Rod Rhodes is Professor of Government (Research) within Social Sciences at the University of Southampton.ABSTRACTIn the 2000s, the New Public Governance (NPG) became prominent and this article takes s

Donatella Della Porta, Professor of Sociology at Scuola normale superiore, and Director of the Centre of Social Movements Studies. ABSTRACTSocial movement studies have developed a useful kit of concept

Here you can find information on the Institutes previous research programs during the 2000s. Contact us for more information about previous research programs. Gustaf Arrheniusfirst research program was n and comprised five themes that were all interdisciplinary; Our responsibility towards future generations, Democracy in the 21st century, New technologies and the future of humanity, Discrimination, sexism and racism, and Equality.

European Societies Abstract Western labor markets are typically segregated by country of birth, with immigrants often employed in roles such as cleaners, taxi drivers, and fast-food cooks. We examine wh

Anna Näslund

I am professor of Art History at Stockholm University and researcher at the Institute for Futures Studies. My research focuses on visual culture, picture theory and digitization.  The project Selling Pic traces the genealogy of contemporary AI-generated image hype over 200 years of promoting technologies for the production, reproduction, and circulation of pictures on a mass scale. It aims to understand the historical role of pictures not merely as commodities but as agents of commerce. The project focuses on emerging picture techniques in the 1820s, 1920s, and 2020s, examining iconographic and discursive patterns in pictures of mass reproduction (metapictures) and comparing vernacular picture theories—expressed in advertising copy and trade journalism—with canonical picture theories. Rooted in historical material practices, the project seeks to clarify and expand our understanding of how and why pictures play a central role in the work of selling in modern and contemporary societies.

Demography Abstract We examine the prevalence of gender transitions in Sweden over time and document the sociodemographic characteristics of people transitioning in different periods. Using administrati

Selling pictures. Pictorial Economy and Commoditization 1820–2020

This project will place the current discussions concerning AI-generated images in a historical context, comparing it to two previous technological breakthroughs that have affected the use of pictures for commercial purposes. 

Nina Lager Vestberg

I’m a professor of visual culture in the Department of Art and Media Studies at NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) in Trondheim, where I coordinate the Media, Data, Museumsresearch g

Hanna Wass is an Academy Research Fellow and University Lecturer in the Department of Political and Economic Studies at the University of Helsinki. ABSTRACT As a potentially antifragile system, the stre

We welcome a new member to our board, Andreas Muranyi Scheutz! He is Director of research and innovation in Region Stockholm and has previously had the same position at the Swedish embassy in New Delh