Meet our researchers
We conduct research into the causes, consequences, and prevention of torture as well as efficient trauma rehabilitation. On this site you can meet our researchers.
Jens Modvig
Medical Director
Research area: Health aspects of torture and ill-treatment, prison health
Current/active research projects: Mental health and armed conflict in Colombia
Latest publication: Istanbul Protocol 2022 empowers health professionals to end torture – The Lancet
Linda Nordin
Head of research, PhD, Psychologist
Research area: Clinical psychology; refugees; torture; PTSD; pain; trauma focused treatment; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT); Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Current/active research projects: Danish Trauma Database (DTD), internet-ACT based treatment for PTSD and Pain, Pain School implementation and evaluation Jordan
Latest publications: Screening for Cognitive Impairment in Tortured and Traumatized Refugees with Traumatic Brain Injury (in press)
Andrew M. Jefferson
Senior Researcher (prison ethnographer)
Research area: Prisons and prison reform beyond the West; state-subject relations in sites of confinement; hierarchies of victimhood; the inhibition of torture and mundane violence; human rights practice in ‘transitional’ contexts; transformational justice; gender and structural inequalities
Current/active research projects: Legacies of Detention in Myanmar
Latest publications: Prison reform and torture prevention under ‘compromised circumstances’; Gender, Criminalization, Imprisonment and Human Rights in SE Asia
Henrik Rønsbo
Senior Researcher, anthropology
- hr@dignity.dk
- +45 60 10 88 01
- henrik.ronsbo
Research area: Anthropology of mass violence; social effects of violence and torture; idioms of suffering; histories of traumatology; civil society responses; Central America; South America; ethnography; mixed methods; social network analysis
Current/active research projects: Protection Project
Latest publications: Mothers, protection and care amongst communities affected by torture and state violence in Brazil
Other: Henrik Ronsbo – Academia.edu
Sabina Palic
Clinical researcher, authorized psychologist, senior researcher accredited
Research area: PTSD and complex PTSD in refugees; cross cultural psychiatry; treatment effectiveness; psychopathology; psychometrics
Current/active research projects: Danish Trauma Database for refugees (DTD)
Steffen Jensen
Senior Researcher, DIGNITY and Professor, Aalborg University
Research area: Human rights from below; police and gang violence; displacement and migration; urban violence and governance
Current/active research projects: Protection Project; Gangs, Gangsters and Ganglands
Latest publications: Rethinking human rights protection: lessons from survivors of torture and beyond?
Other: VBN
Tomas Max Martin
Senior Researcher, DIGNITY and Professor, Aalborg University
Research area: Prison ethnography; anthropology of state violence; perpetrator studies; carceral infrastructures and technologies; prison monitoring; human rights; accountability; transitions; imperialism and authoritarianism; Eastern Africa; Southeast Asia
Current/active research projects: Legacies of Detention; Vernacular Accountability; Dynamic Security
Latest publications: The Politics of Prison Air. Breath, Smell and Wind in Myanmar Prisons
Shr-Jie Sharlenna Wang
Senior Research, Clinical and Intervention Epidemiology, Public Health
- sjw@dignity.dk
- +45 60 10 88 05
- sharlenna Wang
Research area: Prevalence and pattern of torture and organized violence; refugees; PTSD; transgenerational trauma; epigenetic mechanism; cost-effectiveness evaluation; randomized controlled trial; scale validation; school and community intervention
Current/active research projects:
- Addressing the Wellbeing and Security Needs of Urban Children and Adolescents in Indonesia in the Digital Era.
- Pre-post epigenetic study of family interventions to reduce the effects of maternal PTSD and transgenerational effect of trauma.
- Cost effectiveness of Alternative Learning School in Urban Slums in Bangong Silang in the Philippines and cost-effectiveness of MPHSS intervention in Africa
Latest publications: Fransquet PD, Hjort L, Rushiti F, Wang SJ, Krasniqi SP, Çarkaxhiu SI, Arifaj D, Xhemaili VD, Salihu M, Leku NA, Ryan J. DNA methylation in blood cells is associated with cortisol levels in offspring of mothers who had prenatal post-traumatic stress disorder. Stress Health. 2022 Feb 4. doi: 10.1002/smi.3131.