Mathilda Åkerlund

About Mathilda Åkerlund

Mathilda Åkerlund is a postdoctoral researcher in journalism, media, and communication at the University of Gothenburg, and senior editor for the Journal of Digital Social Research. She was previously a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Digital Social Research (DIGSUM) at Umeå University, and was a visiting researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute in the fall of 2024. She earned her PhD in sociology from Umeå University in 2022 with the dissertation Far Right Right Here: Interconnections of discourse, platforms, and users in the digital mainstream.

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Research Interests

• Misogyny, incels, and male-separatist online communities

• Far-right discourse in Swedish and international digital settings

• Conspiracy theories and digital disinformation

• The role of digital platforms in shaping and spreading political discourse

• Digital research methods

Ongoing Research Projects

• Men who hate women online: A study of the internet as a new arena for the mobilisation of organised gender-based hate, Swedish Research Council (VR) 2025–2027 (principal investigator)

• Conspiracy thinking and digital media: Disentangling a complex relationship, Swedish Research Council (VR) 2025–2028 (participating researcher)

• The Radicalisation of Sweden’s Image: A study of how radical right groups in other countries depict Sweden online, Swedish Research Council (VR) 2023–2025 (participating researcher)

Teaching

Mathilda has taught courses in digital sociology, critical digital media analysis, and research methods at both undergraduate and graduate levels. She teaches in the JMG courses “Medier, desinformation och propaganda: Att navigera i det offentliga samtalet” och “Analys av medier, opinioner och kommunikation”.