Research in gender studies
Research at the division of gender studies at Lund University is conducted within a leading, internationally oriented research environment, with a strong tradition of empirically grounded and intersectional research on gender and sexuality. Using interdisciplinary perspectives, we examine how power, norms and social justice are shaped across issues such as gender, sexuality, race, class, migration, labour and welfare, in both local and global contexts.
A field in development
Gender studies is a field in constant development, and research in Lund has played a central role in broadening and advancing its theoretical and analytical frameworks, both in Sweden and internationally. Intersectional perspectives are particularly important, highlighting how different systems of power interact and shape people’s living conditions.
Feminist methodology and analytical breadth
The division of gender studies in Lund has particular expertise in feminist methodology, where critical theory is combined with innovative and empirically grounded methods. Our researchers work with feminist, anti-racist, queer, trans and decolonial methodological approaches, using, among other methods, ethnography, narrative methods, interviews, policy analysis, archival studies and digital methods. This enables analyses of both everyday experiences and institutional and global power structures, as well as new insights into transnational exchanges and collaborations.
Research on key societal challenges
Our research addresses some of the most pressing societal challenges of our time: democratic backsliding, racism and nationalism, social justice, migration and borders, labour and social reproduction, welfare, crisis, violence and resilience, as well as digitalisation and AI. At the same time, we examine how people organise resistance, care and struggles for justice in times of crisis and change. The research spans everyday experiences and relationships as well as analyses of legislation, state institutions, global power structures and geopolitics.
Three overarching themes
Our research is organised around three overarching themes. The first focuses on gender, sexuality, and queer, trans and crip perspectives, examining how norms, identities and rights are formed, regulated and challenged. The second theme addresses race, migration and nationalism, focusing on issues of borders, belonging, racism, political mobilisation and social inequality. The third theme analyses labour, social reproduction, justice, welfare, power, crisis and resilience in relation to economic, ecological and societal change.
Thematic research areas
- Gender, sexuality, queer, trans
- Race, migration, nationalism
- Labour, social reproduction, justice and welfare
Research in collaboration with society
A distinctive feature of research at the division of gender studies in Lund is the strong link between research and society. Through close collaborations within Lund university, with civil society organisations, public authorities and international networks, research is developed that contributes to both theoretical innovation and societal change.
Read more about our gender studies research in Lund University’s research portal.
Networks
The division of gender studies is a member of the following local, national and international research networks.
The Gender Hub
The Division of Gender Studies coordinates the Lund University Faculty of Social Sciences network for gender researchers, the Gender Hub. Co-coordinators are professor Helle Rydström and PhD Amaranta Thompson.
For more information about joining the Gender Hub, it’s activities and seminar program, please visit:
Faculty of Social Sciences − Affiliation to the Gender Hub
Atgender
The European Association for Gender Research, Education and Documentation, is a broad association for academics, practitioners, activists and institutions in the field of Women’s, Gender, Transgender, Sexuality, and Queer studies, feminist research, women’s, sexual and LGBTQI rights, equality, and diversity. The association constitutes a permanent structure for the growing field of knowledge and practice in Europe.
Read more on the Atgender website.
The Swedish Association for Gender Studies
The Swedish Association for Gender Studies (Ämnesföreningen genusvetenskap, ÄG) promotes gender studies as a college and university subject and is a platform for affiliated subject environments. ÄG was founded during the National Gender Research Conference 2019. The subject association strives to be an organization for all forums, centers or institutions with gender studies as a subject in some form around Sweden, to, among other things, strengthen cooperation on the development of the subject.
The Future of Democracy FUDEM
The Future of Democracy: Cultural Analyses of Illiberal Populism in Times of Crises / The Research School (FUDEM) is a multi-disciplinary environment where the collective of junior and senior researchers in cultural studies, ethnology, gender studies, and musicology are doing research on the variety of cultural forms in which illiberal populism reveals itself in times of crises. It is a collaboration between six Swedish universities including Linnaeus University, Linköping University, Lund University, Södertörn University, University of Gothenburg and Uppsala University.
Read more on the University of Gothenburg website.
RINGS – The International Research Association of Institutions of Advanced Gender Studies
RINGS is an international association with the aim of bringing together research institutions engaged in gender and feminist research on a global basis. The principal purpose of the association is to promote advanced and transformative research in transnational cooperation between member institutions. RINGS thus seeks to advance disciplinary and transdisciplinary gender and feminist research with the explicit aim of addressing social inequalities that have gendered roots or consequences. With the global advancement of gender as a key issue in contemporary social movements and cultural formations we believe it is of outmost importance to connect scholarly work in gender studies worldwide. Global inclusiveness is a key notion for the association that is unique within the research field of gender studies. RINGS is a registered organisation with the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission's Transparency Register.
Read more on the RINGS website.
Öresund Network
The Öresund Network for Gender History Research brings together researchers interested in gender history from different disciplines with the aim of developing and strengthening the position of gender history on both sides of Öresund.