Project News | Celebrating Casper Knudsen's PhD Defense
On October 29th, Casper Knudsen successfully defended his PhD thesis, “Adapting to Change: Medical Secretaries and the Ongoing Work of Maintaining Data Quality in Hospitals,” at Aalborg University’s Department of Sustainability and Planning. His research, part of the Making Data Work Possible project, highlights the essential yet often invisible work of medical secretaries in upholding data quality within hospitals, underscoring their foundational role in the data-driven transformation of healthcare.
On October 29th, we celebrated a significant milestone as Casper Knudsen successfully defended his PhD thesis, “Adapting to Change: Medical Secretaries and the Ongoing Work of Maintaining Data Quality in Hospitals,” at the Department of Sustainability and Planning, Aalborg University. Casper's research, part of the “Making Data Work Possible” project, provides a compelling look into the crucial yet often invisible data work that healthcare staff, particularly medical secretaries, perform to ensure data quality in hospitals. His work highlights the critical role of these professionals in supporting ‘data-driven healthcare’ through meticulous, human-centered data practices.
The defense event was a collaborative gathering of experts, featuring Supervisor Pernille S. Bertelsen and Co-supervisor Claus Bossen, both of whom are involved in the larger research initiative. Opponents for the defense included Assistant Professor Tom Børsen (AAU), Professor Klaus Høyer (KU), and Adjunct Assistant Professor Kerin Robinson (La Trobe University).
The Making Data Work Visible project extends its warmest congratulations to Casper for this outstanding achievement, which marks a valuable addition to our understanding of data work in healthcare and shines a light on the essential contributions of medical secretaries within an evolving digital landscape.