Liselott Sundbäck

Liselott Sundbäck is a postdoctoral researcher at Åbo Akademi University's Faculty of Social Sciences, Economics and Law, specializing in the Institute for Human Rights. Her work focuses on trust dynamics in institutional encounters between forced migrants and street-level bureaucrats across Nordic welfare states.

• PhD in Social Policy (2024)
• Active 2024-2026 Strategic Research Council project 'Diversity, Trust and Two-Way Integration'
• LIVICS project researcher on language-based vulnerabilities in child welfare

Research interests center on: Forced Migration, Trust in Institutions, Welfare State Dynamics, and Street-Level Bureaucracy. Her 2024 publications examine how trust/distrust develops in bureaucratic interactions and its implications for integration.

Recent work explores:

• Sensemaking of trust through temporal dimensions
• Professional discretion in child welfare
• Neoliberal welfare state challenges
• Language barriers in institutional interactions

Active in public engagement through conference presentations (ETMU, Science Night) and media commentary on migration issues since 2021.