Skip to main content ITU
Logo
  • Programmes
    • BSc Programmes
    • BSc in Global Business Informatics
    • BSc in Digital Design and Interactive Technologies
    • BSc in Software Development
    • BSc in Data Science
    • Applying for a BSc programme
    • MSc Programmes
    • MSc in Digital Innovation & Management
    • MSc in Digital Design and Interactive Technologies
    • MSc in Software Design
    • MSc in Computer Science
    • MSc in Data Science
    • MSc in Games
    • Applying for an MSc programme
    • Student Life
    • Women in tech
    • Student organisations at ITU
    • Labs for students
    • Practical Information for International Students
    • Ask a student
    • Study Start
    • Study and Career Guidance
    • Guest Students
    • Who can be a Guest Student
    • ITU Summer University
    • Exchange Student
    • Become an exchange student at ITU
    • Open House
    • Open House - MSc programmes
    • Open House - BSc programmes
  • Professional Education
    • Master in IT
    • Master in IT Management
    • Single Subjects
    • About single subjects
    • Contact
    • Contact us here
  • Research
    • Departments
    • Business IT Department
    • Computer Science Department
    • Digital Design Department
    • Research Groups and Labs
    • Research Groups
    • Labs
    • Research Centres
    • Centre for Digital Play
    • Center for Climate IT
    • Center for Computing Education Research
    • Centre for Digital Welfare
    • Centre for Information Security and Trust
    • European Blockchain Centre
    • Danish Institute for IT Program Management
    • ITU Research Portal
    • Find Researcher
    • Find Research
    • Research Ethics and Integrity
    • Good Scientific Practice
    • Technical Reports
    • Technical Reports
    • PhD Programme
    • About the PhD Programme
    • PhD Courses
    • PhD Defences
    • PhD Positions
    • Types of Enrolment
    • PhD Handbook
    • PhD Support
  • Collaboration
    • Collaboration with students
    • Project collaboration
    • Project Market
    • Student worker
    • Project postings
    • Job and Project bank
    • Employer Branding
    • IT Match Making
    • Hiring an ITU student or graduate
    • Make a post in the job bank
    • Research collaboration
    • Licensing Opportunities
    • Open Entrepreneurship
    • Research collaboration
    • Industrial PhD
    • Hire an Industrial PhD
    • Innovation and entrepreneurship
    • ITU Business Development
    • ITU Startup programme
  • About ITU
    • About ITU
    • Press
    • Vacancies
    • Contact
  • DK
ITU researchers receive funding to create digital mental healthcare platform for Syrian refugees
ITU  /  Press  /  News from ITU  /  ITU researchers receive funding to create digital mental healthcare platform for Syrian refugees

ITU researchers receive funding to create digital mental healthcare platform for Syrian refugees

The Novo Nordisk Foundation is financing a one-year project aiding healthcare workers and Syrian refugees in Jordan to the tune of two million kroner. The project is spearheaded by Associate Professor Lars Rune Christensen and PhD fellow Hasib Ahsan who have previously worked on digital healthcare screening of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Lars Rune ChristensenResearchBusiness IT Departmentgrants

Written August 16, 2021 10:13 AM by Jari Kickbusch

The war in Syria has claimed upwards of 500,000 casualties and sent millions of people fleeing their homes. Many have sought safety and shelter in neighbouring Jordan which, according to the UN Refugee Agency, is currently housing 664,414 Syrian refugees. The actual figure, sources claim, may be as high as 1.3 million.

The majority of refugees in Jordan live in camps one of which is the Zaatari camp housing close to 80,000 Syrians. Scarred by the atrocities of war, many refugees in the camp are severely traumatised and suffer from mental illness. It is, however, exceedingly difficult for the healthcare workers at the camp to properly treat the refugees in need of help because mental illness is much harder to identify than a broken bone.

Digital screening application
Over the course of the coming year, a team of researchers led by Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen Lars Rune Christensen will develop a digital mental healthcare platform intended for use in the Jordanian refugee camps. Their hope is to provide Syrian refugees with the help they so desperately need. The application is a so-called mHealth (Mobile Health) based on the WHO’s Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20 (SRQ-20). The SRQ-20 contains 20 questions designed to evaluate physical and mental health in a patient inquiring about their current emotional state, suicidal ideation, and physical symptoms. Results from the questionnaire are then evaluated and used as basis for referrals to healthcare specialists who use the mHealth app in their practice.

- We will be working closely with JHASi, a local non-profit health aid society, in creating a digital platform with which we in the first year alone expect to screen 15,000 refugees in Jordan for mental health issues. The primary goal is to provide refugees with the treatment they might otherwise not have received. Looking at the bigger picture, we can use the screening data to document the enormous need for mental healthcare among refugees in general, says Lars Rune Christensen.

By the end of the one-year project period, JHASi will resume responsibility of the digital platform and ensure that it continues to benefit the refugees in Jordan. To PhD fellow Hasib Ahsan the success of the project depends on its success as a practical application:

- It is important that our efforts and research in digital healthcare can be of practical use to our project collaborators after the initial project period has run its course. It is very important to create a lasting positive contribution in the region in addition to gaining valuable insights through our research, he says.

Success in Bangladesh
Lars Rune Christensen and Hasib Ahsan have previously developed digital healthcare tools aimed at improving the lives of refugees. Since 2017, they have developed, tested, and integrated applications into healthcare initiatives in the Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh where more the 600,000 people have sought refuge from persecution and ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. In the camp, they were able to determine that according to WHO’s screening results 20.1 percent of the refugees were potentially in need of treatment.

Millions could benefit
Funding for the projects in Bangladesh also came from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Lars Rune Christensen and Hasib Ahsan er grateful that the foundation is now providing them the opportunity to continue their work in refugee camps in Jordan where differences in the healthcare system and the attitudes towards healthcare provide new challenges. In the long run, it is Lars Rune Christensen’s hope that the mHealth application can be implemented in even more of the world’s conflict zones where people flee the threat of war and violence.

- We know that there are almost 80 million refugees world-wide. There are many different experiences of war and violence. Some refugees have been subject to sexual abuse; others have seen family members killed. It goes without saying that experiences like that need treatment, but relief aid is typically focused on tangible issues like providing food and shelter and treating physical wounds and illnesses. We hope that with our research we can help shine a light on the mental suffering many refugees experience and hopefully contribute with a solution to the problem that can inspire others, says Lars Rune Christensen.

Read more about mHealth in Bangladesh

News

How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg receives impressive media coverage all over the world

How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg receives impressive media coverage all over the world

March 24, 2023

Bent Flyvbjerg, Professor at IT-University of Copenhagen and University of Oxford, has recently had his book How Big Things Get Done published. The book has received a spectacular welcome and a massive press coverage worldwide.

Do deepfake videos challenge the integrity of online information?

Do deepfake videos challenge the integrity of online information?

March 7, 2023

Deepfakes – highly realistic synthetic audio-video content depicting actual individuals – may potentially increase the dissemination of disinformation online, but research on the phenomenon and how users are affected is sparse. A new research project spearheaded by the IT University’s Human-Centered Data Science research group tackles the issue.

Professor portrait: Teaching and teaching teaching is Claus Brabrand’s hallmark

Professor portrait: Teaching and teaching teaching is Claus Brabrand’s hallmark

March 6, 2023

On March 23, Claus Brabrand, Head of the Center for Computing Education Research (CCER) and member of the Computer Science Department at the IT University of Copenhagen, will present his inaugural lecture as professor. He has spent the past twenty years working in educational research and is today considered a thought leader in the field. The lecture will take place at 14:00 in Auditorium 0 (zero).

ITU web server targeted by attackers, system integrity remains intact

ITU web server targeted by attackers, system integrity remains intact

February 28, 2023

On Thursday, February 23, ITU’s web server was targeted by cyberattackers. The server went offline briefly but the system integrity remains intact.

ITU project to monitor illegal hate speech on social media platforms

ITU project to monitor illegal hate speech on social media platforms

February 27, 2023

Social media platforms are required by law to remove illegal content – such as hate speech – but in Denmark, monitoring of the platforms ceased in 2018. A new ITU lead project aims to monitor platforms for instances of hate speech in Danish and report to the EU.

Ambitious EU funded robot research project to ensure sustainable food handling

Ambitious EU funded robot research project to ensure sustainable food handling

February 20, 2023

The EU MOZART project investigates the latest robotic technologies and system solutions to drive the food industry towards economic, social, and environmental sustainability. The project is coordinated by Professor Kasper Støy of the IT University of Copenhagen.

New research and industry collaboration to improve usability of cyber security tools

New research and industry collaboration to improve usability of cyber security tools

February 6, 2023

Cyberattacks are multi-dimensional, but cybersecurity software lacks the ability to represent threats. A new research and industry collaboration headed up on the ITU side by Associate Professor of Digital Design at the IT University, Daniel Cermak-Sassenrath, sets out to make cybersecurity tools more accessible and usable.

New face at ITU to help build the “Danish embassy of AI”

New face at ITU to help build the “Danish embassy of AI”

February 6, 2023

Associate Professor of Computer Science, Toine Bogers, is a new face at the IT University of Copenhagen. Alongside his work at ITU, he is also the new Chief Scientific Officer of the Pioneer Centre for AI – a collaborative effort between five Danish universities to conduct and facilitate fundamental research in AI.

Radu-Cristian Curticapean secures funding from Villum Fonden for research in resource requirements

Radu-Cristian Curticapean secures funding from Villum Fonden for research in resource requirements

January 24, 2023

This year, 22 research talents from the technical and natural sciences will receive a combined total of DKK 126 million through Villum Fonden Young Investigator Programme. One of this year’s recipients is Associate Professor of Computer Science from the IT University of Copenhagen, Radu-Cristian Curticapean who has been awarded 3 million DKK for research in the field of theoretical computer science.

Regarding incident at last year's exam

Regarding incident at last year's exam

January 13, 2023

Students taking the Security 1 exam on December 22, 2022, were presented with an exam set identical to last year’s. The university administration is still in the process of investigating the incident.

ITU researcher receives grant to develop quantum-inspired algorithms

ITU researcher receives grant to develop quantum-inspired algorithms

December 19, 2022

Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, Michael Kastoryano, has secured 5 million kroner from the Carlsberg Foundation to develop quantum-inspired algorithms.

ITU researcher receives grant to enable powerful machine learning in smaller hardware environments

ITU researcher receives grant to enable powerful machine learning in smaller hardware environments

December 16, 2022

Associate Professor of Computer Science at the IT University of Copenhagen, Pınar Tözün, has secured 2.7 million kroner from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to develop novel mechanisms to get more value out of data using the computing power of small devices.

ITU researcher secures ERC Consolidator grant to develop rapid learning abilities in AI

ITU researcher secures ERC Consolidator grant to develop rapid learning abilities in AI

December 13, 2022

Professor Sebastian Risi from the IT University’s Digital Design department has received 1.9 million Euros from the European Research Council to develop AI that is capable of adapting to and learning from unforeseen events in a bid to unleash more of the enormous potential of autonomous machines.

Research spinout LAIKA helps creative writers overcome the dreaded writer’s block

Research spinout LAIKA helps creative writers overcome the dreaded writer’s block

December 5, 2022

Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, Martin Pichlmair, has spearheaded the development of LAIKA – new artificial intelligence that acts as a helping hand for creative writers struggling to find inspiration. Today, LAIKA is officially launched as a spinout company in collaboration with the ITU Business Unit.

Cooperative enterprise is in our cultural DNA – so why aren’t we better at it today?

Cooperative enterprise is in our cultural DNA – so why aren’t we better at it today?

November 29, 2022

Cooperative enterprise may help tackle some of society’s greatest problems, chief among them a constantly changing labour market. Traditionally, cooperative enterprise has played an important role in Denmark, but the business form is marginalized today. The IT University research group Reflection and Action (Reflact) is working on changing that.

Routledge to publish long awaited handbook of collective intelligence

Routledge to publish long awaited handbook of collective intelligence

November 23, 2022

The handbook, which is co-edited by Assistant Professor of the IT University, Carina Antonia Hallin, will provide a much-needed foundation for working in the field of collective intelligence combining human minds and technology for democracy and governance. The book is available for pre-order now.

ITU researcher secures prestigious EU funding for research in theoretical computer science

ITU researcher secures prestigious EU funding for research in theoretical computer science

November 22, 2022

Associate Professor Radu-Cristian Curticapean at the IT University of Copenhagen’s Computer Science department has received a 1.5 million Euro grant from the European Research Council to conduct research in the field of theoretical computer science.

IRFD funds ITU research in voter coercion and graph modification problems

IRFD funds ITU research in voter coercion and graph modification problems

November 15, 2022

IT University of Copenhagen researchers Oksana Kulyk and Paloma Thomé De Lima have been awarded 2.8 million kroner for their respective projects from the Independent Research Fund Denmark.

New research center focuses on IT aspects of the green transition

New research center focuses on IT aspects of the green transition

November 11, 2022

On December 7, the IT University of Copenhagen is launching the new Center for Climate IT which will examine the complex relationship between digitalization and climate change. Join us for an opening reception and panel debate.

Gaming AI engine developers modl.ai close 8.5-million-euro funding deal

Gaming AI engine developers modl.ai close 8.5-million-euro funding deal

November 9, 2022

The company, co-founded by Professor at the IT University, Sebastian Risi, tackles complex game development problems with automation and an army of bots.

Contact us

Phone
+45 7218 5000
E-mail
itu@itu.dk

All contact information

Web Accessibility Statement

Find us

IT University of Copenhagen
Rued Langgaards Vej 7
DK-2300 Copenhagen S
Denmark
How to get here

Follow us

ITU Student /
Privacy /
EAN-nr. 5798000417878/
CVR-nr. 29 05 77 53

This page is printed from https://en.itu.dk/