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Dr Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, SFHEA, is an Associate Professor in Policy and Intersectionality at the Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction.

When did you take up this position? What was your position beforehand?

I joined Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê in 2022 after a career with the United Nations, and after almost a decade at the University of Sussex and the world-leading Institute of Development Studies.Ìý

During my childhood, I remember thinking that if our time on earth now is limited, we should ensure to use it wisely. I wanted to work with something that served to improve the world somehow and concluded that the human rights framework was a good vehicle.Ìý

It took me a while to get into research and academia. I first worked with Indigenous and marginalised people through NGOs in South America, which included teaching in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. I then spent time at the Swedish Embassy in Brazil. It was after this that I discovered research as the perfect middle ground.

Tell us about your work at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê - how do you spend your days, and what makes your role different to similar positions elsewhere?

As an Associate Professor within the Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction, I lead Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê’s Everyday Disasters and Violences Research Group. I am also involved in several research collaborations such as the , , and more.Ìý

In terms of teaching, I supervise Bachelor, Master’s, and PhD research projects. I also lead two modules on our undergraduate Global Humanitarian Studies program in ‘Humanitarian Policy’ and in ‘Violence, Intersectionality and Marginalisation’.Ìý

What I love about my role is what I have built with the Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Everyday Disasters and Violences Research Group. I also really enjoy being able to draw such overlaps between my intersectionality research and my leadership role through Athena Swan by shaping Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion efforts within the Department.Ìý

I am very passionate about my research and that transitions into my ambition to make improvements for my peers. It also transforms into creating engaging teaching curriculum, bring life into my student interactions, and emphasise the human faces behind my research in my policy engagements.Ìý

Academia can be intense, competitive, and challenging. I sometimes see similarities with the entertainment industry where you build a brand around a professional name and must keep performance and excellence up to not fall behind. My time with the UN was more demanding so academia suits me well.Ìý

What are some of your favourite things about working at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê? How have you found it different to previous jobs?

Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê is such a unique university in terms of its history, location, and research reputation. I feel very well connected, a little bit like a spider in the middle of its net.Ìý

There is a unique opportunity of serving as a changemaker and channelling high impact research into policy, including through our educational portfolio and student work. I have never worked as closely with the UK Parliament and its key stakeholders supporting and advising governance as I do today.Ìý

The media interest and coverage related to our research outputs with the Lancet Countdown and studies directed by me as the Principal Investigator have been amazing.Ìý

My students have submitted some brilliant inputs under my guidance in which Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê has been referenced as contributors to high-level UN reports. As a student to be able to bring something so powerful with you next to the degree is just wonderful.Ìý

Can you tell us about any recent/upcoming research, or future projects that you're looking forward to working?

By the time I joined Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê, I was already a well-established name within the research area of climate change, and/or migration, displacement, immobility, and (mental) health, but I felt that I had already spent an extensive amount of time in this research area.Ìý

I was primarily working in Global South contexts (across Asia, Africa, and South America), while being reminded of the injustices all around us in the UK. I found it hard to turn a blind eye to these, wanted to conduct more UK and Europe-based research, and go deeper into investigative areas that are not climate change-related.Ìý

I therefore took a bold step from what probably could have been a comfortable research career until I retired, to, in some ways, starting over from scratch. I extended my work to structural violence such as domestic and child abuse and moved further into human trafficking and exploitation as experienced within the UK and Europe.Ìý

I also began studying our legal systems, other societal efforts to protect victim-survivors, and law (family, criminal and asylum). It meant re-establishing my research network and my name as an impactful scholar which was hard and presented challenges.Ìý

I had to be patient but ultimately the Research Group shaped into something remarkable over just a few years. I am often invited to international and national policy roundtables to provide expert opinions in both areas.Ìý

My most recent research, with ECPAT UK and our Department of Security and Crime Science, looked at the trafficking and exploitation risks surrounding the children who went missing from the Home Office hotels while seeking asylum in the UK.Ìý

It was a huge success and covered by across the world. Recently, another piece of work that we have done in relation to the lack of protection of victim-survivors in the family courts received great , too.Ìý

This will be the research area that I have the most work planned around over the upcoming year. Particularly in the context of ‘legal entrapment’ of victim-survivors of coercive control in the UK, Brazil, and Sweden. We just saw our work feeding into a new bill called ‘A Safer Home for Children’ submitted by the Minister of Justice to the Swedish Government.Ìý

Have you always been based in London? If not, when did you move here, and how did you find adapting to living in London?

I have actually never lived in London. That said, my work has always been connected to the city in one way or another. Even before joining Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê, I would come to London on a regular basis.Ìý

I really enjoy coming here for work while returning home to be closer to nature. As I was raised in Sweden, adapting to the UK was not that difficult. There are so many commonalities in our cultures. We also love sarcasm, are almost overly polite, and we express ourselves very diplomatically when we get upset.Ìý

I also moved to the UK from Bangladesh (where I was based during my time with the UN), so in that sense it very much felt as if I was returning home. Ìý Ìý

Finally, tell us about your non-work life. Do you have any hobbies, or favourite places to go in London?
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As I have a need to be close to the water, whether it is the sea, a lake, or river, this tends to follow me to London. I often have work that involves me going to the UK Parliament, so unless it is raining, I avoid transport and walk along the Thames to take in the sun (when out) and the river.Ìý

I love photography and I still spend time taking and editing photos. Over the more recent years, I have also started making jewellery (necklaces, bracelets, and earrings), and often out in the sun by the water.Ìý

I find the process very reenergising, peaceful, and different from what I do in my work. That was also how I paid myself through university back in Sweden when I was younger. I worked in a jewel shop, so it is interesting that the circle now in a way is complete.