of a certain medical device, the Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD), and the patients from its development in the medtech industry to implementation and use in the clinic and further on to the patients' everyday lives with an implanted device and remote monitoring. The aim is to gain insight in individual, organizational and societal implications of ICD therapy used for patients who have not experienced cardiac arrest, but who are considered in risk. The project contributes to studies of the use of telemedicine and medical device-user relations and ads to the knowledge about this new medical technology and the growing patient group.