Birgitta Haga Gripsrud

I am Professor of Health Humanities and Psychosocial Studies at the University of Stavanger in Norway. I have a humanities background and hold a PhD in Cultural Studies (University of Leeds, 2006). In broad terms, my research is characterized by interdisciplinary engagement across the humanities, social sciences, health sciences and medicine. A longstanding research interest is psychosocial studies of enculturated and embodied experience (e.g. of the breast, breastfeeding, and of breast cancer, of ageing and dying-death). This has included collaborations on developing psychosocial methodology and new qualitative methods (Visual Matrix), as well as exploring other forms of writing (creatography), that are appropriate for inquiry into psychosocially complex and/or emotionally challenging topics. I am also engaged in research on psychosocial conditions for helping professionals' relational work, professional development, and ethics of care, in the welfare state. My interest in critical and creative qualitative inquiry extends to 'applied' research concerning e.g. reflective practice, as well as projects that are situated in-between the arts, culture and sciences.