Sociologist and PhD candidate Sif Ingibergsdottir Mogensen presents research on the emotional and relational dimensions of women’s lives across harm reduction, drug use, housing insecurity, and gendered violence.

Sif Ingibergsdottir Mogensen will present PhD research on how women who use drugs engage with harm reduction services. The thesis focuses in particular on the ambivalence women experience in their use of these services, but also addresses a range of other dimensions of their lives, including their drug use, housing situation, and the (gendered) violence many are exposed to.

The PhD presentation is based on analyses of 170 hours of participant observation in two harm reduction services, as well as 29 interviews with women who use drugs.

In the presentation, Sif Ingibergsdottir Mogensen will place particular emphasis on the analyses from the three scientific articles that constitute the thesis. The presentation will therefore focus especially on:

• How care is practiced within harm reduction services, what conditions shape these practices, and how women who use drugs are affected by this care.
• How women who use drugs' embodied and emotional experiences of housing and houselessness are shaped by societal ideals, values, and objects associated with a ‘good’ and ‘happy’ life, and how these factors influence whether and how women use their housing and engage with harm reduction services.
• How women who use drugs resist gendered violence and what role harm reduction services play in shaping or supporting these resistance practices.

The PhD defence will be conducted in English, and the title of the thesis is: “AMBIVALENT NAVIGATIONS: Affective and Relational Dimensions of Women’s Lives Across Harm Reduction, Drug Use, Housing Insecurity, and Gendered Violence”.

The PhD defence is open to all. It is possible to attend the defence via this Teams link: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/318589338647875?p=mE5wG3tKBXzUBcYzmO

Assessment Committee:

• Josefin Månsson, Associate Professor, Stockholm University, Sweden
• Marie Jauffret-Roustide, Senior Researcher, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), France
• Maj Nygaard-Christensen, Associate Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark (Chair)

Main supervisor

• Esben Houborg, Associate Professor, Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University

The defence is led by professor Kristine Rømer Thomsen, Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University

Reception:

Following the defence, the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research will host a reception with refreshments. All attendees are welcome.