About
Lotta Vikström is a Professor of History at Umeå University, affiliated with the Department of Intellectual and Social Studies (History Unit) and the Unit for Demography and Ageing Research (EDÅ). She holds a dual role as an associate professor in historical demography and a subject professor for History since September 2023. Her research focuses on disability history, socio-geographical mobility, and gender analysis, combining historical demographic methods with interdisciplinary approaches.
Education: PhD in History (2003 dissertation on Sundsvall migration patterns). Key affiliations include leadership roles in the ERC-funded DISLIFE project (2016–21) and the Wallenberg-funded DISTIME project (2019–2024). She has held administrative roles such as Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Humanities (2011–15).
Research interests emphasize disability’s impact on life trajectories, family structures, and aging. Her work integrates church records, census data, and qualitative sources to analyze historical and contemporary disability experiences. Notable grants include a Wallenberg Scholar Award (2019) and Swedish Research Council funding for disability studies projects.
Her recent publications explore disability in partnerships, inbreeding health outcomes, and historical measurement of disability. She leads interdisciplinary teams investigating topics like mental health institutionalization and parasport inclusion. Current projects include the DISTORY initiative reconstructing 19th-century disability biographies through archival and literary sources.
- Grants: Wallenberg Scholar (18M SEK, 2019–24), ERC Consolidator Grant (2016–21)
- Labs/Networks: CEDAR Research Group, Medical Humanities Network
- Teaching: History didactics focusing on digital source integration in upper secondary education
