From student assistant to Sapere Aude recipient

Thursday 20 June was a highlight of Maria Louison Vang’s academic career so far. Years of hard work culminated in the DFF’s Sapere Aude grant of DKK 6 million, which is awarded to excellent young researchers who are ready to lead several participants in a research project at a high international level.

This also means that in the coming years, the 32-year-old associate professor from SDU will have the time and the resources to further investigate key issues from her research field, namely what trauma is, what triggers it and how it can best be identified. 

Improving our understanding of trauma 

This ties in with the new revision of the diagnostic system (ICD-11), which is the WHO’s 11th edition of the international classification system for diseases and other health-related conditions, which will be implemented in the Danish healthcare system in the coming years. This allows for a broader definition of the criterion for what constitutes trauma and requires new knowledge in the field to ensure that the best care is provided to people who are exposed to trauma. 

Trauma as a cause of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has only been mentioned in the WHO manual of diagnoses and conditions since ICD-10, which was published around the same year that Maria Louison Vang was born. To understand how she became one of the most important people in terms of understanding Danes who are exposed to trauma, we need to turn back time to 2010 when she was applying to university. 

Almost became a Negot student

- I’m from Funen and I really wanted to study at SDU. It was between applying for the Negot programme or going for psychology. The language programme was my top priority, but I ended up calling them on the last day and asking them to change the priority in my application. And luckily, I ended up in the right place in psychology and I was enrolled in the programme.

She quickly became absorbed in the research and the level of detail that came with it. The National Centre for Psychotraumatology was looking for a student assistant to help with an IT system after her first year of studies, and she applied for the job, as she wanted to get ‘inside’ the academic environment.

I started by organising the archive. I had to tidy it up and staple articles together. I corrected reference lists for articles to be submitted to journals and similar routine tasks. This meant that I was indirectly trained in the everyday routines of doing research, she explains. 

Gradually, Maria Louison Vang became more experienced in navigating the tasks and she was given increasingly demanding tasks that also contributed more substantially to the research activities. Ask Elklit and the rest of the research group took very good care of her, she emphasises.

A long way from home in Ulster

Partway through her psychology studies, she came into contact with Professor Kaya Roessler who invited her to join a project that focused on communication between doctors and patients. 

- The focus and the scientific theoretical and methodological starting points, including interviews and observations, were completely different from what I was used to, and I learned a lot from working with Kaya and the doctors, the patients and the hospital departments in the project. 

After she graduated, a unique opportunity arose and Maria Louison Vang applied to join a PhD programme in CONTEXT, an EU-funded collaboration between Denmark (University of Southern Denmark, De Danske Børnehuse [Danish Children’s Centres] and the Red Cross), Ireland (Trinity College Dublin, Spirasi and Dublin Rape Crisis Centre) and Northern Ireland (Ulster University, Northern Ireland Police Service and the Probation Board of Northern Ireland). 

- I didn’t get the PhD I applied for, but I had written in my application that I wished to be considered for any PhD in the programme, and then I was invited to interview for a PhD on secondary traumatisation in the Danish Children’s Centres, and I jumped at the offer. 

A training programme in basic psychotraumatology was included in the position at Ulster University, as well as focused stays at Trinity College Dublin and the University of Southern Denmark. 

- It was a really good programme for junior researchers. I had an extremely competent main supervisor who made time for me and also challenged me. I learned a lot about statistical analysis and about how to make the most of your time as a researcher – how to establish collaborations, plan your time and use the organisational structures around the educational process to help you advance.

Back where it all started

Maria Louison Vang has thus been introduced to all the choreography of being a successful researcher during her education programme from start to finish, so that today she is able to carry herself with confidence on the academic dance floor, so to speak. 

After a postdoc position in which the talented researcher continued her collaboration with the Danish Children’s Centres, in 2022 she was employed as an associate professor in a joint position with 80% employment at the National Centre for Psychotraumatology and 20% at the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at OUH. 

And here she is today with a Sapere Aude grant to investigate the central questions about trauma that she has always wondered about. 

Trauma does not have to ruin so many lives

- The extreme situation that trauma is can help us understand how we function as humans. I find it interesting to study trauma as a prism. Today, many lives are lost, but they don’t have to be if we can intervene faster with the necessary help. I hope to be able to make a difference for these people, she says.

You don’t have to talk about trauma for very long with the young researcher to realise that she is not only incredibly knowledgeable about the topic – she can also talk about it for an incredibly long time. Several times during the interview, she urges the interviewer to intervene if she goes on for too long. 

- I’m happy to have discovered the research field early in my career, so that I have a lot of time to research it, she laughs.

Sharing the positive experiences with the next generation

When asked if she would like to highlight something in her office that may not be found in other offices, Maria Louison Vang has to search a for little while, but eventually she turns her gaze to the windowsill and the coloured stars and the colourful cocktail stick placed there. They remind Maria Louison Vang to celebrate the small successes that she and her colleagues achieve.

- There are a lot of non-acceptances and rejections in academia, so I try to make a point of celebrating the milestones, big and small, just as my colleagues do for me. The world of academia can be tough, and I’ve often wondered if it’s worth it. 

- But when I’ve really been under pressure, someone has always taken the time to listen and to understand my situation. And they have offered support, encouragement – and they’ve challenged me. This has been crucial for me to keep going. In my associate professor assessment, it was noted that my productivity may also be partly due to the fact that I have been a member of a research group that has nurtured me well and helped me fulfil my potential. This is true for several of the groups I have had the pleasure of being a part of, and I would love to pass this approach on to the next generation of young researchers, says Maria Louison Vang.