Anne Ranning

Anne Ranning is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Copenhagen's Faculty of Social Sciences, with a dual appointment at the Mental Health Centre Copenhagen. Her work bridges academic research and clinical practice, focusing on the intersection of mental health, family dynamics, and preventive interventions to address intergenerational transmission of mental illness.

Dr. Ranning earned her PhD in Psychiatry from the University of Copenhagen in 2016 with a dissertation titled 'When Parents Have Serious Mental Illness – Perspectives on children's life circumstances.' She holds a Master's degree in Psychology from the University of Aarhus (2009) and completed clinical psychology training at Université Réné Descartes, Paris 5 (2005).

Her research program centers on the intergenerational transmission of mental illness and adversity, with a particular focus on developing and evaluating preventive interventions for children of parents with mental illness. Dr. Ranning has conducted several nationwide register-based cohort studies documenting the adverse life circumstances faced by children of parents with serious mental illness and suicidal behavior. Her work integrates psychiatric epidemiology with clinical psychology to identify risk factors and develop targeted interventions, particularly through family-based approaches. She has published extensively on suicide prevention, psychiatric epidemiology, and selective prevention strategies.

Dr. Ranning's recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on intergenerational mental health transmission, suicide prevention, and family-based interventions. Her research utilizes Denmark's comprehensive health registries to conduct large-scale population studies, combined with clinical trial methodologies to evaluate preventive approaches. A notable trend is her increasing focus on translating research findings into practical interventions, exemplified by the SAFIR project launched in 2020.

• Tværspuljen: 500,000 DKK for SAFIR på Tværs (2021)
• Danish Health Authorities: 235,000 DKK for National Survey on People exposed to suicide attempts (2020)
• TRYG Foundation: 9.2 million DKK for The SAFIR Family Talk Trial (2019)
• Mental Health Services in the Capital Region: 2.2 million DKK Post doc grant (2018)
• Ole Kirks Fond: 15 million DKK for Research Center for Family Based Interventions (2022)
• TRYG Foundation: 30 million DKK for Research Center for Family Based Interventions (2022)

At the Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Dr. Ranning works clinically with patients with personality disorders and families where parents have mental illness. She is a member of the PI group for the Research Center for Family based Interventions, a newly established center developing and investigating family-based preventive interventions across the Capital and Northern Regions of Denmark. Her SAFIR project represents a major initiative translating her research on intergenerational transmission into a concrete preventive intervention, specifically the Family Talk Preventive Intervention for children and their parents.