Public Health

#165: Covid Vaccine Hesitancy in Sweden, with Dr. Mia-Marie Hammarlin

October 7, 2023 Academics

Dr. Mia-Marie Hammarlin, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at Lund University, shares her research on vaccine hesitancy in Sweden. We discuss the major themes of coronavirus vaccine skepticism on the Swedish online forum Flashback, as well as Dr. Hammarlin’s ethnographic research meeting with vaccine hesitant communities.


Here are links to Dr. Hammarlin’s research mentioned in the episode:


COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Matters of Life and Death (2023)

I bonded with COVID vaccine sceptics over saunas and Mother Earth rituals (2023)


And check out HT-samtal, a podcast on humanities research from Lund! 

#114: The Hype Machine: Political Implications of the Social Media Industrial Complex, with Prof. Sinan Aral

September 19, 2020 Academics

Sinan Aral, David Austin Professor of Management at MIT and Director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, discusses his new book “The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health—and How We Must Adapt.”


Prof. Aral breaks down key theoretical concepts from the book, which outlines some of the fundamental mechanisms for how social media platforms operate. We also discuss the science behind these concepts and they implications they have for elections, politics, and society.