Kristian Karlson new professor at the Department of Sociology

How are social inequalities formed in childhood, and what role does the education system play in social mobility, both in Denmark and abroad?

These are some of the key questions that Kristian Karlson has been focusing on as a researcher at the UCPH Department of Sociology since 2013.

He is now continuing this work as full professor in the department. A position he took up on 1 July.

Kristian Karlson's interests in social mobility and related quantitative research methods have been with him throughout his career:

“I am very interested in how best to measure intergenerational inequality and social mobility. How can we develop new methods that better get at the many things we associate with intergenerational inequalities?" as he said in 2022 when he received the Raymond Boudon Early Career Award.

His latest research project, SIBMOB, funded by the European Research Council (ERC), investigates why some siblings end up in different positions in the social hierarchy. This is done across ten countries, using extensive statistical data. Ultimately, the project will shed light on why some countries have greater social mobility than others, and what role welfare states and family patterns play in this context.

In addition, Kristian Karlson has continuously contributed to the development of quantitative statistical methods in sociology and other social sciences. He has received international awards in this field as well, and the so-called "Karlson-Holm-Breen" method is named after him.

Kristian Karlson holds an MA in Sociology from the University of Copenhagen and a PhD from Aarhus University. The latter included a stay at Yale University as a Fulbright scholar.

In addition to his research and teaching, Kristian Karlson has been a ministerial appointed member of the government's expert committee on student grants and an expert member of the board of the Danish Evaluation Institute. Since 2023 he has also been head of the PhD School at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Kristian Karlson will give his inaugural lecture 14 November 2024. Read more: Education, the Great Equalizer? What 15 Years of Sociological Research Taught Me