Excellent Political Science Research

Bo Rothstein is a Senior Researcher and was appointed a Wallenberg Scholar in 2010 for his research on the quality of political institutions, trust, and corruption. Bo is one of the founders of The Quality of Government Institute (QoG). He received an ERC Advanced Grant 2013 for the research project The Performance of Democracies. In 2021 Bo Rothstein, the QoG Institute, and Carl Bennet AB concluded a cooperation agreement that provides the QoG Institute with SEK 12 million. Bo Rothstein held the August Röhss Professorship in Political Science at the University of Gothenburg from 1994 to 2021.

Learn more:

• Finding a way to beat corruption
• The Quality of Government Institute (QoG)
• The Performance of Democracies
• Research collaboration leads to SEK 12 million for world-class corruption research
• August Röhss Professorship in Political Science

Staffan I. Lindberg is a Professor and was appointed a Wallenberg Academy Fellow in 2013 to lead Varieties of Democracy’s international research team, to develop the V-Dem Methodology, and to found the V-Dem Institute, for which he is Director. He received an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2017 for his research on democratization and the project Failing and Successful Sequences of Democratization. In 2018 he received a Wallenberg Academy Fellow Prolongation to lead the research project Endangered Democracies: Sequences of Autocratization. Staffan has also got funding from the Swedish Research Council, a National Research Infrastructure grant in 2020 for Demscore, a consortium consisting of several high-profile research infrastructures in Sweden.  

Learn more:

• V-Dem Institute
• Failing and Successful Sequences of Democratization
• Endangered Democracies: Sequences of Autocratization
• Demscore

Ellen Lust is a Professor and founder and leader of the Governance and Local Development Institute (GLD). The research at GLD aims to explain variations in political governance and local development in an attempt to promote human welfare globally. Ellen Lust was a former professor at Yale University in the United States. She was recruited to the University of Gothenburg in 2014, with support from the Swedish Research Council. The recruitment took place within the framework of a government initiative that would make it possible for Swedish universities to employ top international researchers.

Learn more: GLD

Ann Towns is a Professor. Her research pivots around questions of norms, hierarchies, and resistance in international politics, generally with a focus on gender. She was appointed a Wallenberg Academy Fellow in 2013 for her research on gender and diplomacy. Ann is the Director of the research programme Gender in Diplomacy (GenDip).

Learn more: 

• Female diplomats clash with male norms
• Gender in Diplomacy (GenDip)

Elin Naurin is a Professor and was appointed a Wallenberg Academy Fellow in 2017 for her research on how the individual’s views of society are impacted by pregnancy and childbirth. Elin is the Director of the Gothenburg Research Program on Pregnancy and Politics (PregDem).

Learn more:

• Pregnancy and the perceptions of politics
• Gothenburg Research Program on Pregnancy and Politics (PregDem)

Ann-Kristin Kölln is a Professor and has devoted a large part of her research to political parties and public opinion in Europe. In 2022 she received an ERC Starting Grant for her project The Benefits of Conflict: How Factions Can Enhance Political Parties’ Electoral Performance, - INTRAPARTY.

Learn more: Prestigious ERC grant for research on political parties

Aksel is an Associate Professor and was awarded an ERC Starting Grant in 2023. His research deals with political representation, with a particular focus on the lack of women and young people in politics, and environmental policy in low-income countries. He will use the grant to launch the Fem-LEAD research project (Female Leadership and Effects from African Droughts) in which he will investigate how extreme weather conditions – such as droughts and other natural disasters – affect gender equality in African politics.

Learn more: ERC grant for research into extreme weather and gender equality in African politics