Morten Skovdal

Morten Skovdal is a Professor in the Section of Health Services Research within the Department of Public Health at the University of Copenhagen's Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. His work applies community health psychology to address social and structural factors influencing health service engagement and psychosocial well-being, with focus on underserved groups including children, young people, and forcibly displaced populations across global health challenges like HIV, climate change, and migration.

His academic credentials include:

• PhD in Psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science (2009)
• MSc in International Child Health (with distinction) from University College London (2006)
• BSc in Geography and Population Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (2003)

Skovdal specializes in participatory research methods to co-create solutions with marginalized communities. His work examines health inequalities through lenses of gender norms, mobility, and chronic disease management in displacement contexts, emphasizing community-led approaches to challenge dominant narratives and develop responsive interventions.

Recent publications (2025-2026) reveal thematic clusters around continuity of care for forcibly displaced persons with chronic illnesses, particularly HIV and cardiometabolic conditions. Key trends include community health worker roles in refugee settlements, gendered dimensions of HIV prevention, interprofessional mental healthcare for refugees, and youth mental health de-pathologization through participatory frameworks.

He supervises bachelor's theses in qualitative methods and leads major funded initiatives:

• CONTINUITY project (PI, Novo Nordisk Foundation 2022-2027): Mobility and chronic disease care among South Sudanese refugees
• Tanzania climate crisis project (PI, Danish Ministry 2021-2026): Children's coping with environmental change
• NIH HIV prevention study (Co-I 2023-2028): Male peer network interventions
• Tanzania reproductive health project (Co-I 2019-2029): Co-created clinical guidelines

As Principal Investigator of the CONTINUITY project, he coordinates a multinational consortium including Makerere University and African NGOs, conducting fieldwork in Bidibidi refugee settlement with community stakeholders to develop mobility-competent health services for displaced populations.