Thilde Vildekilde

Thilde Vildekilde is an Assistant Professor and Part-time lecturer at the Department of Public Health, Global Health Section, University of Copenhagen's Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. She has been with the University of Copenhagen since 2007, initially as a PhD student and later as a Postdoc before becoming an Assistant Professor in 2013.

Her educational background includes an MSc in Public Health (2007) and BSc in Public Health (2003), both from the University of Copenhagen. During her studies, she conducted field research in Ghana, Bhutan, and Vietnam.

Dr. Vildekilde specializes in medical anthropological research and Public Health in low and middle income countries, with particular expertise in qualitative research methods and research design. Her primary research interests focus on hygiene, sanitation, water, food safety, disease perceptions, health promotion, health communication, learning theories, mental health and self-harm, with geographical expertise in West Africa and South East Asia.

Her publication record shows a consistent focus on community responses to sanitation and hygiene interventions in Vietnam and Ghana, with her most recent work examining communication of COVID-19 guidelines to young adults in Denmark. Her research demonstrates strong methodological consistency in qualitative approaches to understanding health behaviors in diverse cultural contexts.

• 28 total research outputs including journal articles, reports, and conference contributions
• Active research collaboration across multiple countries
• Regular participation in conferences and workshops

Dr. Vildekilde provides research-based teaching and course development in qualitative research methodology within global health. She supervises PhD, MA, MSc and BSc students in qualitative community-based or health facility-based research. Her work bridges academic research with practical health interventions in diverse settings from rural Vietnam to Danish folk high schools.