Photo of Maria Brandén

Maria Brandén

Senior Associate Professor, Head of Division

My research primarily concerns how different types of segregation affect individuals' life chances. I almost exclusively use Swedish register data in my research.

Register-based research on social inequality

My research primarily concerns how different types of segregation affect individuals' life chances. I almost exclusively use Swedish register data in my research.

I have a PhD in Sociological Demography from Stockholm University, and am an associate professor in Sociology.

Starting January 2021, I am the director of the Institute for Analytical Sociology, where I have been since the start in 2014.

I am the PI for a large research project funded by the Swedish Research Council, on how machine learning methods combined with register data can teach us more about social inequality. I also have a number of other funded research projects by Forte and the Swedish Research Council that deal with school segregation and housing segregation. Lately, I have also been interested in socio-economic inequality in those who suffer from covid-19 in different ways.

Research on register data

Most of the research I do is based on analyzes of register data. Sweden's extensive register data is unique, and enables research that is difficult to carry out in other countries. For example, register data makes it possible to investigate rare events that could not have been captured with survey data. The size of register data makes it possible to investigate how siblings who have different experiences of, for example, segregation differ in terms of grades or other outcomes. With the help of registers of where an individual lives each year, we can construct detailed measures of housing segregation, and study how individuals are affected by this in the longer term.

My project that combines machine learning with register data is part of the Swedish Network for Register-Based Research and through this network we organize conferences and collaborations to promote research on Swedish register data.
 

Research

Publications

2024

Erik Rosenqvist, Maria Brandén (2024) School composition and academic decisions European Sociological Review (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Zuzana Zilincikova, Isabel Palomares Linares, Alyona Artamonova, Maria Brandén, Christine Schnor (2024) Residential choice following separation and widowhood in middle and later life in Belgium and Sweden Population, Space and Place, Vol. 30, Article e2709 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2023

Jani Turunen, Maria Brandén, Karin Lundstrom (2023) Geographical distance between child and parent after a union dissolution in Sweden, 1974-2011 Demographic Research, Vol. 48, p. 439-482, Article 17 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

Doctoral studies

News

Organisation