My research interests are in gender relations, men’s violence against women, young people’s health and sexual and reproductive rights.
I am a professor in public health science, and my research focuses on two main areas: youth health and gender-based violence. I am a medical doctor by background, and before getting into academia worked for several years with community health workers and in the promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights.
I lead and I am involved in several research projects. In the area of youth health, I am leading a project funded by FORTE and the Public Health Agency of Sweden that analyses Swedish youth clinics’ work on mental (ill) health. In India I participate, in an evaluation of an intervention to promote young people’s mental well-being, and in Zambia in a project analysing how to make community-based health systems more responsive towards young people’s sexual and reproductive health needs. In the area of gender-based violence I participate in a project analysing violence against young women and how the health system responds to them. In Sweden a lead a project analysing what we call ‘question center responses to gender-based violence’ within social services and I participate in two projects: one analysing the feminist support online provided by the women empowerment centers and another one analysing violence against people with disabilities and existing support systems.
In addition to my own research a very important part of my work is supervising PhD students, and teaching. My teaching focuses on qualitative methodologies for public health research - we offer different courses both online and on campus, and at master and PhD level.
My teaching focuses on qualitative methodologies in public health at the master and PhD level, on on gender-based violence in healthcare. I also teach gender within public health and realist evaluation.
Isabel Goicolea, Professor in public health