

Research Areas
- Collective rights mobilisation
- Social rights and solidarity infrastructures
- Legal aid
- Children’s rights
Since 2022, I have been a Professor in Sociology of Law at Lund University. My research focuses on local rights mobilisation and solidarity infrastructures in a contemporary context shaped by migration, heightened border controls, and economic austerity in welfare provision. I have a particular interest in voluntary legal aid and children’s rights within a Nordic context.
I work with critical participatory methods often in collaboration with civil society organisations.
Current Research
The dynamic life of Child Rights in three legal cultures. A comparative analysis of child custody cases
In collaboration with my colleagues Monica Lindbekk, Rustam Urinboyev, and Anna Sonander, I am conducting a project to explore how child rights are utilized in custody cases. We aim to answer the following questions: On which premises and references do professionals that are to secure child rights base their arguments - legislation, precedent, religious norms, children’s and parents’ views, human rights instruments, etc.? What similarities and differences can be identified in Egypr, Sweden and Uzbekistan, and how can these be understood from a comparative approach? What are the implications for child rights in the justice system more generally? We analyze court cases, documentation of court proceedings, and interviews with judges and other professionals. The comparative approach allows for an in-depth analysis by juxtaposing each case with the others. The CRC is an international human rights treaty that allows for discretion. Professional groups significantly influence the practical meaning of child rights, impacting the conditions for children in legal systems.
Public employees’ mobilization against the Informers Act. (PEMA)
Together with Jacob Lind, researcher
The Swedish government has recently proposed a number of restrictive policy changes regarding migration and migrants’ human rights. However, no issue has met as much criticism as the proposed duty for welfare professionals to report irregular migrants to the police – what we refer to as The Informers Act. This project aims to understand why and how professionals mobilise against the proposed Act. Through a survey and individual and group interviews, we analyse their arguments, strategies and practices in the collective mobilization work. A public inquiry presented in November 2024 is analysed in this project. The project argues that welfare professionals are crucial not only for implementing migrants’ human rights, but their criticism against The Informers Act indicates that their collective contestations in themselves, together with the rights claims of irregular migrants, create a necessary foundation for migrants’ human rights to begin with. Our mixed method and theoretical approach will enable us to discuss not just the implications of welfare professionals’ contestations for the future of migrants’ rights, but also the status of human rights in Sweden overall.
Regulating Social Housing
In collaboration with Sara Stendahl (PI, Gothenburg University), I am exploring how legal regulation can contribute to a social housing policy that creates good housing conditions for all. The aim is to present a thematic compilation of previous research on legal regulation significant to the social dimensions of housing. Legal-oriented studies refer to research focusing on the law, legal constructions, and the application of law or the legal system. Comparative studies are included to enable comparative and international perspectives. The systematic review is implemented in four distinct phases: planning, implementation, review, and reporting. The project group involves two professors (public law and welfare law) and a librarian. The project concludes in 2024 with a forward-looking workshop where various societal actors invested in creating a sustainable housing policy are invited to discuss how previous knowledge can be used to meet the challenge of ensuring access to good housing for all.
Recently finished research
I was one of the initiators and the research leader of the Asylum Commission, a transboundary collaboration of researchers, professionals, and volunteers, including people who sought protection and experienced the asylum bureaucracy. We have reviewed displacement in the field of migration regulations in Sweden in recent years.
With support from LU Innovation, I conducted an action-oriented research project on Legal advice and information focusing on what I refer to as right literacy, in 2023-24: Legal Literacy for a Right to Have Rights. They addressed the growing need for support in accessing rights in Sweden. The project included collective information activities and legal advice at physical locations. We developed a model for legal information and advice and produced public education activities. A long-term goal is for students in sociology of law, social work, human rights, and law, to manage an email and website in a legal clinic.
I have also led a governmental inquiry about practical impediments to enforcement and presented legal proposals that should prevent people from becoming legally stranded (SOU 2017:84).
Publications
Displaying of publications. Sorted by year, then title.
How do changes to social rights happen? : Tracing changes in the right to social assistance for irregularised migrants in Sweden
Anna Lundberg, Maria Persdotter, Ulrika Wernesjö
(2025) International Journal of Law in Context , p.1-23
Journal articleFörbjud ingripanden mot barn som riskerar utvisning i förskolan
Linn Alenius Wallin, Anna Lundberg, Elia Psouni
(2025) Göteborgs-Posten
Newspaper articleBanishment
Lisa Marie Borrelli, Anita Heindlmaier, Anna Lundberg, Sandra Mantu, Maria Persdotter, et al.
(2024) Critical Social Policy, 44 p.683-699
Journal articleThe welfare state
Anna Lundberg, Sandra Mantu, Maria Persdotter, Jean Pierre Tabin, Ulrika Wernesjö
(2024) Critical Social Policy, 44 p.588-604
Journal article”Studenternas aktivism visar en hoppfull strävan.”
Emma Eleonorasdotter, Dalia Abdelhady, David Bowling, Karin Zackari, Victor Pressfeldt, et al.
(2024) Sydsvenskan
Newspaper articleLag och våld: juridisk rådgivning med människosyn sökt skydd i Sverige. En antirasistisk praktik?
Anna Lundberg, Emma Söderman
(2024) Kriterium
Book chapterTemanummer : Socioekonomisk utsatthet, jämlikhet och skälig levnadsstandard
(2024) Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 31
Journal article (comment)Fattigdom, ekonomisk jämlikhet, historiskt och i samtiden
Anna Lundberg, Annika Taghizadeh Larsson, Susanna Alakoski
(2024) Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 31 p.311-311
Journal article (comment)Legal mobilization dilemmas in the Nordics – an autoethnographic reflection on the role of scholars in the asylum commission
Anna Lundberg
(2024) Frontiers in Sociology, 9
Journal article”Ska vi bedriva den bästa undervisningen och forskningen kan vi inte agera poliser.”
Karin Zackari, Anna Lundberg, Maja Sager, Nina Gren, Till Koglin, et al.
(2023) Sydsvenskan
Newspaper article“They Stopped the Lives of Others”: Stateless Palestinians Facing Bureaucratic Violence in Sweden
Anna Lundberg
(2023) Refuge - Canada's Journal on Refugees, 39 p.1-16
Journal articleAtt smyga igenom lagförslag om grundläggande rättigheter är oanständigt
Anna Lundberg
(2023) Artikel 14, 2023
Journal articleSweden: government considers obligation to denounce undocumented migrants
Jacob Lind, Anna Lundberg, Hanna Scott, Karin Åberg
(2023) PICUM blogg
Web publicationInledning : Förhandlingar och spänningsfält
Magnus Dahlstedt, Anna Lundberg, Dimitris Michailakis
(2023) De sociala rättigheternas politik , p.9-9
Book chapterOmfördelning, erkännande, representation : – Nancy Frasers teori om rättvisa
Ulrika Wernesjö, Anna Lundberg
(2023) De sociala rättigheternas politik , p.33-33
Book chapterDe mänskliga rättigheternas framväxt
Anna Lundberg, Ulrika Wernesjö
(2023) De sociala rättigheternas politik , p.49-49
Book chapterRätten till en skälig levnadsnivå i förhandling
Maria Persdotter, Anna Lundberg, Annika Taghizadeh Larsson, Ulrika Wernesjö
(2023) De sociala rättigheternas politik , p.85-85
Book chapterKrönika: Istället för razzior ge oss trygghet
Anna Lundberg
(2023) Magasinet Konkret
Journal articleAnmälan: Lisa Kerker, Anhörigmigranters rättsliga skydd i tid och rum: En studie av skydd från våld i förhållande till vistelserätt i Sverige, Lunds universitet
Anna Lundberg
(2023) Retfærd: Nordisk juridisk tidsskrift, 3 p.75-80
ReviewNy avhandling : Emma Sundkvist (2022) Human rights as law, language, and space-making: women’s rights movement in post-revolutionary Egypt. Lunds universitet.
Anna Lundberg
(2023) Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 29 p.255-258
ReviewNy avhandling: Jansson, Tobias (2023) : Vem får stanna? Om politiska problemrepresentationer av rätten att stanna i Sverige 1936–1989. Diss. Göteborgs universitet
Anna Lundberg
(2023) Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 30 p.897-903
ReviewTransversal sanctuary enactments in Sweden : challenges, opportunities and implications
Torun Elsrud, Anna Lundberg, Emma Söderman
(2023) Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 49 p.3629-3648
Journal articleAnti-jewish racism. Exploring the Swedish racial regime. Lund: Lunds universitet.
Anna Lundberg
(2023) Sociologisk Forskning, 59 p.497-498
Review"Även Om Du är Analfabet Så Antar Jag Att Du ändå Har En Tidsuppfattning Som Alla andra." : En Kvalitativ Analys Av Temporala motsättningar I Svensk asylbyråkrati
Anna Lundberg, Anna Lindberg, Mehek Muftee
(2022) Sociologisk Forskning, 59 p.253-278
Journal articleDe unga gör helt rätt när de stämmer staten
Christina Moberg, Hervé Corvellec, Anders Lindroth, Manuela Isacson, Linn Nilsson, et al.
(2022) Aftonbladet
Newspaper articleGoverning Through Ignorance : Swedish Authorities’ Treatment of Detained and Non-deported Migrants during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Annika Lindberg, Anna Lundberg, Elisabet Rundqvist, Sofia Häythiö
(2022) Feminist Legal Studies, 30 p.309-329
Journal articleBarnens tid och framtid : En studie av den svenska asylbyråkratin efter 2015
Anna Lindberg, Anna Lundberg, Mehek Muftee
(2022)
ReportNya avhandlingar : Baharan Kazemi (2021) Unaccompanied minors (un-)made in Sweden. Ungrievable lives and access to rights produced through policy. Avhandling i socialt arbete, Göteborgs universitet.
Anna Lundberg
(2022) Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 28 p.365-371
ReviewAsylarkivet
Torun Elsrud, Sabine Gruber, Sofia Häyhtiö, Anna Lundberg, Emma Söderman, et al.
(2022)
Working paperFirewalls: A necessary tool to enable social rights for undocumented migrants in social work
Linus Hermansson, Anna Lundberg, Sabine Gruber, Andrew Jolly, Jacob Lind, et al.
(2022) International Social Work, 65 p.678-692
Journal articleEn analys av tio barnfamiljers asylutredningar
Anna Lundberg, Anna Lindberg, Mehek Muftee
(2021) Artikel 14 , p.15-19
Journal articleHur bör rätten kartläggas? : En metoddiskussion om kritisk rättskartografi av praktiska verkställighetshinder
Anna Lundberg, Hedvig Obenius
(2021) Förvaltningsrättslig tidskrift , p.661-685
Journal articleWhat should we do as intellectual activists? : a comment on the ethico-political in knowledge production
Anna Lundberg
(2021) Research methodologies and ethical challenges in digital migration studies , p.247-258
Book chapterRättssäkerheten i andrummet : en intervju om asylintervjun ur ett god man-perspektiv
Anna Lundberg
(2021) Rättssäkerheten och solidariteten - vad hände? : en antologi om mottagande av människor på flykt , p.93-104
Book chapterRättsosäkerheten och nämndepersonerna
Anna Lundberg, Vanna Nordling, Maja Sager, Emma Söderman
(2021) Artikel 14 , p.18-21
Journal articleAsylkommissionen - en antirasistisk forskningspraktik
Torun Elsrud, Sabine Gruber, Anna Lundberg
(2021) Rasism, antirasism och socialt arbete i spåren av migration , p.301-328
Book chapterInledning
Torun Elsrud, Sabine Gruber, Anna Lundberg
(2021) Rättssäkerheten och solidariteten - vad hände? : en antologi om mottagande av människor på flykt , p.9-21
Book chapterSocial work law in nexus with migration law : A legal cartographic analysis of inter-legal spaces of inclusion and exclusion in Swedish legislation
Anna Lundberg, Pia Kjellbom
(2021) Nordic Social Work Research, 11 p.142-154
Journal articleFörskjutningar av välfärdsrättigheter och ansvar
Sofi Jansson-Keshavarz, Anna Lundberg, Hedvig Obenius
(2021) Rättssäkerheten och solidariteten - vad hände? : en antologi om mottagande av människor på flykt , p.319-334
Book chapterGrundläggande välfärd har skjutits över på civilsamhället
Sofi Jansson-Keshavarz, Anna Lundberg, Hedvig Obenius
(2020) ETC
Journal articleRättskartografisk metod
Sofi Jansson-Keshavarz, Anna Lundberg, Hedvig Obenius
(2020) Metoder för forskning i socialt arbete: hur, var och varför? , p.193-208
Book chapter“Pushed out in limbo – The every-day decision-making about ‘practical impediments to enforcement’ in the Swedish management of return migration”
Anna Lundberg
(2020) Retfærd: Nordisk juridisk tidsskrift, 3 p.13-31
Journal articleCivilsamhällets arbete med nyanländas delaktighet i samhället: En rapport om förskjutningar av välfärdsansvar i Sverige under perioden 2016-2019
Sofi Jansson-Keshavarz, Anna Lundberg, Hedvig Obenius
(2020)
ReportRemissyttrande: En långsiktigt hållbar migrationspolitik (SOU 2020:54)
Anna Lundberg, Anders Neergaard
(2020)
OtherAktivistisk forskning
Sabine Gruber, Anna Lundberg
(2020) Metoder för forskning i socialt arbete : hur, var och varför? , p.209-224
Book chapterUndocumented children
Anna Lundberg
(2020) The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies
Book chapter”Du förstår men du förstår ingenting” : Communityteater, utvisningsbarhet och översättningspolitik
Emma Söderman, Anna Lundberg
(2020) Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 27 p.291-308
Journal articleAsyllagen – ett stort socialt experiment : Asylkommissionen: Vårt mål är att ge dem som drabbats upprättelse
Sanna Vestin, Anna Lundberg
(2019) Aftonbladet
Newspaper articleLaw and expulsions insidethe Swedish welfare state. : The ‘craftwork of illegalisation’ and the management of undeportable deportees.
Anna Lundberg
(2019) Law & Society Association, May 30 - June 2, 2019. Dignity : Legally Stranded? Administrative Practices & Refugee Rights and Resettlement in Nordic Countries and the U.S.Fri, 5/31: 10:00 AM - 11:45 AM
Conference paperIn the World : Action and Fabrication by and on Behalf of Undocumented Persons
Mikael Spång, Anna Lundberg
(2019) Challenging the Political Across Borders : Migrants’ and Solidarity Struggles , p.72-98
Book chapterAdvanced Legal Practices in the Welfare State : A Study of Displacements of the Right to Social Assistance for Undocumented Persons and Poor EU Citizens, in Three Swedish Municipalities
Anna Lundberg, Pia Kjellbom, Ulrika Wernesjö
(2019) 16TH ANNUAL IMISCOE CONFERENCE JUNE 26-28, 2019 MALMÖ UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN : Understanding International Migration in the 21st Century: Conceptual and Methodological Approaches
Conference paperNyanlända barns och ungas etablering och delaktighet i samhället under en tid av ovisshet : en utvärdering av Arvsfondens ”Nyanländasatsning” under perioden 2016–2019
Anna Lundberg, Sofi Jansson-Keshavarz, Hedvig Obenius
(2019)
Working paperMigrationsverket ändrar på lagens innehåll för att ensamkommande barn inte ska beviljas uppehållstillstånd i Sverige
Anna Lundberg, Sofi Jansson-Keshavarz
(2019) Juridisk Tidskrift, 2018/19 p.1012-1019
Journal articleWhat can migration-law learn from cartography? : Some reflections on critical legal mapping as a method for understanding law
Anna Lundberg, Hedvig Obenius
(2019) 16TH ANNUAL IMISCOE CONFERENCE JUNE 26-28, 2019 MALMÖ UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN : Understanding International Migration in the 21st Century: Conceptual and Methodological Approaches
Conference paperInter-legal spaces for a ”satisfactory standard of living"? : A legal cartographic analysis of the content of basic social rights in Sweden
Anna Lundberg, Pia Kjellbom
(2018) NMR conference
Conference paperOlika rättsliga rum för en skälig levnadsnivå? : En rättskartografisk analys av SoL och LMA i domstolspraktiken
Pia Kjellbom, Anna Lundberg
(2018) Nordisk socialrättslig tidskrift, 2018 p.39-71
Journal articleManagement of “the unaccompanied.” In search of a rights-based approach in the context of Swedish “crisis politics”
Anna Lundberg
(2018) Research Handbook on Child Migration : , p.260-278
Book chapterBrandväggar och det sociala arbetets professionsetik
Sabine Gruber, Anna Lundberg, Erica Righard
(2018) Manifest: för ett socialt arbete i tiden , p.291-302
Book chapterOlika rättsliga rum för en skäliglevnadsnivå? : En rättskartografisk analys av SoL och LMA i domstolspraktiken
Pia Kjellbom, Anna Lundberg
(2018) Nordisk socialrättslig tidskrift , p.39-71
Journal articleBook Review: Policing Undocumented Migrants: Law, Violence and Responsibility
Anna Lundberg
(2018) Social & Legal Studies, 27 p.661-665
ReviewRättsliga rum för en skälig levnadsstandard? : En rättskartografisk analys av LMA och SoL i domstolspraktiken
Anna Lundberg, Pia Kjellbom
(2018) :
Conference paperStruggles over human rights in local government–the case of access to education for undocumented youth in Malmö, Sweden
Anna Lundberg, Michael Strange
(2017) Critical Policy Studies, 11 p.146-165
Journal articleDeportability Status as Basis for Human Rights Claims : Irregularised Migrants’ Right to Health Care in Sweden
Anna Lundberg, Mikael Spång
(2017) Nordic Journal of Human Rights, 35 p.35-54
Journal articleIrregular migration struggles and active subjects of trans-border politics : New research strategies for interrogating the agency of the marginalised
Michael Strange, Vicki Squire, Anna Lundberg
(2017) Politics, 37 p.243-253
Journal articleEn kommentar till Sveriges krispolitik mot människor på flykt
Anna Lundberg
(2017) Tidsskrift for velferdsforskning, 20 p.349-356
Journal articleTechnologies of Displacement and Children’s Right to Asylum in Sweden
Anna Lundberg, Jacob Lind
(2017) Human Rights Review, 18 p.189-208
Journal articleMedicinska åldersbedömningar
Anna Lundberg
(2017) Hör detta och lyssna till det : en antologi om flykt , p.68-73
Book chapterJakt på papperslösa gör oss till en polisstat
Jacob Lind, Pouran Djampour, Maja Sager, Emma Söderman, Vanna Nordling, et al.
(2016) Svenska Dagbladet
Newspaper articleWho provides the conditions for human life? : Sanctuary movements in Sweden as both contesting and working with state agencies
Anna Lundberg, Michael Strange
(2016) Politics, 37 p.347-362
Journal articleOrganiseringen mot förvar växer
Anna Lundberg
(2016) Flyktingfängelser : en antologi om Migrationsverkets förvar , p.192-197
Book chapterPapperslösa och Hannah Arendts reflektion om rätten att ha rättigheter
Anna Lundberg, Mikael Spång
(2016) Irreguljär Migration i Sverige : Rättigheter, vardagserfarenheter, motstånd och statliga kategoriseringar , p.419-440
Book chapterNöden har ingen lag. Om demokratins överlevnad i en ’akut nödsituation’ : En reflektion över Sverige 2015
Anna Lundberg
(2016) Tillsammans gör vi politik : en bok av Tyfon , p.113-123
Book chapterHumanitära överväganden i asylprocessen : Balansövningar i spänningsfältet mellan solidaritet och ojämlikhet
Anna Lundberg
(2016) Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 23 p.194-218
Journal articleProviding rights through individual compassion
Muftee Mehek, Anna Lundberg
(2016) Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 6 p.140-147
Journal articleReflections on the right to health
Anna Lundberg, Emma Söderman
(2015) Social Transformations in Scandinavian Cities : Nordic Perspectives on Urban Marginalization and Social Sustainability , p.251-264
Book chapterSanctuary Practices in International Perspectives: Migration, Citizenship, and Social Movements (Routledge, Randy K. lippert amp; Sean Rehaag eds., 2012) 266 Pages, ISBN 9780415673464
Anna Lundberg
(2015) Human Rights Quarterly, 37 p.810-814
ReviewEducation as Hospitality
Michael Strange, Anna Lundberg
(2014) Peace Review, 26 p.201-208
Journal article"People Out of Place" : Advocates Negotiations on Children's Participation in the Asylum Application Process in Sweden
Lisa Ottosson, Anna Lundberg
(2013) International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 27 p.266-287
Journal articleUnaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum in Sweden : Living Conditions from a Child-Centred Perspective
Anna Lundberg, Lisa Dahlquist
(2012) Refugee Survey Quarterly, 31 p.54-75
Journal articleBarns bästa som överordnad princip och rättslig praktik : en jämförande undersökning av asylbeslut i norsk och svensk utlänningsförvaltning
Anna Lundberg
(2011) Juridisk Tidskrift , p.769-799
Journal articleBarn i den svenska asylprocessen och deras mänskliga rättigheter
Anna Lundberg
(2011) Barn i Malmö: skilda livsvillkor ger ojämlik hälsa , p.105-111
Book chapterThe Best Interests of the Child Principle in Swedish Asylum Cases : The Marginalization of Children’s Rights
Anna Lundberg
(2011) Journal of Human Rights Practice, 3 p.49-70
Journal articleInre utlänningskontroll i polisarbete : mellan rättsstatsideal och effektivitet i Schengens Sverige
Sophie Hydén, Anna Lundberg
(2004)
Dissertation
Background
My academic background is interdisciplinary, rooted in my doctoral studies in Ethnicity and Migration at Linköping University. Prior to that, I completed the Law Programme and a master’s degree in public international law at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Lund University. I hold the title of Associate Professor (Docent) in Human Rights.
I have conducted research over the last 15 years on lived experiences of asylum regulations, with a special focus on the problem of people becoming legally stranded in Sweden, as well as the lack of respect for the right to asylum and children’s rights and legal uncertainties in the migration bureaucracy.