Birgit Bundesen

The Danish Center for Arts and Mental Health is funded by the Danish Ministry of Health.
Birgit is a specialist in psychiatry and holds a BA in Comparative Literature and Philosophy. Since founding the National Center for Art and Mental Health in 2017, she has developed artistic interventions for individuals in the psychiatric system. In 2025, the center received permanent funding from the Ministry of Health as part of the 10-year plan for psychiatry. As the clinical leader of the center's mission-driven research, Bundesen designed the research framework for the team, which consists of researchers from both the humanities and psychiatry.

In addition to her work as a chief physician and researcher, she has published poetry and contributed to textbooks and art catalogs. For many years, her research has been interdisciplinary, spanning both psychiatric and humanistic studies. In practice, she works both clinically and within the arts, allowing her to combine these fields on an equal footing in close collaboration with psychiatric service users—a core ethos of the Center for Art and Mental Health (CKMS).

She has extensive teaching experience in both humanistic and psychiatric research environments, as well as for practitioners, clinicians, and art professionals. Furthermore, she is a frequently invited keynote speaker at conferences and symposia across both the arts and health sectors. Bundesen has been the driving force behind the development of the artistic interventions in REWRITALIZE, serves as the first author of the Danish manual, and is the editor of the book Kunsten at Komme sig ("The Art of Recovery", 2024).