Eva Elmerstig
Senior lecturer/Associate Professor

Presentation

PhD in Gender and Medicine, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Health and Society field of Sexology and Sexuality Studies, and Associate Director at the Centre for Sexology and Sexuality Studies (CSS).

A common thread throughout my research is the integration of perspectives from both health and society, with a particular focus on sexuality as well as sexual and reproductive health.

My main areas of research are:

• Psychosocial aspects and sexual health related to involuntary childlessness. I am part of an international research collaboration on fertility and infertility, connected to the Swedish-Danish EU health project ReproUnion within reproductive medicine. I lead a research group focusing on psychosocial and sexual health in the context of involuntary childlessness, and we are also developing digital eHealth support. In addition, I am a member of ReproUnion’s Executive Board and the steering committee for RUBIC – ReproUnion Biobank and Infertility Cohort.

• Sexual health in relation to illness and different phases of life. In this research area, I study how illnesses and different stages of life can affect sexual health. Ongoing projects include sexuality and cancer, sexuality and acquired brain injury, young people’s experiences of living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), health and well-being during menopause, sexual health in connection with childbirth, as well as the development and implementation of the method SEXIT Adult.

• International research collaborations on sexuality and sexual health. As part of The Global Sexualities Project, I examine sexuality in an international perspective through comparative analyses across 29 countries.

• Young people and sexuality. Young people and sexuality have been part of my research since the very beginning of my academic career. I focus on aspects such as gender and sexuality, genital pain, and issues related to sexual consent.

I also supervise three PhD students; Anna Hart, who explores the experiences of sexuality among young adults with intellectual disabilities, Josephine Pettersson, who investigates how dietary interventions affect physical activity, quality of life, and psychosexual health among young people with IBD and Alexis Gainza Solenzal, who works on the adaptation and evaluation of the SEXIT Adult method.