Torun Elsrud

Torun Elsrud is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Linnaeus University's Department of Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences. She holds a PhD in Sociology from Lund University (2004), focusing on adventure narratives in backpacking. Her research centers on asylum seekers' experiences in Sweden/Europe, migration-related exclusion/inclusion processes, civil resistance against societal injustices, and the intersection of structural policies with lived realities. She participates in interdisciplinary research environments like Social Work and Migration, Migrationens Möten, and Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies.

Current projects include analyzing 'secondary migration' among rejected asylum seekers and global social work responses to human mobility. She co-leads the 'Borders of Justice' research cluster. Published widely in Nordic Journal of Migration Research, Refuge, and Ethnicities, her work critiques bureaucratic violence in asylum systems and advocates for inclusive social policies. She co-edits the upcoming book 'Hope and Asylum' (2025) exploring social change through migration contexts.

Award-winning collaborations include the Swedish Asylum Commission, linking researchers, activists, and asylum-experienced individuals. Her teaching spans critical social work, intersectionality, human rights, and qualitative methods. Active in asylum advocacy, she emphasizes reciprocal researcher-community engagement.