Meet our research team

My research is situated at the intersection of cultural geography, memory studies, critical theory, and art history.  I received my PhD from Uppsala University late spring 2025. In my thesis,…

I am Associate Professor in Ethics and I have led and participated in several interdisciplinary research project on ecological sustainability and ethics. From 2014-2017 I was the principal investigator (PI)…

I am a Professor in Urban Planning and Director of the Institute for Urban Research. I completed my PhD in 2002 at Chalmers University on discourses of urban safety planning…

I am an associate professor in Environmental Studies and lead on the Green and Just Cities theme at the Institute for Urban Research. My research focuses on the intersection of…

Chiara Valli is a critical geographer (PhD Uppsala University, 2017) and associate senior lecturer in Urban Studies at Malmö University. The underlying interest driving her research is the political economy…

The main focuses of my research are justice and fairness in accessibility planning, and transports and mobilities from an everyday life perspective. My aim with research is to contribute to…

Claudia Fonseca Alfaro is a postcolonial urban scholar with an interest in investigating the present-day entanglements of postcolonial remains, uneven development, and urbanization in the inconspicuous places of the global…

Defne Kadioglu is a researcher working on housing inequality, urban policy, and political economy, often in their intersection with racialized geographies. She has published on issues such as rental housing…

Elnaz is a senior lecturer in Urban Planning and Design at Malmö University. She has a Ph.D. in Urban Studies (Urban Planning), and a master’s degree in Urban and Regional…

Erica Righard is a professor of social work. She is employed at the Department of Social Work and affiliated with Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration (MIM) and the Institute…

Guy Baeten is Professor of Urban Studies at Malmö University and has previously worked at the universities of Lund, Oxford, Leuven and Strathclyde. He is the Director of the VR…

Helena’s artistic practice engages research, participatory workshops, image-making and public installations and performances in the urban landscape to explore socio political rhythms, with a situated practice. During the last years…

Henrika Kangas is a research assistant at the Department of Urban Studies at Malmö University. Her research centers on housing, with a particular interest in the mechanisms that govern access…

Hoai Anh Tran is Associate Professor at the Department of Urban Studies, Malmö University. Tran’s research investigates social and spatial justice in urban and housing policies, urban space production, and…

Jennie Gustafsson is a political-economic geographer with an interest in rental housing, municipal governance, and housing inequality. She is currently researching institutional investments in rental housing, the effect of residential…

I am a senior lecturer in International Migration and Ethnic Relations and a sociologist with a background in religious studies. My research focuses on cultural and religious diversity and integration,…

Josepha (Joshka) Wessels is an Associate Professor in Media and Communication Studies at the School of Arts and Communication (K3), Faculty of Culture and Society. She has a background in…

I graduated with an MSc in Urban Studies from Malmö University in 2024 and began working as a research assistant at IUR in 2025. Within IUR, I contribute to a…

In my research I combine theoretical and designerly architectural approaches with theory and methods from social science and present results in verbal as well as visual forms – in research…

I am a postdoc hosted by the unit for human geography at the University of Gothenburg. In 2024 I obtained a PhD in Urban Studies from Malmö University. My thesis…

Laleh Foroughanfar is an urban scholar with an interest in urban marginalization, migrants’ infrastructures, culture-led post-industrial regeneration, sonic urbanism, and feminist-decolonial epistemologies. She has previously examined the everyday urbanism and…

Dr. Lina Olsson is an Associate Professor in Urban Studies and works as a researcher and teacher at the Department of Urban Studies, Malmö University. She is trained as an…

Magnus Andersson is the vice-dean responsible for doctoral education and an associate professor in economic geography at Malmö University, Sweden. Andersson is active as a researcher in quantitative geography, focusing…

My research is situated in the intersection of historical, literary, rhetorical and ethnographic studies. I received my PhD from Malmö University in January 2025. My thesis is about the Social…

Professor in comparative literature. Main research interest: literature (including comics) and class.

Martin Grander is an associate professor (Docent) in Urban studies at Malmö University. Martin’s research is mainly related to housing issues, and he is especially interested in thetheoretical and empirical…

Architect and BioGeometry® practitioner with experience in vernacular and environmentally conscious architecture. Worked for the last 23+ years in the field of zero emission and passive earth buildings, sustainable architectural…

Mathilda Rosengren is a visual anthropologist and urban geographer with a research focus on environmental and more-than-human ethnographies of cities and urban life in the Anthropocene. Her work takes inspiration from…

Mikaela Herbert is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Urban Studies. Her research is mainly related to housing, and she has a particular interest in housing informality and urban…

Mikkel Thelle is an urban historian, senior researcher at the National Museum of Denmark and Lead Investigator at Transition Center of Excellence at Copenhagen University in addition to being a…

Nicholas B. Torretta is a Brazilian design researcher (PhD), educator and artist based in Malmö, Sweden. Coming from resistance practices such as Capoeira, Graffiti and improvisational music, Nicholas works on the…

Pål Brunnström is a researcher and teacher at the Department of Urban Studies, Malmö University and also connected to the Institute for Studies in Malmö History. He is currently researching…

Paula Mulinari is an associate professor of social work and researches issues related to labour, racial capitalism, the welfare state and social reproduction. She has a special interest in issues…

Per Hillbur is Associate Professor of Environmental Science at Malmö University, and he has a PhD in Social and Economic Geography from Lund University (1998). His research interests are in…

Per-Markku Ristilammi is Professor in Ethnology at the department of Urban studies and director of IMH (Institute for Studies in Malmö’s History). His research has mainly been focused around notions…

I am as social anthropologist by training and with research interests that revolve around notions of urban commons, governance and space. This overarching concern has been explored in different studies…

Rebecka Söderberg is a postdoctoral researcher at the Royal Danish Academy – Institute of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape, and a part-time external lecturer at the University of Copenhagen, SAXO Institute,…

With a disciplinary background in history and a current focus on cultural memory studies, I research memory, monuments, and the city. A key research interest is participatory practices in the…

I am a PhD Candidate at the Department of Urban Studies at Malmö University, investigating the interplay of social innovations and urban development in rapidly urbanizing cities of Nigeria.  I…

Simone Vegliò is a Project Researcher at Malmö University. He holds a PhD in Geography (King’s College London, 2019) and his research is situated at the intersection of Urban Geography…

Staffan Schmidt is a senior lecturer at K3, School of Arts and Communication, MAU. Coming from art and architecture studies, art criticism and teaching theory at art academies he completed…

Stephen Marr holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Florida. I am a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Political Studies and an Affiliated Researcher with…

Stig Westerdahl is Professor emeritus in Business Administration at the Department of Urban Studies. His research is based on an interest in organizational issues and accounting. These interests have been…

Tove Samzelius is a Senior lecturer in social work at Malmö university. Her research focus on the intersection of policies in the areas of housing, social security, employment and social…

I am a Double Degree PhD Fellow at Roskilde University (Denmark) and Malmö University (Sweden), and a leader of the Democratic Energy Transitions project. My research focuses on the integration…

I am a senior lecturer in social work at the Department of Social Work, Malmö University. My main research areas include critical migration studies, community work and participatory perspectives. I…