Sigrun Olafsdottir University of Iceland, Iceland

Sigrun Olafsdottir is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Iceland.

Her research is at the intersection of medical, political and cultural sociology, and focuses on how broader individual arrangements, cultural traditions, and historical trajectories impact individual lives. For example, her research has examined: 1) How and why mental health has been medicalized in advanced, industrialized nations; 2) Cross-national variations in stigma of mental illness; and 3) How the welfare state and the health care system impact health and health inequalities. Her work has appeared in various journals, including American Journal of Sociology, Annual Review of Sociology, European Sociological Review, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and Social Science and Medicine. Her research has been supported by agencies including the National Institutes of Health, The National Science Foundation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Icelandic Centre for Research. She is actively engaged in cross-national collaboration and is the Project Manager for Iceland in the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP).