21 September 2020

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recently elected three new members. One of these is Ericka Johnson, professor of gender and society at Linköping University. Ericka Johnson was elected to the Class for humanities and for outstanding services to science.

Ericka Johnson’s research focusses primarily on medical technologies and their relation to sex, gender, body and identity. With a starting point in feminist science studies, medical sociology and science and technology studies (STS), she is interested in how knowledge of the body is constructed and reproduced. In particular, she has studied Viagra, the HPV vaccine and the prostate. She is currently working on issues that appear when care robots are developed.

Now, Ericka Johnson has been elected member number 1743 of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in recognition of her outstanding scientific achievements.
Regarding how she wants to contribute to the academy, she says:

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to discuss the advantages of interdisciplinary research – the way it’s conducted at LiU and how it’s expressed by way of the recently established Centre for Medical Humanities and Bioethics here.”

Linda Tacconi at the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics and Takehiko Kitamori at the University of Tokyo were elected foreign members of the classes for astronomy and space science and engineering sciences.


Contact

Latest news from LiU

Campus Norrköping.

SEK 50 million from the Swedish Research Council to LiU

The Swedish Research Council has awarded SEK 50 million to LiU. This is the outcome of six calls for proposals where the allocation of grants was recently decided. The research covers areas such as segregation, youth crime and opioid dependence.

Protection against winter vomiting bug spread with arrival of agriculture

A genetic variant that protects against stomach virus infections appeared when humans began farming. This is shown by researchers at LiU and Karolinska Institutet, after analysing the genomes of 4,300 ancient individuals and cultivated “mini-guts”.

Physician measures a young man's blood pressure.

High blood pressure in adolescence a silent risk

A blood pressure as low as 120/80 mm Hg in adolescence is linked to a higher risk of atherosclerosis in middle age. These findings indicate that high blood pressure early in life plays an important role in the development of coronary artery disease.