Torun Elsrud

I am an Associate Professor (Docent) of Sociology and a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Social Work at Linnaeus University. I received my PhD in Sociology from Lund University in 2004 with a dissertation examining the ideological foundations of adventure narratives and independent travel (backpacking) to what has often been referred to as the "Third World".

Since then, my research has primarily focused on issues central to social work, including migration, asylum, legal processes, social exclusion, and the role of civil society in promoting inclusion and social justice amid increasing inequality. My research explores how legal, political and social structures shape people's lives, and how laws, institutional practices, judicial processes, norms and cultural imaginaries are translated into lived experiences. One of my earlier research projects was an ethnographic study of courtroom proceedings and people's experiences of the justice system, focusing on equality before the law, the rule of law, and the negotiation of notions of gender, ethnicity, and culture in legal settings. The project combined ethnographic observations of courtroom interaction with interviews with the people whose cases had been heard in court.

Today, my research focuses particularly on the experiences of people seeking asylum in the Swedish and European asylum context, forced onward migration within Europe, solidarity movements, civil resistance, and questions of democracy, human rights and social justice. Across my work, I examine power relations, gender, ethnicity, intersectionality and discrimination. The courtroom project examined equality before the law, legal certainty and the interactional production of legal decisions through ethnographic observations and interviews with participants in court proceedings.

At Linnaeus University, I am affiliated with several research environments focusing on migration and social justice. I am a member of Social Work and Migration at the Department of Social Work, Migration Encounters, an interdisciplinary knowledge environment where research and practice meet, and the Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies (LNUC Concurrences). Within Concurrences, I am affiliated with the research cluster Justice Frontiers: Migration, Justice and the Global Postcolonial Order.

Since 2015, I have led and participated in several research projects on people's experiences of asylum, forced onward migration and solidarity in Europe. My current research includes a project on the lives of people who, after having their asylum applications rejected in Sweden, have been forced to seek protection elsewhere in Europe. In 2026, I also begin a new research project, Solidarity as Resistance: Civil Disobedience, Law and Democracy in the Asylum Context, together with Professor Annika Staaf at Linköping University. The project explores why people engage in solidarity work with people seeking asylum and undocumented migrants, the relationship between civil resistance, law and democracy, and the increasing criminalisation of solidarity, with particular attention to gender perspectives.

I previously served on the Steering Committee of the Asylum Commission, a national collaborative initiative bringing together researchers, professionals, civil society organisations and people with lived experience of the asylum process. Initiated by Linköping University and FARR (the Swedish Network of Refugee Support Groups), the Commission collected and disseminated knowledge about the consequences of changes in Swedish asylum law and practice following the policy shifts introduced in 2015. The work provided a broad and nuanced understanding of the human consequences of the Swedish asylum system.

I also participate in international research networks focusing on welfare restrictions, border regimes and conditional belonging. Since 2015, I have been actively engaged in asylum-related issues outside academia and have periodically served as a legal guardian. I believe that research should be conducted in close dialogue with the people and communities it seeks to understand. I therefore view the research process as a process of mutual knowledge exchange, where people's own experiences constitute a vital source of understanding and new knowledge.

Teaching

I teach across a range of subjects within social work, sociology and social psychology. A common thread throughout my teaching is an interest in how social structures, norms and power relations shape people's lives, opportunities for action, and encounters with welfare institutions. My teaching includes critical social work, migration and asylum, cultural and social meaning-making, cultural sociology, gender, intersectionality, human rights, discrimination, racism, Eurocentrism, media representations, research ethics, and qualitative research methods, with a particular emphasis on ethnography.

I supervise Bachelor's and Master's theses as well as doctoral students within my research areas. I see teaching and supervision as an important part of the university's contribution to society. My aim is not only to share knowledge, but also to encourage students and doctoral researchers to understand, critically examine and contribute to changing the social structures that shape people's lives. For me, teaching is a way of strengthening democracy, human rights and more equitable living conditions.

Research

Since 2013, I have conducted research within five externally funded research projects supported by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences (RJ), the Swedish Research Council (VR), the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society (MUCF), and Formas. The projects address issues that are central to social work, focusing on people's lived experiences of legal, political and social processes, particularly in relation to migration, asylum, social exclusion, solidarity and the role of civil society.

One of my earlier projects was an ethnographic study of courtroom proceedings and equality before the law. Focusing on criminal trials, the project examined how notions of culture, ethnicity, gender and age were negotiated in courtroom interaction and legal documents. By combining ethnographic observations of trials with interviews with the people whose cases had been heard in court, the project linked courtroom practices and legal documentation to people's lived experiences of the judicial process.

Since 2015, my research has primarily focused on the experiences of people seeking asylum in the Swedish and European asylum context. It examines exclusion from legal and social rights, prolonged uncertainty, onward migration within Europe, and the role of civil society, solidarity and resistance. Across these projects, I am interested in power relations, cultural and social meaning-making, gender, ethnicity, intersectionality and discrimination. Further information is available under the research projects below.

My current project, funded by the Swedish Research Council, follows young adults who previously sought asylum or held residence permits in Sweden but who, for various reasons, have been forced to seek protection again in other European countries. The project explores what it means to live a "life in transit" and how people navigate geographically, legally and socially across Europe in search of durable protection. Particular attention is paid to the resources that become crucial in this process, including education, economic conditions and social networks. The project runs until 2027.

In 2026, I also began a new research project, Solidarity as Resistance: Civil Disobedience, Law and Democracy in the Asylum Context, together with researchers at Linköping University. The project examines the motivations, agency and democratic significance of people engaged in solidarity work with people seeking asylum and undocumented migrants. It also explores how civil society's solidarity work is affected as humanitarian assistance and acts of civil disobedience increasingly come under legal regulation and criminalisation. The project adopts a gender perspective and examines how notions about gender shape both civic engagement and the conditions for solidarity work.

Commissions

January 2025 – June 2026
Programme Director for the Master's Programme in Social Work and responsible for the elective courses at Master's level.

April 2020 – December 2022
Leader of the research group Cluster for Migration, Citizenship and Belonging within the Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies (LNUC Concurrences).

January 2019 – August 2022
Member of the Steering Committee of the Asylum Commission, a national collaborative initiative led by Linköping University and the Swedish Network of Refugee Support Groups (FARR), focusing on the rule of law and legal certainty in the Swedish asylum system.

January 2018 – August 2019
Coordinator for Societal Impact at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Linnaeus University.