Kristian Bernt Karlson

Kristian Bernt Karlson is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Copenhagen, affiliated with the Faculty of Social Sciences. He serves as Director of Graduate Studies in Social Science and leads the ERC-funded SIBMOB project on siblings' social mobility. His research focuses on educational stratification, social mobility, and quantitative methods, with notable contributions to intergenerational mobility analysis and nonlinear probability models. Karlson has held tenured positions since 2016 and serves on editorial and advisory boards including Sociological Science and the Nils Klim Prize Committee.

Education:

• PhD, Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University (2013)
• MA Sociology, University of Copenhagen (2009)
• BA Sociology, University of Copenhagen (2006)

Research Interests: Karlson investigates mechanisms behind educational and socioeconomic inequality, including sibling mobility comparisons and the role of educational expectations. He co-leads the UddanKvant research center and has led major projects funded by the ERC, Danish government ministries, and international foundations.

Key Achievements:

• ERC Starting Grant (2021–2026) for SIBMOB project
• 2023 ASA Leo Goodman Mid-Career Award
• 2022 EAS Raymond Boudon Early Career Achievement Award
• Co-developed influential methodology for comparing logit/probit models (top-1% cited paper)

Grants & Projects:

• Principal Investigator on 7 externally funded projects (including NORFACE, Rockwool Foundation)
• Managing interdisciplinary education research center (UddanKvant)

Labs/Teams: Active in the Danish National Centre for Social Research (SFI), NORFACE network, and international collaborations with institutions like Oxford University and Yale University.