The Centre for Sexology and Sexuality Studies carries out multidisciplinary research on sexuality from social science, humanistic, medical and clinical perspectives. Our aim is to develop and stimulate faculty-wide research in sexology and sexuality studies, and also to strengthen national and international research collaboration within the field.

Our vision is to shed light on issues of sexuality in an integrated way. Our research center has an important role to play – sexuality is an ever-current issue.

Charlotta Holmström, Director

Highlights

Swedish delegation at research visit at University of South Africa (UNISA) in Pretoria/Tswane.

CSS is advancing global academic collaboration through a strategic research visit to University of South Africa (UNISA) in Pretoria/Tswane. In November 2025, a delegation led by Associate Professor Mats Lundström at the Faculty of Education and Society, engaged in a week-long program aimed at deepening research partnerships and co-developing innovative approaches to sexuality education.

Child friendly environment, social services

Associate Professor Lotta Wendel and Professor Sara Johnsdotter examine the role of special representatives for children in Sweden, focusing on how children’s right to be heard is handled in investigations concerning the ban on female genital mutilation. The study highlights both the importance of these representatives and the structural challenges they face in safeguarding children’s rights.

CSS researcher Charlotta Carlström with colleagues has been awarded 2.5 million SEK from the Postcode Lottery Foundation for the project "Right Sex" [Rätt sex], led by the NGO RFSU in Umeå. The project brings together legal, forensic, and sexological expertise to strengthen the justice system's understanding and handling of consent in sexual practices containing choking, BDSM and hard sex. Congratulations!

News and events

News

Young migrants opt out of youth health centres

News

Center for Sexology and Sexuality Studies: "We want to be more visible globally"

Our research

The centre was established with the intention of further strengthening the University's position as a focal point for national and international research, in parallel with educational and professional development in the field of sexuality. Our research focusses on structural frameworks, institutional contexts, and individual experiences, comprising three main themes:

Sexuality, norms and politics

The research theme highlights how different forms of societal interventions and legal measures produce and reproduce ideas about sexuality, gender, and relationships. Research related to this theme examines, for example, how sex education takes shape, LGBTQ+ experiences in relation to legislation on migration, and various perspectives on the criminalization of the purchase of sex.

Total hits: 3

Sexual and reproductive health, intervention, and prevention

In this area, researchers examine different forms of societal interventions to prevent sexual and reproductive ill health and sexual vulnerability. Projects within this theme investigate, for example, how social care and school healthcare address sexual and reproductive health and rights, young adults' knowledge of sexual practices in relation to antibiotic resistance, and sexual rehabilitation after acquired brain injury.

Total hits: 3

Sexual experiences and practices

The theme highlights sexual experiences and practices at a relational and individual level. Themes covered include, for example, infidelity, female genital cutting, involuntary childlessness, men's experiences of sexual violence, living with inflammatory bowel disease, and sexual consent in digital communication.

Total hits: 4

Publications

Education

The course Sexology: Violence, Trauma, and Sexuality is being offered for the first time in Spring 2026. The course enrolles 30 students, is taught in English and includes international students, students from the Swedish Master's Program in Sexology, and students from outside Malmö University. Over five full-day sessions, theories and research on violence, trauma, and sexuality are discussed, with a primary focus on sexual violence. Course coordinators Marie Karlsson and Charlotte Petersson look forward to the remaining sessions, which will address theories of perpetration and the prevention of sexual violence, as well as group presentations on trauma-informed care in practice.

Theses from the Faculty of Health and Society

The course is aimed to assist doctoral students in the (multidisciplinary) field of sexuality, research, and sexual health in finalizing their dissertation work/research and preparing them for future research/academic careers.

Researchers at CSS

Total hits: 31

Amroussia, Nada

PhD in Health and society studies with a background in Public Health. Nada earned her doctorate at Malmlö University with a dissertation on sexual health among young people with migration experiences. In a collaborative project between Malmö University and RFSU, she is researching strategies to ensure accessible sexual and reproductive healthcare for young people with migration experiences. The project will involve a series of workshops with key stakeholders, including youth, healthcare providers, and counsellors. 

Contact Nada Amroussia

Ek, Ann-Sofie

PhD in Health and Society Studies, with a Master’s degree in Sexology. Earned a doctoral degree from Malmö University with a dissertation on sexual health following acquired brain injury, focusing on both individuals’ experiences and healthcare professionals’ perspectives within rehabilitation medicine in Sweden. Works clinically as a registered nurse and sexual counsellor in rehabilitation medicine at Skåne University Hospital.

Contact: Ann-Sofie.Ek@mau.se

Hall, Ida Elisabet

BSc in social work, MSc in Sexology. Ida is a PhD candidate at Lunds University. Her dissertation focuses on assisted reproduction, aiming to explore partners' experiences and perceptions of their role during assessment and treatment. Ida also investigates how fertility care understands the partner's role as well as their own role in caring for this group.

Contact Ida Elisabet Hall

Hammarström, Sofia

Development manager at Knowledge Centre for Sexual Health within Region Västra Götaland, Sweden. PhD from Linköping University within the field of young people at risk of sexual ill-health.

Jolof, Linda and Rocca, Patricia
Linda Jolof and Patricia Rocca work at The Swedish Red Cross Treating Centre in Malmö, Sweden. Linda is an authorised psychologist and Patricia is an authorised physiotherapist. Part of the collaboration is also Anette Carnemalm, manager at the Swedish Red Cross Treating Centre in Malmö.

Contact The Swedish Red Cross Treating Centre in Malmö

Khairallah, Layla
Social worker with a Master's degree in Sexology. Layla is a doctoral student at Mälardalen University, Sweden. Her work is about socially corrosive behaviour (Swe. socialt nedbrytande beteende) among youths in the meaning of 3 § LVU, which she analyses using gender theories, also focusing on sexuality.

Contact Layla Khairallah

Mejías Nihlén, Theodor
Lic. psychologist and sexologist and PhD student at the Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning (IBL), Linköping University, Sweden. Theodor's research is about minority stress and minority joy in transgender people. The research is part of the research group Queer psychology in Sweden.

Contact Theodor Mejías Nihlén

Åkeflo, Linda

Researcher at the Department of Care Science and Health, University of Gothenburg. Linda wrote her thesis on radiotherapy and sexual health effects among female pelvic cancer survivors.

Contact Linda Åkeflo

Our centre regularly welcomes visiting scholars, from professors to doctoral students, whose research interests align with the centre's activities. To apply, send a CV, information about previous experience, funding, motivation and a research description to Charlotta Holmström.

Organisation

  • Mariah Larsson – Chair

    Professor

    Department of Film and Literature, Linnaeus University

  • Carina Listerborn

    Professor in Urban Planning

    Department of Urban Studies, Malmö University

  • Dawan Raoof

    Associate Professor

    Department of Police Work, Malmö University

  • Karin Örmon

    Associate Professor, Research Leader at the Competence Center on Intimate Partner Violence

    Västra Götaland Region

  • Katarina Görts Öberg

    Doctor of Medicine and Psychologist, ANOVA, and Head of Unit for Sexual Medicine

    Karolinska University Hospital

  • Niclas Olsson

    Development Secretary, Sexual Health

    City of Malmö

  • Niels Ulrik Sørensen

    Professor and Deputy Manager at The Danish Centre for Youth Research (CeFU)

    Aalborg University, Denmark

  • Suzann Larsdotter

    Social worker and Sexologist

    Sexualbyrån Suzann Larsdotter, Stockholm

  • Anna Kjellbom

    Physician and Specialist in General Medicine, Responsible for the Knowledge Platform on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

    Region Skåne

Networks

The Nordic Network for LGBTQ+

LGBTQ+ research in the Nordic countries is strong and multi-faceted, but it has largely been done within its respective...

Network for junior researchers in sexology

The network brings together doctoral students and recent graduates doing research in sexology and sexuality-related topics.

Visit us at Niagara

Nordenskiöldsgatan 1, Malmö

Contact