Labour Market, Municipalities, Trust, Income Systems, Science (Aktiv)

Labour Market, Municipalities, Trust, Income Systems, Science (Aktiv) is primarily an environment where researchers from several universities collaborate in research, education and systematic interaction with practice. The information below focuses on what is done within Aktiv at Linnaeus University. This is only a smaller part of what Aktiv does and is, see the group's external website Kmaktiv.org.

Our research at Linnaeus University

Our research, both in Aktiv and at the Department of Social Work, is conducted on two tracks that sometimes also coincide with each other.

The first track deals with municipal labour market policy (in Swedish: kommunal arbetsmarknadspolitik; Kamp). Within this track, we are interested in how the municipal labour market policy is governed and organized, and what impact it can have on people who participate in labour market measures. We are also interested in the labor market's response to Kamp, for example based on how employers reason about the measures, but also how activation coincides with changes in urban policy.

The second track deals with social assistance. Within this track, we have mainly been interested in the processing of social assistance, both from a professional perspective and from a user perspective, but also the system's potential to recognize users as unique individuals. Another example is how women exposed to violence experience the meeting with social assistance and how the development of AI can affect both the profession and the people who apply for social assistance. 

Common to both tracks is that we are interested in the governance and organization of municipal labor market policy and social assistance, as well as the individual citizen's position through the organization.

Collaborate on and reach out with research

Aktiv was formed by researchers at Linnaeus University, Lund University and Malmö University based on a desire to collaborate on and reach out with research on municipal labor market policy and/or financial assistance. A central point within Aktiv is therefore contact with social practice. We want to be a bridge between practice and research, and we have several ways to achieve this goal.

Every year, Aktiv holds a free day of lectures aimed at professionals, which attracts several hundred people. We also regularly invite people to lunchtime lectures and seminars. Aktiv also has a podcast on Apple and Spotify, Fråga Aktiv. Aktiv's external website provides access to lectures and materials on municipal labor market policy and social assistance.

Research group activities

• Research projects
• Seminars and workshops
• Collaboration with social practice
• Collaboration with other universities
• Education and training
• Knowledge dissemination to practice