Research Areas

Anthropological aspects of human-technology relations, health care and nursing education, simulation training and care work

Ann Katrine B. Soffer is a PhD Fellow at Aarhus University, Department of Education in Copenhagen, Denmark. At Aarhus University she is a part of the research program for Organizational Learning and affiliated with the research project ‘Technucation: Technological Literacy and new Employee Driven Innovation through Education’ exploring the implementation and use of new technologies in the human-centered professions of teaching and nursing. Prior to her fellowship at Aarhus University, Ann Katrine held a position at University of Georgia, College of Education, where she conducted program evaluations and research studies with the Program Evaluation Group (PEG).

Areas of interest: 

Under the overarching title: "Caring for plastic: exploring the use of skills labs in Danish nursing education", I use ethnographic methods to study simulation-based training in nursing education.  My research focuses on topics relating to professional practice, care work and technology, and I explore notions and practices related to care, when patient bodies are replaced with plastic dummies.

In 2011-2012 I followed a group of recently enrolled nursing students during their first semester, both during classroom lectures, clinical placements and simulation training in the skills lab. Through empirical analysis of the data collected during this fieldwork, I believe insights about care work can be gained which can draw new connections between plastic technologies and care practices.

This PhD-project ties together my areas of interest in understanding how care is taught and practiced, how simulation training relates to professional practice, and how mediation occurs between distinct spaces and systems.

Publications underway while in residence at UC Berkeley:

During my time at UC Berkeley I will continue to work on an article, entitled: Documenting Detaching Care Practices in Nursing Education