Daniel Fjellborg

About me

Research topics

• Social movement studies
• Strategies in activism
• Political participation
• Legal mobilization
• Ethnopolitical mobilization: minority and Indigenous politics
• Natural resource management and conflicts

Current research

I am a postdoctoral researcher in political science at Luleå University of Technology. I currently research social acceptance and resistance to industrial projects within the green transition and the consequences of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in the Nordic countries.

My doctoral dissertation focused on protest movements against mineral extraction in Sweden and globally. It explored how the surrounding society, such as laws, politics, and legislation, influences strategic choices in protest movements.

I work mainly within social movement literature and have published in journals such as Social Movement Studies, Theory and Society, Journal of Law and Society, Resources Policy, and Policy Studies Journal.

Teaching

I am happy to supervise thesis students, especially those with questions about social movements, activism, legal strategies, or minority and Indigenous politics.

Current and previous courses:

• Governing Natural Resources and an Industrial Transition
• Tornedalians, Kvens, and Lantalaiset: Past and Present (at Tornedalen's folk high school)
• Integration course: Globalization
  
• Political theory
• Politics and policy in the European Union
• Sweden's political and legal system

Academic background

I have a PhD in Political Science from Luleå University of Technology (2024) and a Master of Arts in Politics from Uppsala University (2015).

In 2025, I was appointed as a Junior Research Fellow in the Nordic University Alliance of the Arctic Six

In 2022, I was a visiting researcher at the Centre on Social Movement Studies (COSMOS) at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence.

In 2021-2022, I was a member of the University Board and Chairperson of the PhD Student Association at Luleå University of Technology

In 2021, I received the Swedish Political Science Association's (SWEPSA) award for Best Article by Junior Researcher.

Between 2019 and 2023, I was an independent columnist for the Swedish university magazine Universitetsläraren.

In parallel with my research, I have worked for the Swedish Government Offices as an analyst within the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Tornedalians, Kvens, and Lantalaiset. I teach about the meänkieli-speaking minority in teacher education and at Tornedalens Folkhögskola and have produced an interview podcast about the assimilation of the meänkieli-speaking minority (www.ummikko.se)

Want to know more?

I am happy to present my research, participate in panels, and moderate public discussions.

Please get in touch with me by phone or email for more information.