Marie Curie grant for research into identity changes in people adapting to a life with pain

Peter Stilwell, PhD will be affiliated with the Danish Institute for Advanced Study (DIAS) and the research unit, Movement, Culture, and Society (MoCS), in the Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics (IOB).

Stilwell was recruited through a newly developed visiting fellowship program established by Anthony Vincent Fernandez, Assistant Professor of Applied Philosophy (DIAS, MoCS).

At SDU, Stilwell will conduct research on patients’ experiences of self-identity reconstruction after life-altering pain-related diagnoses and events, such as spinal cord injury.

His interdisciplinary work will include an examination of the key features of clinical interventions and self-management strategies that patients report as helping them adapt to their new life circumstances and reshape their sense of self or identity after it was disrupted by pain.

Stilwell’s connection to SDU began in 2022 when he held an inaugural DIAS-MoCS Visiting Junior Fellowship in Applied Phenomenology. This fellowship program was established by Anthony Vincent Fernandez (DIAS, MoCS) to recruit early career researchers to SDU. As part of this program, Stilwell visited SDU for 1-month to explore the intersection of philosophical phenomenology and qualitative research methods. The fellowship program supported his application for a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship, hosted at IOB.

MSCA Fellowships are among the most prestigious and competitive fellowships in Europe. The MSCA Fellowships can take place in any EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. The program targets top-notch researchers who have received their PhD in the last eight years and wish to carry out their research activities abroad, acquire new skills, exchange knowledge with the host institution, and develop their careers as independent researchers. For more information on the fellowship program used to recruit Stilwell, contact Fernandez.

Stilwell is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at McGill University (Montreal, Quebec). His project supported by the MSCA Fellowship will commence at SDU in early 2024 and last two years. While holding the MSCA Fellowship, he will work closely with Fernandez, Sophie Lykkegaard Ravn (Department of Psychology), as well as members of MoCS and the research unit for Clinical Biomechanics.