BA(Hons), PhD
Dr Asha Persson is a Senior Research Fellow with the Centre for Social Research in Health (formerly the National Centre in HIV Social Research). She was awarded a PhD in social anthropology from Sydney University in 2001. She took up her position at CSRH in 2001.
Research Areas
Over the past 18 years, Asha has conducted a range of qualitative projects on various cultural and lived aspects of HIV, with particular focus on previously hidden or under-researched populations in the Australian epidemic, including heterosexuals, children growing up with HIV, straight-identified men who have sex with men, couples with mixed HIV status, and families living with a blood-borne virus. Her research aims to draw attention to the experiences and needs of these populations and to contribute to scholarly knowledge of the cultural interplay between illness, medicine, gender, sexuality and society.
Asha has published widely in high-profile international journals in the fields of health sociology, medical anthropology, cultural studies and HIV.
Areas of expertise for supervision
Social anthropology, ethnography, cultural phenomenology, embodiment, medicine, cultural practice, gender and sexuality, health and illness, HIV/AIDS.
Areas of expertise for supervision
Asha welcomes supervision of postgraduate projects that focus on the intersections of HIV, gender, sexuality, embodiment, medicine, health and illness, and cultural practice, particularly projects situated in the fields of social and medical anthropology, ethnography, cultural phenomenology, and sociology of health and illness.
Selected grants
Kelly-Hanku, A., Persson, A. & Worth, H. Understanding global biomedical technologies in local realities: The case of couples with mixed HIV status in Papua New Guinea. ARC Discovery Project [DP 160103659]: $666,000.
Newman, Persson, valentine, Hamilton, Bryant, Wallace (2015) Critical perspectives on serodiscordance in family life: Understanding and strengthening family responses to blood borne infectious disease. ARC Discovery Project [DP160100134]: $307,550.
Newman, Persson, Manolas, de Wit, Holt, Callander, Ooi, Rutherford (2015-2016) StraightMSM Study: Heterosexually identified men who have sex with men. NSW Health BBV & STI Research, Intervention and Strategic Evaluation Program (BRISE): $74,412. UNSW Project ID: RG133987.
Newman, C., Persson, A., & de Wit, J. (2013) Sifting hope from hype: Media representations of the changing science of HIV prevention. FASS/NCHSR Research Promotion Grant: $3968
Persson, A., Newman, C., & Miller, A. (2013) HIV-positive children transitioning to adolescence and adulthood. Gilead Fellowship: $20,000
Persson, A., Newman, C., & Miller, A. (2012) HIV-positive children transitioning to adolescence and adulthood. FASS/NCHSR Research Promotion Grant: $3000
Persson, A., Ellard, J., Triffit, K., Prestage, G., Brown, G. & de Wit, J. (2012) Managing HIV, sex and risk in serodiscordant couples in a changing epidemic. NSW Ministry of Health (funding 2013-2015, $207,850)
Persson, A. (2006) The Straightpoz study: Men and women living heterosexually with HIV. NSW Ministry of Health (funding 2006–2010, $96,000)
Newman, C. & Persson, A. (2006) The making of HIV and heterosexuality in the mainstream Australian print media. UNSW Faculty Research Grant (Reference numbers: PS08868 and PS08752) $8557
Persson, A.and Ellard, J. (2004) Treatment histories: Contextualising social and individual narratives of HIV therapy across time. UNSW Faculty Research Grant (Reference number: PS05195) $9950
Persson, A. (2003) Locating lipodystrophy: a regional study of the cultural context of HIV and body shape change: The Northern Rivers study. UNSW Faculty Research Grant (Reference number: PS03498) $7986