The Faculty of Social Sciences

In my research, my starting point is that the lowest common denominator in geography is a dimension rather than a theme. I have therefore investigated the spatial aspects of a number of divergent phenomena.

However, human migrations have been a recurring area of research. This has included migrations from rural to urban areas as well as in the opposite direction, but also the considerable part of migration that consists of return migration – how it varies geographically and to what extent events that are usually claimed to trigger migrations actually do so.

In addition, I have investigated changes in where retail trade is located both within and between cities, the possible significance of the urban form of settlement for the extent of segregation in a city, how much the mix of activities varies between different types of urban environments, and the methodological difficulties that make it difficult to measure commuting for work.

My battery of methods is mainly made up of quantitative methods. From the geography angle, it is then crucially important to the results of the study to be able to aggregate data into geographic analysis units that are tailored to answer each study’s question. Consequently, I have usually created geographical divisions myself based on geographically detailed register data.

During my research career, I have focused on several research areas within game theory and decision theory. An important part of my work has been to explore the negative effect of communication when cooperating in strategic situations. Through theoretical and experimental studies, I have been able to show how communication can be diametrically opposed to cooperation.

In another part of my game theory research, I have developed game theory equilibrium concepts. The goal was to make game theory more applicable for economists by adapting it to the models they already use. A large part of my research has also covered decisions under risk and uncertainty. I have conducted large-scale experiments to investigate attitudes to risk in the population. I have also contributed methods for how we should measure these attitudes to risk.

My future plans are to continue researching decisions under risk and uncertainty with a focus on attention in financial decision-making. By using economics experiments and theoretical models, I intend to investigate which factors create and influence attention in situations of risk and uncertainty.

I have always been interested in studying the relationship between economic change and its environmental impacts, and how issues of sustainability – and unsustainability – are intertwined with our modern economic history. The causal links underlying our contemporary climate crisis cannot be understood without the perspective of economic history. Natural resources, including fossil fuels, have been interwoven entirely with the development of prosperity that the world has witnessed since the Industrial Revolution.

In much of my research, I have focused on how, from the 1960s and beyond, the environment as an issue has affected the political economy and its actors, nationally as well as internationally. In particular, I have been interested in the development of environmental and energy policy, and the complex role of companies as an actor in technological development and innovation. I have also been interested in the influence towards a free market that market participants have had on the design of environmental and climate control systems, in particular at a global level. For example, I have studied how the concept of sustainable development took shape through a collaboration established between transnational corporate actors, the UN and the Brundtland Commission.

I am also participating in a new seven-year research programme on the ongoing green investments in northern Sweden. In this programme, I am specifically interested in how these very extensive investments are related to ongoing changes in the global political economy in comparison with the previous wave of industrialisation in Norrland.

My research concerns the Swedish welfare state and how it has changed. I have been primarily interested in that part of the welfare state that provides services such as health care, education and social care. Such services are decisive for Sweden citizens to be able to live independent and rich lives. They are also important levelling instruments for citizens’ chances in life, so that not only those born into resource-rich environments get the chance to develop their abilities and realise their life projects and dreams.

The modern Swedish welfare state which was built up during the post-war period was unique in its efforts to create a more equal society. At the time, it was thought that the main means for doing this was that the state itself, with the assistance of the regions (at that time county councils) and municipalities, should provide social services so that they would be accessible to all and be of high and equal quality throughout the country. During the 1980s, this view of the state as the producer of social services changed. Instead of public regulation, techniques of control inspired by the private sector market such as competition, customer choice and decentralised leadership came to be seen as the best way to create high-quality welfare services. This led to far-reaching reforms and a larger number of private actors in schools, health care and social care.

The change in welfare services in recent decades has sparked lively debates in both politics and research. Even though by the beginning of the 1990s there was a broad consensus in the Riksdag concerning the value of market-based solutions to increase efficiency and quality in the area of welfare, some reforms, such as the School Choice Reform or the Act on Systems of Choice (LOV), met with criticism. One concern has been that systems of choice and private competition undermine the objectives of equal access and equal quality in the services provided.

In my own research, I have devoted myself to both highlighting the effects of a market orientation in welfare services and to understanding why this type of reform came to be so far-reaching in Sweden in particular. An overall conclusion is that although the reforms have been radical, in most respects there are no major differences in quality or differences in terms of who utilises the services between public and private welfare providers. One explanation for this is that the regulatory framework for the new quasi-markets is far-reaching, which means that private sector organisations usually operate on the same terms as public sector organisations, and therefore do not differ greatly in how they conduct their activities. But changes have occurred, not least in terms of the role of the user and their relationship to welfare service providers. Instead of seeing us as part of a common system, today there is probably a clearer identification with the activities we have chosen ourselves, such as our own school, health centre, or home care services provider. Thus, an individualisation of our social citizenship is occurring, which may contribute to the step to paying for welfare services out of our own pocket – for example in the form of private health insurance or help with homework – becoming shorter.

In my research, I have focused on multinational corporations operating in a global arena and what factors affect the competitiveness of these corporations. My research deals mainly with the role of the head office in multinational corporations, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between head office and its subsidiaries. Through empirical studies of innovation development processes, I have investigated value-creation processes and what factors affect the dissemination of knowledge within a multinational corporation. Another track in my research highlights how the local and global business networks of subsidiaries affect control and governance in multinational corporations. Based on this, I have also investigated what gives different entities power and influence within a multinational corporation, and how this affects the head office’s allocation of resources to its subsidiaries.

Currently, I am particularly interested in what happens when different parts of a subsidiary’s operations are closed down. Questions I ask myself in this context are how a subsidiary’s operations can survive and thrive, and how its operations can then contribute to the multinational corporation’s global competitiveness. Finally, I am interested in the application of quantitative methods in business administration and how empirical data can be collected and processed to ensure that the results obtained are reliable.

In my research, I am interested in differences in how different groups in society are represented in politics. Who holds positions of power in politics has consequences not only for the legitimacy of a democracy, but also for the policies pursued. Much of my research aims to document such differences in how different groups in society are represented in politics, to understand the drivers behind inequalities where they exist, and to evaluate measures to make representation more equal. I mainly study representation in terms of gender, but also in terms of class, ethnicity and migrant background.

My research has cultivated a new track in political science research that deals with representation in politics and is based on the use of public registers. This data has been collected by digitalising historical ballot papers. A complete list of all Swedish politicians at national and local level back to the 1970s is now available for all interested researchers. The material can be linked to other variables such as demographic, the labour market, or family situation variables, which has opened up many new possibilities for this research.

I have documented major inequalities in politics in a number of research articles citing how women, foreign-born individuals, and people from the working class systematically have a lower chance of attaining higher political office within Swedish political parties. A number of drivers underlie these differences. Negative discrimination within the parties’ internal nomination processes seems to be important for all three groups. For women, a lower level of support in their careers from their spouse or partner is also of great importance. In the case of measures to increase gender equality, my research on gender quotas shows that this measure does lead to increased gender equality in recruitment without any ill effects on the organisation’s competence.

My research concerns the ways in which society and collectives interact with, and influence, humans’ perceptions of themselves and their habits and behaviours. I am especially interested in cultural and social constructs.

Three main theoretical constructs fascinate and motivate me. Firstly, by researching concepts and ideas associated with addiction and substance abuse, I have discussed how we view competence and agency as the yardsticks for right and wrong. Secondly, by researching controlled substance policy and handling, I have discussed how the Nordic welfare state is used as a reference point and helps us to understand what we stand for as a collective and in relation to each other. This does not mean that the welfare state as an ideal is a given end-point for our community building, but that the negotiation of its content and tasks becomes a kind of compass for our actions. Thirdly, by exploring how reference is made to knowledge and beliefs in political, scholarly and popular discourse, I have developed the concept of ‘epistemic projects’. We convince each other of our own conceptualisations of the world by forming and launching these projects. This is happening more and more often in online bubbles (discussion forums, social media).

I have a background in literary studies, philosophy and journalism and have led several international projects where we have compared countries, cultures and social systems.

The focus of my research interest is international business, which also means that I am building on a long tradition of Uppsala-based business administration research in this field. Multinational corporations have a strong position in the Swedish business sector with extensive cross-border operations, high productivity, continuous international expansion and extensive research and development activities. My research is largely process-based and can be divided into two tracks.

Within the first track, my main aim has been to contribute to further developing and updating our understanding of the internationalisation processes of these corporations by studying how corporations in industries with limited international expansion in the past enter new markets, and by studying the underlying reasons and explanations for internationalisation.

Within the second track, I have focused on questions concerning the governance and management of activities and how they are organised, and relationships in the geographically distributed operations of multinational corporations. I have studied this from both the head office and subsidiary points of view. My interest has been particularly focused on understanding how knowledge and innovations are developed and disseminated within and between subsidiaries.

Microorganisms play a big role for food and people. Most microorganisms are harmless, but those that are not can cause food poisoning. Although this can be mild and transient, in the worst case it can have serious consequences and lead to hospitalisation and even death. In Sweden, the number of cases of food poisoning is estimated to be half a million per year, but the number of unreported cases is high.

European legislation covering food requires that food companies employ hygiene practices that make food safe. But these requirements do not apply in private households. Consumers in private households include vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, the elderly, children under the age of five, and others with compromised immune systems. It then becomes interesting to ask the question: what is the primary source of consumer knowledge about food safety? Many report that it is their mother. More systematic education in food safety for young adults could mean safer food. Knowledge is important for handling food optimally, but even more important is a positive attitude to food safety and actually believing that food safety is important.

My research over the past twenty years has included investigating the extent to which consumers in private households are aware of refrigerator temperatures and correct food handling. What is their main source of knowledge about food safety, and what factors are important to ensure more optimum behaviours when it comes to food handling? Research in health communication has shown that perception of risk and belief in one’s own abilities to handle food safely, as well as planning for an expected outcome are important. An area that is as yet unexplored that I would like to focus more on in the future is the extent to which dieticians are able to communicate about food safety to their patients, who often belong to a vulnerable category and whose private households are not covered by the food safety requirements in the legislation.

Social work is a subject area that focuses on promoting people’s welfare, and social work is thus a profession with an important role in society – that role not least being to protect children and young people who are at risk of harm.

My research has looked at the working conditions for social workers and how well-equipped they are in their workplaces to do their jobs as qualified experts from a variety of perspectives. For many years, caseworkers responsible for investigations related to children and young people have described their work situation as being very difficult. This is work that comes with a great deal of responsibility and requires many years of experience and advanced skills. Yet, follow-up studies show that these tasks are increasingly performed by those who are new to the profession, who then describe encountering major challenges in their professional role. Many recent graduates describe their transition to professional life as difficult. Their induction into the job is often described as inadequate, with excessively high demands placed on those who are new to the profession. Staff turnover and rates of sickness absence have remained high during the two decades that this occupational group has been followed. Social workers are currently the occupational group with the highest risk of long-term sick listing due to mental health problems.

Research is being conducted on how the work of social services is organised, and how the conditions can be improved for caseworkers to have a sustainable working life, and for performing their work with good quality. An implementation study that involved strengthened supervision for those who are new to the profession along with team-building activities has shown an improvement in the situation for these caseworker groups. Another example is a current study in which enhanced training in conversation techniques is given in social work programmes with the aid of AI.

My research is basically focused on political and economic processes of change in post-Soviet countries. More specifically, I am interested in questions related to how markets emerge. Markets are often perceived as natural, as the result of an ‘invisible hand’. In reality, they are the result of a plethora of historically conditioned institutions that are created in political processes. My research investigates how markets were created in Russia following the collapse of centralised planning.

In my first book, I explored the emergence of electricity markets in Russia and was able to show how the Russian state was actively involved in the marketization of electricity. My second book is an interdisciplinary study of Russia’s food and agriculture sector, in which I document the interaction between policy objectives, cultural behaviour patterns, and technological changes. Energy and food production are vital in modern societies, and their marketization in Russia has been accompanied by fierce conflicts over control and access. I have also conducted research on a number of other dimensions of post-Soviet transformation, from welfare systems and forms of social debate to the role of policy experts and the effects of sanctions.

In my most recent work, I have written about how Russia’s war is affecting Ukrainian agriculture and its capacity to contribute to the world’s food production. Finally, I am also one of the editors of a widely acclaimed and used textbook on stability and fragility in Russian politics.