I am professor in sociology at University of Gothenburg. During the past 25 years I have worked with issues related to poverty, wellbeing, and general living conditions. Over this period I have contributed to bridging the gap between theoretical concepts, e.g. poverty and more lately, wellbeing, and the empirical measurement of the concepts. This work is important because it has been and is being used as a necessary background when analysing distribution and causes of poverty and other types of welfare problems. Another theme has been the study of intra-household distribution of work and economic resources. This research agenda has been driven by the need to un-pack the `black box’ of the family in order to understand individual living conditions. The relationship between different kinds of welfare problem has also been a vital part of the research agenda. This research has focused on the way that, for example, somatic health problems, poverty, and psychosocial problems correlate at one point in time and, more importantly, how they relate causally over time.
The research agenda has increasingly focused on transitions, mainly the transition from work life to retirement and living conditions in old age. As part of this work I have been responsible for building up the Swedish Panel Survey of Ageing and the Elderly, which is a longitudinal national survey of living conditions in old age. In the other end of the age spectra I have also conducted research on youths and the transition from education to the labour market. Since the beginning of 2012 I lead an international project on child poverty in developing countries, focusing on the link between political institutions and children’s living conditions and since 2014 I am involved in the AgeCap research centre, among other things, conducting research on the interplay between the genome and social condition in relation to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
In tandem with research I have, as a representative for the Swedish research community, during the past decade been heavily involved in work at the Swedish Research Council. Between 2001 and 2006 I was member of the board of the Swedish Research Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Head of one of the Council’s evaluation committees, and vice chairman of the board. Since 2007 and onwards I have been involved in Research Council work related to infrastructure. During 2011 I was Chairman of the Evaluation Committee on Infrastructure related to population studies within the social sciences and medicine. From 2012 to 2015 I was a member of the Council for Research Infrastructure. In 2015 I took on the position as Secretary General of Research Infrastructure at the Swedish Research Council.
