Victoria Awortwe

Short presentation

I am a PhD student in medical science at Uppsala University, and a member of U-CARE, http://www.u-care.uu.se/. The goal of U-CARE is to increase wellbeing among patients and close one living with somatic disease. I have experience in health and social care research, network analysis, qualitative and quantitative methods, social innovation, and systematic reviews.

Keywords

• equity
• evidence synthesis
• mental health
• network analysis
• qualitative research
• quantitative research
• social determinants of mental health
• social determinants screening
• wellbeing

Biography

• I have a BA in Social work from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana.
• While at KNUST, I received the "Obaa Mmo" award as the best female student of my cohort, and the Royal Bank Award as the overall best student (first runner-up).
• I worked as teaching assistant at KNUST and taught courses related to family counselling, human relations, and psychosocial behavior formation. I also supervised a number of undergraduate thesis.
• I was selected for MFAMILY, a prestigious 2-year Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's programme in Social Work with Families and Children, funded by the European Union. MFAMILY is jointly delivered by a European consortium comprising University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal), the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), the University of Stavanger (Norway), and Makerere University (Uganda).
• Before joining CIRCLE, I did a number of internships at Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP), Department of Social welfare, and Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Ghana; and at Associação Humanidades (Humanus), Centro Social da Musgueira, and Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa in Portugal.
• Since 2022, I have worked as a PhD student within U-CARE and CIRCLE – Complex Intervention Research in Health and Care at Uppsala University.
• I am one of the internship cordinators for U-CARE and the CIRCLE research group. Each year, the CIRCLE research group provides Global Health master students with the opportunity to intern with us, participate in ongoing research projects, recieve training, and expand their network.
• I co-lead the Journal club, and a member of U-CARE BrainPub group, and the U-CARE Collaboration Group.
• I received a travel grant from Svenska Sällskapet för Medicinsk Forskning in 2025.
• I participated in the 2026-EH6138 Training for change: enhancing inclusivity in clinical trials course.

Research

• My PhD is situated in Global mental health, and my doctoral project employs pragmatist-critical realist perspectives to identifying social determinants of mental health that are relevant to the Ghanaian contexts and can be targeted to reduce the burden of mental disorders at the population-level and also improve the responsiveness of mental healthcare to diverse populations.
• My work also explores contextual considerations for implementing social determinants screening in mental healthcare in Ghana.
• I have co-authored peer-reviewed publications related to health and social care research. One of the articles I co-authored titled "Psychotic-like experiences and adverse life events in young people. Does gender matter? was recognised by Wiley as a top cited article.
• My research has had an impact beyond academia. For example, one of the articles I co-authored titled "Breaking the cycle: Systematic review of perinatal interventions for parents at risk of child removal" has been cited in the "Separating fact from fear in drug-related child welfare policy," US.
• I have also reviewed a number of scientific articles, including articles in BMC Public health, Child and Youth Services Review, Child Protection and Practice, Digital Health, Discover Mental Health, International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, Journal of Humanities, Plos One, Social Service Review, and South African Journal of Psychiatry.
• I have presented my research at international and national conferences, including the European Public Health Conference in Lisbon (2024), SIHI Sweden Conference (2025), Uppsala Africa Days, and the U-CARE Venue in Uppsala (2023, 2025).