Martin Gunnarson is PhD in Ethnology and senior lecturer at the Centre for Studies in Practical Knowledge. His research interests cover cultural analytical and philosophical perspectives on medicine, illness, embodiment, technology, and labour.

In January 2016 he earned his doctoral degree at Lund University with the thesis Please Be Patient: A Cultural Phenomenological Study of Haemodialysis and Kidney Transplantation Care (Lund Studies in Arts and Cultural Sciences 7). The thesis examines the practice of haemodialysis and kidney transplantation, the two medical therapies available for persons with kidney failure. It is based on an empirical material that comprises observations and in-depth interviews with patients and caregivers at four haemodialysis units, one in Riga, Latvia, and three in Stockholm, Sweden. The theoretical approach and methodology of the study is cultural and phenomenological in character. The thesis was part of the multidisciplinary research project The Body as Gift, Resource, and Commodity: Organ Transplantation in the Baltic Region, funded by the Baltic Sea Foundation.

Between the years 2012 and 2015 Martin also participated in the EU-funded research project The HOTT-Project: Combating Trafficking in Persons for the Purpose of Organ Removal. The project studied the international and illegal trade in organs from cultural analytical, criminological, ethical and medical perspectives.

At Södertörn University Martin mainly teaches courses at the Master Programme in Practical Knowledge, The Preschool Teacher Programme, and the Police Education.