Daiva Daukantaitė, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Lund University, where she primarily teaches advanced-level courses in statistics and methodology, as well as a course on health and wellbeing.

Daiva has long-standing experience in leading and collaborating on longitudinal research projects addressing a wide range of mental health issues, with a particular emphasis on youth mental health—including both wellbeing and mental health difficulties. She is the principal investigator (PI) of the longitudinal Self-Injury and Life Situation (SoL) Project, an ongoing FORTE-funded study examining non-suicidal self-injury, disordered eating, and their associations with aggression, victimization, and other mental health concerns. The SoL Project is exceptional in its breadth and continuity: beginning with data collected in 2007, it has followed the same cohort through 1-year, 10-year, and 17-year follow-ups. In 2023, a new phase of data collection was initiated, with two additional waves conducted at one-year intervals. This rich dataset enables the team to examine mental health trends across nearly two decades and to expand the research focus to new areas, such as young people’s use of social media.

The research group includes Professor emeritus Lars-Gunnar Lundh; Associate Professors Margit Wångby-Lundh, Ph.D.; Jonas Bjärehed, Ph.D.; and Tove Lundberg, Ph.D.; as well as Benjamin Claréus, Ph.D.—all affiliated with the Department of Psychology at Lund University. Dr. Claréus completed his doctoral dissertation within the SoL Project and continues to contribute as a part-time postdoctoral researcher alongside his position at Kristianstad University. A new doctoral student, Moa Nilsson, has also joined the team and will focus her dissertation on emotion regulation using the longitudinal SoL data.

Daiva also leads the Wellbeing in the School Environment (WiSE) Project in collaboration with Associate Professor Eva Hoff and recently graduated Ph.D.s Mia Maurer—whose dissertation examined wellbeing and mental health promotion—and Frida Ilahi, whose research focused on executive functioning and mental health. Johan Klarin, an incoming Ph.D. student, is also involved part-time, concentrating on the role of artificial intelligence in schoolwork and its connections to executive functioning.

In addition, Dr. Daukantaitė collaborates closely with Associate Professors Sofie Westling and Magnus Nilsson on studies evaluating Brief Admission as an intervention for individuals with borderline personality disorder who engage in self-harm, are at risk for suicide, or struggle with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI).

Together with her colleagues Una Tellhed and Rachel Madux, she has also collaborated with Professor Olle Melander on research investigating how yoga may contribute to improved mental health outcomes.

Doctoral thesis:

Daukantaitė, D. (2006)
Subjective Well-Being in Swedish Women

Award

Bästa doktorsavhandling i psykologi 2006 vid Psykologiska institutionen Stockholms universitet.