Malin Gawell has a PhD and is associate professor in business administration. Her main research interests are related to social entrepreneurship, social enterprises and civil society. Among other things, she has written about activists' entrepreneurship, social enterprises in Sweden and the Nordic countries. Malin has also studied these types of ventures in international contexts, currently through a partnership with University of Rwanda. During the last decade, research has increasingly been linked to a (sub)urban context.

The research that Malin works on has been financed by e.g. Riksbanken Jubileeumsfond, KK-stiftelsen, EU Commission, SIDA, Vinnova, and Tillväxtverket. The results are regularly published in reports, Swedish and international books, and scientific journals.

Malin also works with collaboration between academy and society at large in various projects, within the centre REINVENT, and with the university’s initiative to develop Strategic Partnerships. She is also engaged in ENTER forum and the Centre for the Study of Political Organisation (CPO) at Södertörn University . She is furthermore engaged in the networks International Sustainable Development Research Society External link. (ISDRS) and EMES International Research Network for Social Enterprise External link..