A. Elisabeth Hasselström
“Infectious disease outbreaks are among the most dangerous threats to humanity. Contributing to reducing the likelihood of epidemics by enhancing community engagement, risk communication, and information management is more than a worthwhile pursuit”
About
A. Elisabeth Hasselström is a researcher specializing in risk and crisis communication, with a particular focus on health communication, governance, and politics in digital media environments. Her research examines public crisis leadership, strategic communication, power and legitimacy, societal resilience, and the evolving role of digital media in societal crises. She draws on both quantitative and qualitative methods, often using comparative and longitudinal approaches.
Hasselström holds a PhD in Communication and Leadership. Her doctoral research examined how national public health authorities communicated and exercised crisis leadership during prolonged emergencies, with particular attention to strategic communication, digital media, and public engagement.
She has taught crisis communication and leadership in both Norway and Sweden, in collaboration with Kristiania University of Applied Sciences in Oslo, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences in Rena, and Mid Sweden University in Sundsvall.
Hasselström’s Recent Research
Scientific Publications
- Hasselström, Anna Elisabeth; Mohamed Nour, Magde; Diers-Lawson Audra; Estella Pauline Gidget; Lawson, Stuart & Löffelholz, Martin (2026) Communication as leadership: adaptive communicative leadership in public health mega-crises. Front. Commun. 11:1868921. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2026.1868921
- Diers-Lawson, Audra; Hasselström, Anna Elisabeth; Omondi, Grace; & Jacobsen, Roy Aulie (2026). Science, Social Media, and Skepticism. In The Handbook of Health Communication in the Global South (eds T. Tufte, V. Pavarala and E. Govender). doi: 10.1002/9781394282470.ch16
- Hasselström, Anna Elisabeth (2026). Distributing Instructive and Legitimate Crisis Communication: COVID-19 Press Conferences in Scandinavia. Mediální studia 20(SI1), 14–35. doi: 10.65502/si1-2026.02
- Hasselström, Anna Elisabeth & Larsson, Anders Olof (2025). Crisis? What crisis? Assessing over-time public engagement with crisis communication on social media during COVID-19 in Scandinavia. Information, Communication & Society. ISSN 1369-118X. doi: 10.1080/1369118X.2025.2498691
- Hasselström, Anna Elisabeth & Larsson, Anders Olof (2024). Managing the Pandemic in Digitized Spaces: Assessing the Social Media Approaches of Scandinavian Public Health Authorities. Social Media + Society. ISSN 2056-3051. 10(3) doi: 10.1177/20563051241269283.
Reports
- Johansson, Catrin., Jämtelid, Kristina., Jendel, L., Nilsing, Ida., & Hasselström, Anna Elisabeth. (2021). Kriskommunikation i samverkan: Samverkan och samordning inom kriskommunikation vid coronapandemin 2020 [Crisis communication in collaboration: Coordination and collaboration in crisis communication during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic]. Mid Sweden University. https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-44816
Conference Proceedings
- Hasselström, Anna Elisabeth (2026). Communicative Leadership in Public Health Crises: Lessons from Norway and Sweden during COVID-19. International Crisis and Risk Communication Association Reports, 14(1). doi: 10.69931/001c.164591
- Hasselström, Anna. Elisabeth (2025). Crafting Efficiency and Legitimacy in Health Crisis Communication Scandinavian COVID-19 Press Conferences. International Crisis and Risk Communication Association Reports, 13(1), 63–66. doi: 10.69931/001c.142844
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