Caroline Hasselgren Bune

I am a sociologist and have been working as a project researcher at Södertörn University since 2023. I am also a researcher and senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Work Science at the University of Gothenburg and affiliated with AgeCap – Centre for Ageing and Health. I received my PhD in 2019 with the dissertation Inequity in Mind: On the Social and Genetic Risk Factors of Dementia and Their Interactions. In this work, I examined how social and genetic risk factors interact in the development of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, with a particular focus on inequalities related to social class and gender.

My overall research focus is ageing and the life course. I study how people’s living conditions shape opportunities for health and work across the life course, particularly in later life. I have also conducted research on organizational conditions in the welfare sector, for example, within elder care.

Key research areas

• Ageing and the life course
• Living conditions, work and retirement
• Health and inequality from a life-course perspective
• Welfare and elder care

Ongoing research projects

• A matter of transition? Working life trajectories and retirement behavior in post-socialist contexts across Central and Eastern Europe. (2023–2025, Principal investigator, funded by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies)
• Strategies for Improved Work Longevity from an Employer and Employee Perspective. (2022–2027, Project member, funded by Forte – the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare)
• Patterns of stress across the life course and their role in mental health and loneliness in older adults. (2023–2026, Project member, funded by Forte and the Swedish Research Council)