Hedvig Gröndal

I have extensive experience from teching both on ungraduate and graduate level in Sociology. I have been the course leader for courses on un-graduate level and I have supervised and examinated several candidate essayes in Sociology. I am also a teacher in the PhD course One Health - concept, cases and methodology.  

All my research concerns the production of medical knowledge, how it is used and contested in professional practices, and the relationship between policy and practice. My studies are always driven by an interest in new angles on matters of extensive societal significance ­-such as antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases- and by an ambition to make theoretical contributions to social theory through empirical evidence. A common theme in my research is the dissection of matters that are seemingly relevant only to medicine and typically not studied within sociology. My research primarily draws on and contributes to medical sociology, science and technology studies/sociology of knowledge, and more recently, human–animal studies and rural sociology. Since I have always studied phenomena that typically belong to the medical sciences, it is crucial for me to cooperate with, and contribute with insights relevant to, actors beyond sociology and the social sciences. Accordingly, I have published various articles in both medical and veterinary science journals and cooperated with researchers from related fields while keeping the research relevant for sociology. 

I have published my research in, for example: Sociology of Health and Illness, Science in Context, Science as Culture, Journal of Dairy Science, BMJ Family Practice and Veterinary Record. I have as main- and co-applicant received founding from the Swedish Research Council, Forte and Formas, Svenska Läkaresällskapet [Swedish Society of Medicine] and SLU Global. I was also co-applicant in, and am a part of, the network “Infections and resistance in primary care - collaboration to contribute to knowledge gaps” (funded by the Swedish Research Council). My on-going research explores knowledge production around infectious animal diseases classified as societal threats (PI Hedvig Gröndal), veterinarians’ practices of prescribing antimicrobials for production animals (PI Hedvig Gröndal), management of antimicrobials for urinary tract infections in primary health care (PI Helena Kornfält Isberg), how knowledge on death causes is produced in medical and bureaucratic practices (PI Mikaela Sundberg) and views and practices regarding risks associated with transmission of STEC from wildlife among farmers and responsible authorities (PI Robert Söderlund).

In 2022, I was awarded the Katrin Fridjonsdottir Prize in the sociology of knowledge with the motivation that my work  is characterized by an‘astute and openly explorative stance and position both in the field of medicine and in sociology of science’. 

I cooperate with social scientists from other universities as well with reserachers in medicine and veterinary science. 

Rajala, E., Gröndal, H., & Sternberg Lewerin, S. (2023). The first outbreak of African swine fever in Sweden: a survey of pig farmers' perceptions of information received, risks, biosecurity measures and future prospects. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, 65(1), 58.

Gröndal, H., Tuominen, K., & Sternberg Lewerin, S. (2023). Perspectives of on‐farm biosecurity and disease prevention among selected pig veterinarians and pig farmers in Sweden. Veterinary Record Open, 10(2), e68.

Gröndal, H., Blanco‐Penedo, I., Fall N.  & Sternberg‐Lewerin, S. (2022). Trust, agreements and occasional breakdowns: veterinarians’ perspectives on farmer-veterinarian relationships and use of antimicrobials for Swedish dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science.

Gröndal, H., Fall, N., Blanco‐Penedo, I., & Sternberg‐Lewerin, S. (2021). Restrictive but not restricted: Perspectives on antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance among Swedish dairy veterinarians. Veterinary record open, 8(1), e25.

Gröndal, H., & Holmberg, T. 2020. Alignment Work: Medical Practice in Managing Antimicrobial Resistance. Science as Culture, 1-21.

Tyrstrup, M., André, M., Brorsson, A., Gröndal, H., Strandberg, E. L., & Hedin, K. 2020. A study of guidelines for respiratory tract infections and their references from Swedish GPs: a qualitative analysis. Scandinavian journal of primary health care, 38(1), 83-91.

Gröndal, H. 2019. Living and Dying with Bacteria: Paradoxical Figures of Death. In Holmberg Death Matters (pp. 89-106). Palgrave Macmillan

Gröndal, H. 2018. The emergence of antimicrobial resistance as a public matter of concern: A Swedish history of a “transformative event”. Science in context, 31(4), 477-500.

Gröndal, H. 2018. Harmless, friendly and lethal: antibiotic misuse in relation to the unpredictable bacterium Group A streptococcus. Sociology of health & illness, 40(7), 1127-1141.

Gröndal, H. 2018. Unpacking rational use of antibiotics: Policy in medical practice and the medical debate (Doctoral dissertation,  Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis).

Gröndal, H. 2016. Iscensättanden av halsfluss: relationella göranden av en sjukdom i medicinska praktiker. Sociologisk forskning, 247-270.

Strandberg, E. L., Brorsson, A., André, M., Gröndal, H., Mölstad, S., & Hedin, K. 2016. Interacting factors associated with Low antibiotic prescribing for respiratory tract infections in primary health care–a mixed methods study in Sweden. BMC family practice, 17(1), 1-10.

Andre, M., Gröndal, H., Strandberg, E. L., Brorsson, A., & Hedin, K. 2016. Uncertainty in clinical practice–an interview study with Swedish GPs on patients with sore throat. BMC family practice, 17(1), 1-8.

Hedin, K., Strandberg, E. L., Gröndal, H., Brorsson, A., Thulesius, H., & André, M. 2014. Management of patients with sore throats in relation to guidelines: an interview study in Sweden. Scandinavian journal of primary health care, 32(4), 193-199.

Gröndal, H., Hedin, K., Strandberg, E. L., André, M., & Brorsson, A. 2015. Near-patient tests and the clinical gaze in decision-making of Swedish GPs not following current guidelines for sore throat–a qualitative interview study. BMC family practice, 16(1), 1-7.

https://www.slu.se/fakulteter/vh/forskning/forskningsprojekt/djurslagsoberoende/i-folkhalsans-frontlinje-hur-svenska-veterinarer-forstar-och-hanterar-epizootier/

https://www.su.se/forskning/forskningsprojekt/hur-skapas-d%C3%B6dsorsaksdata-kunskapsproduktionens-processer

https://www.sva.se/en/what-we-do/research-at-sva/research-projects-at-sva/foka/sources-and-transmission-routes-for-shigatoxigenic-e-coli-in-foods-of-plant-origin/