Areas of expertise

• Comparative welfare state development
• The nature and impact of globalization and the changing politics of welfare regimes
• Inclusion of the socially marginalized groups in the Swedish society
• Interplay of migration and welfare state in the Swedish society
• Social welfare policies in developing countries

Academic biography

I am a professor of social policy and social work at Södertörn University, with a doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of Durham, UK. I joined the department of sociology at Södertörn in 2001 but in 2009 participated in the establishment and development of the department of social policy and social work at Södertörn. During the years I have been the head of department for political science, public law and social work (2013-2018), deputy head of school (2019-2020) and after that as the head of school of social sciences.

Research interests and projects

My field of research is the Swedish welfare system and changes to it in recent decades. Areas I worked with after my doctorate included processes of segregation in socially vulnerable areas in Sweden and conditions for newly immigrated social groups’ integration in the Swedish society. In 2005 I was part of a research group that evaluated investments to combat social exclusion and the effects of these investments on the inclusion of the socially marginalized groups in the society. Since then, I have undertaken some other research project on variety of topics. In 2006 I was part of the investigations unit at the Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees (TCO), where I carried out a comparative study of welfare systems in four European countries. In 2007-2008 I evaluated a major effort conducted by the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS) aimed to combat the increasing level of substance abuse in Sweden and compiled a final report for the Swedish government. My recent research project has been the interplay of migration and welfare states in advance economies. My forthcoming research project aims to highlight the current social welfare policies in the developing countries, with focus on the Middle East.