Jeanette Bresson Ladegaard Knox

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Primary fields of research

My research is located at the interfaces between philosophy, art and medicine to investigate humanistic, existential and ethical aspects in illness, treatment and health. In this research, I focus on medical ethics, especially clinical ethics (ethical challenges in the clinic) and humanistic health research, especially the development of a narrative, philosophical and aesthetic approach to health practice. I work ethnographically with participatory art and philosophy projects particularly in pediatrics, disability and chronic disease rehabilitation and personalized medicine. A particular point of attention is method development that can support and grow creative, critical and dialogic environments within the health care sector (for health care professionals and patients).

Theoretically, I primarily draw on existential phenomenology and hermeneutics, philosophy of existence and dialogue, moral and value theories, ancient philosophy and Stoicism. Engaged in arguing both theoretically and empirically, I participate in research interventions that study the beneficial impact of philosophy and art on well-being and self-care after illness and/or trauma. The goal is to develop ways in which research and practice mutually fertilize each other and to support a holistic patient understanding.

Concepts of special interest:

Death, mortality, the self, being, time, hope, vulnerability, creativity, intersubjectivity, resonance, hope, the good death, the good life, art of living and dialogue.

Current research

 

2028-2023 – WP in MORPHEUS

MORPHEUS is a European Horizon research project that includes France (PI), Spain and Denmark. The purpose of the project is to predict the risk of unprovoked venous blood clots in specific patient groups and to develop a tool for 'joint decision-making' that will ensure patients' involvement in decisions about treatment and prevention. My ethnographic work consists of observations of clinical interactions and conducting interviews with clinicians and patients as a starting point for developing a model for ‘shared decision-making.’ The qualitative element for which I am responsible aims to 1) collect, describe and analyze patients' experiences and perceptions of unprovoked blood clots and treatment; and 2) identify patients' and clinicians' expectations and concerns in connection with testing the project's developed decision support tool. The field work will be held at Aabenaa hospital, which is MORPHEUS' Danish partner.

 

2026-2024 – PI for DET: Det Eksistentielle Teater: The good life for young adults with cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis through drama, music and dialogue.

DET: The Existential Theater combines drama improvisation, the sound images of music and the immersion of existential dialogue. DET is based on personal stories and consists of 9 workshops for a group of young adults with CP and 9 workshops for a group with MS. By incorporating young adults' big questions about a life with a lifelong disability, the project engages in a dialogue with central themes that the healthcare and social system rarely or never address. The project collaborates with the patient associations CP Danmark and the Sclerosis Association. Empirical material is obtained through participant observation in the project's activities and in the project's user panel, as well as 16 in-depth semi-structured interviews after the intervention has been completed. Follow-up interviews will take place six months after completion to assess the impact of participation on everyday life. Professional artists and a philosophical facilitator are associated with the project. A filmmaker will make a documentary of the participants' experiences and process.

 

2024-2017: Research and Ethics Lab coordinator in the research project 'Personalized medicine in the Danish welfare state' (MeInWe), where 12 interdisciplinary researchers study the ethical, organizational and legal issues in the implementation of personalized medicine in Denmark. My research focus: Studying ethical themes and the development of a structure for ethical dialogue (i.e. the ethical laboratories) with representatives from the medical and social sciences, clinical practice and research, public and private organizations in the healthcare sector. In the ethical laboratories, MeInWe's researchers and its collaborators explore conceptual, empirical and normative questions in our work with personalized medicine. The participants experience greater moral awareness and less professional tunnel vision through the Ethics Lab's two exercises: first, participants reflect by themselves and later reflect together but with a dialogue partner on a chosen theme. Financed by Semper Arden grant from the Carlsberg Foundation, awarded to professor Mette Nordahl Svendsen (PI). Link to MeInWe: https://meinwe.ku.dk.

 

2024-2023: WP contributor in the research project REDESIGN, a European ERA PerMed project co-financed by the European Commission: I am responsible for organizing and implementing the Ethical Laboratories. The Ethical Laboratories bring together practitioners and representatives from patient organizations to jointly investigate the moral issues that arise in the integration of patient-derived organoids (PDOs) in precision oncology.

 

Read about previous projects under CV