Rickard Ulmestig

• Master of Social Science, Växjö University
• Doctor of Philosophy, Lund University

Research

My research frequently involves issues on labour market and social policy. Often with the focus on local labour market policy, social assistance, and social insurance in relation to the organisation of the Nordic welfare systems. I mainly conducts qualitative research using interviews and text analysis but also descriptive statistics.

I work together with several colleagues from IFAU in an extensive research programme funded by Forte (see https://www.ifau.se/sv/Forskning/Externfinansierad-forskning/flyktinginvandring-och-omvandling-pa-den-svenska-arbetsmarknaden--vilken-roll-spelar-kommunerna). The research is conducted with researchers in Economics and Statistics at IFAU and School of Social Work at Lund University. As a part of the program, I also work together with Gabriella Scaramuzzino, School of Social Work at Lund University, and Kettil Nordensjö, Department of Social Work at Malmö University, I work on a project concerning automated administrative support and AI in handling social assistance.

I have another project together with Anna Angelin at school of Social Work at Lund University and with Växjö Municipality. We are studying how employers understand the signal effects of municipal labour market policy when hiring. Our basic assumption is that employers do decide if labour market policy is efficient or not. The project has been founded by Växjö Municipality, The Committee for Work and Livelihood and The Research and Developing deal between Växjö municipality and Linnaeus University.

I have for many years collaborated with Alexandru Panican at the School of Social Work at Lund University around inter-agency collaboration and social assistance with financing from IFAU and Forte. I also have also project financed by The Swedish Social Insurance Agency's research council. The purpose of the proposed study is to understand the Swedish Social Insurance Agency's inter agency collaboration with other welfare organizations regarding unemployed people with health issues. I work with Tove Samzelius at The Department of Social Work at Malmö University and Mikael Bengtsson at The Department of Social Work at Linnaeus University.

I have also a long interest in domestic violence and financial abuse, where I work with Marie Eriksson at the Department of Social Work at Linnaeus University, but no ongoing projects.