Ida Vandsøe Madsen

Ida Vandsøe Madsen is a Teaching Assistant Professor at the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Copenhagen. She is also a PhD student whose research focuses on dementia care and family caregiving in Denmark during the pandemic. She conducts ethnographic research using sound and remote communication methods.

Her research interests include medical and psychological anthropology, phenomenology, temporality, materiality, embodiment, emotions, trauma, memory, family and kinship, care infrastructure, and the Danish welfare state. She has conducted fieldwork with people with osteogenesis imperfecta and dementia patients and their relatives. Her methodological focus includes sound and listening as ethnographic tools.

Her recent research output centers on the dynamics of chronic illness and dementia caregiving, particularly how family members sustain care across physical distance during crises. This reflects broader themes in medical anthropology, care studies, and the impact of structural changes in welfare systems.

Scientific Awards

• No scientific awards listed.

Ida Vandsøe Madsen supervises students in general and medical anthropology and continues her research while teaching. Her PhD project is funded by Nordea Fonden and the Danish Alzheimer Association, under the supervision of Professor Tine Gammeltoft and co-supervision of Professor Nete Schwennesen. She is actively involved in academic networks, including participation in international conferences such as the American Anthropological Association and EASA.

She has been a visiting researcher at UCLA and has delivered invited lectures, including at the University of Cologne. Her public engagement includes media contributions on improving elderly care post-pandemic. She does not lead a lab but is embedded in collaborative research networks focused on dementia, aging, and phenomenology.