Annica Kempe

Annica Kempe

Affiliated to Research
Visiting address: Widerströmska huset, hiss 1, plan 9 Tomtebodavägen 18A, 17177 Stockholm
Postal address: K6 Kvinnors och barns hälsa, K6 NOGRH Klingberg-Allvin, 171 77 Stockholm

About me

  • Post-doc researcher with a focus on global reproductive and population
    health. Graduate work for my PhD (2019) with the Department of Global Public
    Health and professional experience with international organizations,
    primarily Save the Children.

    My research falls within the spheres of health psychology, psychosomatic
    medicine and social/ cultural anthropology. I am the principal investigator of a global study addressing life course, intergenerational and historical determinants of health as these
    relate to culture and the status of women. I am involved in low-income
    country studies of midwifery. A pedagogical project with focus on
    children’s participation in research has been consistently close to heart.

    Most recently in 2022 I have presented my work at the World Congress for
    Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) in Vancouver August 27-31
    https://www.dohad2022.com/ [1] and at the preceding Indigenous DOHaD
    Gathering August 24-26 https://indigenousdohadgathering.org/ [2]:
    * Links of Love and Grief – Mothers, daughters and pregnancy outcome in a
    high maternal mortality setting (Session: Epigenetics)
    * Fear of Childbirth – A marker of transgenerational epigenetic
    inheritance? (Session: Epigenetics)
    * Childbirth in Matrilineal Society: Focus on perinatal mental health and
    reproductive outcome (Session: Sharing at the Gathering)

    June 2023: A new project with the National Yemeni Midwives Association (local
    ICM): “Midwives at the Frontlines of Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis”
    aims at giving a voice to Yemeni midwives’ coping, resilience and
    ‘lessons learned’ from practicing midwifery during the 9-year long
    conflict.

    Funding: As lead researcher I have received funding from various funding agencies
    including the Swedish Society of Medicine, Swedish International Development
    Agency (Sida), Swedish Institute, Hans Wigzell Research Foundation, Kempe
    Carlgrenska Foundation, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, Rädda Barnen/ Save
    the Children Sweden and Karolinska Institutet.

    Languages: Swedish, English, French, Norwegian, (elementary) Swahili.

    Doctoral degree, 2019: Thesis: "Maternal Mental Health Matters: Childbirth related care
    in Yemen through women's eyes". Opponent: Medical/ Cultural Anthropologist
    Robbie Davis-Floyd, Senior Research Fellow, University of Texas at Austin,
    Dept. of Anthropology. Supervisors: Professor Töres Theorell, Dept. of
    Global Public Health and Professor Kyllike Christensson, Dept. of Women's and
    Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet. (2019-05-15)

    Awards: Scholarship by Svensk förening för Psykosocial Obstetrik och Gynekologi
    (SFPOG) for the 20th Congress of the International Society of Psychosomatic
    Obstetrics and Gynaecology (ISPOG) in Vienna 13-16 July 2022.
    Travel award for the World Congress on Developmental Origins of Health and
    Disease (DOHaD) in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022. Karolinska Institutet/ the
    Swedish Society of Medicine.

    Member: International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease
    (DOHaD), International Society of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and
    Gynaecology (ISPOG), Board Member/ Secretary 2015-2021 Svensk förening för
    Psykosocial Obstetrik och Gynekologi (SFPOG)/ (Swedish chapter of ISPOG), Swedish Society of
    Medicine (SLS), American Association for the Advancement of Science
    (AAAS) and the AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition, Swedish-Yemeni
    Friendship Association.

    [1] https://www.dohad2022.com/
    [2] https://indigenousdohadgathering.org/

Teaching

  • The interest in pedagogy goes back to my undergraduate years in Friends World
    College (https://liu.edu/Global/History) with a student based, experiential
    approach to education. I enjoy teaching and interacting with students and
    based on my experience with international organizations and own research with
    children in the global south developed a curriculum for the theme "Voice of
    Children – Methods and ethics in conducting research with children and
    young people". I taught this class using different approaches – as lecture,
    seminar or workshop – under the umbrella of Public health, Stress medicine
    and Human rights and democracy at KI and other universities.

    Aside from teaching within the scope of academia and civil society
    organizations, formal training continues to be important with recent courses:
    * Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (GHPD, spring 2022)
    Aims: "To enhance the professional competence of university teachers and
    encourage a reflective approach to teaching and learning."
    Examination assignment: Planning the teaching session "Voice of Children".
    The theme is used to show how we as teachers can partner with children to
    improve our research concerning them and, in case of performing research
    related to the SDG agenda, to further the work together to attain these
    goals. “Learning by doing” is a theory of education expounded by American
    philosopher John Dewey. It's a hands-on approach to learning enabling
    participating children and young people to interact with their environment in
    order to learn.
    * Observation and visual methods in health care sciences research (fall
    2022)
    "Visual methods are here used to include ethnographic observations as well
    as photographic and video observations. The visual evokes elements of
    human consciousness that can serve as a compliment to words, when words are
    insufficient or at times not at all accessible."

Articles

All other publications

Employments

  • Affiliated to Research, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, 2023-2024
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, 2020-2021

Degrees and Education

  • Degree Of Doctor Of Philosophy, Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, 2019

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