Research projects
Here you can find more information about ongoing research projects at the Swedish Defence University.
Research projects
- Fortification Conditions: Human Perspective
- Impact of psychological strain on fire and rescue service personnel retention in wartime – experiences from Ukraine
- Follow-up of the Swedish Enlistment Battery (SEB)
- Recruitment, personnel retention capacity and selection system development
- Command supply
- Women in missions
- Defence and society
- The practice of war
- Leadership and collaboration for Sweden's total defence
- Military police - meaning and professional identity in a changing security environment
Stories
Military staff exercise provides unique research opportunities
How can a well-functioning military staff be assembled quickly when its members come from different countries? That question was at the heart of the Comprehensive Shield staff exercise in Norway, in which researchers from the Swedish Defence University participated from 20 to 30 April.
He wants to strengthen the link between research and military practice
John Olsen, Colonel and Professor of War Studies, has been Head of the Department of War Studies since 1 January 2026. Following a long career in the Royal Norwegian Air Force and several international appointments, he now aims to help strengthen the interaction between research, the military profession and security policy.
He receives international recognition for article on the role of civil society in Ukraine’s defence
Giacomo Cuscuná, doctoral student in war studies at the Swedish Defence University, ranked second in the Central European Journal of International and Security Studies (CEJISS) annual award for Best Article 2025.
Sweden had extensive intelligence networks as early as the sixteenth century
Sweden developed sophisticated and extensive intelligence networks much earlier than has previously been recognised in research. This is demonstrated in a new book on intelligence organisation during the reigns of Gustav Vasa, Erik XIV and Johan III.
Hope as a political tool in a time of democratic crisis
How can democracy be defended when trust in it is faltering? A new study shows how the Biden administration used hope as a political tool to legitimise its foreign policy vision of democracy versus autocracy.
New research project studies the everyday reality of rescue services in war
When the war in Ukraine is described, the focus is often on soldiers at the front line. But rescue service personnel are also working in the midst of war — under shelling, among rubble, and close to people in acute distress.
Competing views of democracy and disinformation in the EU
Despite broad support for the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), there is no shared European understanding of how disinformation threatens democracy. This is the conclusion of a new study analysing debates in the European Parliament.
War, trade and power in the Early Modern period
War in early modern Europe was not only fought on the battlefield, it was also organised, financed and supplied through extensive commercial networks. A new anthology highlights how this “business of war” developed in the Baltic Sea region between 1530 and 1765.
He researches cognitive warfare and diplomacy
Adan Anwar's doctoral studies focuses on cognitive warfare, disinformation and diplomacy, with a particular interest in how information affects security and political processes in the EU, the Middle East and North Africa.
Understanding politics through images and emotions
Roland Bleiker is Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland and the 2026 holder of the Olof Palme Visiting Professorship at the Swedish Defence University. During his year in Sweden, he hopes to engage closely with students and colleagues through teaching, mentoring, guest lectures and workshops.