The Research Group Housing, Education and Segregation (BUS)

Finn Calander

The Research Group Housing, Education, and Segregation (BUS) is a multidisciplinary research environment operating at the intersection of sociology, geography, and education. Our research focuses on understanding how the spatial contexts of housing and schooling shape the opportunities and outcomes for children, youth, and families.

Description

The research group is led by Håkan Forsberg (Associate Professor in Sociology of Education) and Andreas Alm Fjellborg (Researcher in Human Geography). BUS represents a developing collaboration between the Department of Education, (EDU) and the Institute for Housing and Urban Research (IBF) at Uppsala University. The group consists of scholars from various disciplines, institutions, and universities, united by ongoing research projects and studies.

In addition to its current research projects, BUS works to develop interdisciplinary and practice-orientated studies in collaboration with external stakeholders. We also organise two open seminars per term, where research within BUS’s areas of interest is presented and discussed.

Ongoing Research Projects

The following research projects are either led by or involve members of the research group:

School Segregation in Sweden: Challenges, Opportunities and Intervention (SSIS) Riksbankens Jubileumsfond 2025–2032 (Projectleader: Kajsa Yang Hansen)
Transition between preschool and comprehensive school – Analyses of how preschool participation and socio-economic context affect children´s early educational trajectories, SRC-project 2023–2027 (Projectleader: Håkan Forsberg)
Challenging segregation through education - a comparative study of local initiatives to counteract school segregation, SRC-project 2021–2025 (Projectleader: Jan Jämte)
Seniors’ housing and mobility in small cities and rural areas in Sweden – socially sustainable housing, mobility chains and housing provision in small municipalities. Formas-project 2023–2026 (Projectleader: Andreas Alm Fjellborg)

The STEPS Research School

The BUS research group is part of the national graduate school Strengthening Teacher Education for Equitable Practice in the Swedish School (STEPS), funded by the Swedish Research Council and led by Professor Kajsa Yang Hansen at the University of Gothenburg. STEPS aims to strengthen Swedish teacher education through research on educational equity, school segregation, and the societal mission of schooling. The graduate school is based on an interdisciplinary model in which doctoral education is integrated in active interaction with teacher education.

Within STEPS, BUS is responsible for a thematic strand focusing on residential segregation, school choice, and social sorting in the education system, and how these processes shape the compensatory mission of schools.

In spring 2026, BUS will announce three PhD positions within the STEPS graduate school.

STEPS research school on the national database SWECRIS website

Research Networks

Preschool and Children: Experiences, Practices, and Development (PACED),
Supported by Circus, Uppsala University, 2025-2026.

Network leader: Håkan Forsberg

The Swedish preschool system affects children, parents, and society at large in numerous ways. PACED brings together researchers from the Uppsala Child and Baby Lab at the Department of Psychology and the newly established Preschool Centre, along with scholars from Education, Human Geography, Pedagogy, the Department of Economics and Housing and Urban Research (IBF). The network aims to map and consolidate existing preschool research at Uppsala University. By involving Uppsala Municipality and teacher education programs as external partners, PACED fosters synergies between researchers and practitioners to promote collaboration and knowledge exchange.

External Collaboration

BUS research projects and networks regularly involve collaboration with external stakeholders. These interactions are crucial for shaping research questions that align with societal challenges and knowledge needs. Below are some of the organisations with which BUS currently has exchanges or direct collaborations:

Uppsala Municipality
City of Gothenburg
Region Örebro
Municipality of Storfors
National Tests in Geography
Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket)

Activities

Here we share information about seminars and other activities organised or co-organised by BUS.

BUS hosts an open seminar approximately every six weeks, where ongoing research and other relevant topics are presented by BUS members and invited guests. The seminar is open to anyone interested.

BUS-Seminar 19th May 2026

Segregation or discrimination – How do schools contribute to the emergence of educational inequalities?

Dr Nicky Zunker, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Dr Nicky Zunker is a postdoctoral researcher at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. His research focuses on school choice, educational inequality, and social stratification, with particular attention to parental decision-making, school composition, and the role of institutional arrangements in shaping educational opportunities. He has also worked on longitudinal perspectives on private school choice in Berlin. In this seminar, Nicky Zunker will present theoretical reflections and empirical insights on how schools may contribute to educational inequalities through processes linked to segregation, selection, and discrimination. The presentation will also connect these questions to broader discussions of school choice and social stratification.

Date: 19 May 2026, 13:15

Location: Room 12:228, Blåsenhus, von Kraemers allé 1, Uppsala

Publications

Fjellborg, Andreas Alm, Håkan Forsberg, and Jennifer Waddling. (2026). Shaping Diversity: How Preschool Market Composition Influences Social Mixing in Swedish Preschools. In Socializing Inequality: Class, Culture and Cognition in Early Childhood, eds Dieter Vandebroeck, Maaike Jappens, and Annette Lareau. London: Routledge.

Gamsu, S., & Forsberg, H. (2025). A typology of schools across the four nations of the United Kingdom: Class, race and geography. British Educational Research Journal, n/a(n/a).

Kåks, Per, Målqvist, Mats, Forsberg, Håkan & Fjellborg, Andreas Alm (2025), ”Neighborhood income inequality, maternal relative deprivation and neonatal health in Sweden: A cross-sectional study using individually defined multi-scale contexts”, SSM - Population Health 29 (mars) p. 101745.

Forsberg, Håkan, Waddling, Jennifer & Fjellborg, Andreas Alm (2024), ”Class-based preschool enrolment - social stratification and quality differences in the Swedish preschool market”, Education Inquiry 15 (1) (januari 2) p. 104–125.

Yu, Yang, Gamsu, Sol & Forsberg, Håkan (2024), ”‘Levelling up’ social mobility? Comparing the social and spatial mobility for university graduates across districts of Britain”, The British Journal of Sociology 75 (4) p. 379–399.

Forsberg, Håkan, Larsson, Esbjörn & Alm Fjellborg, Andreas (2024), Förskolans expansion och marknadisering. Studentlitteratur AB.

Alm Fjellborg, Andreas & Forsberg, Håkan (2024), ”Förskola, boende och segregation”, i Forsberg, Håkan, Larsson, Esbjörn & Alm Fjellborg, Andreas (2024), Förskolans expansion och marknadisering. Studentlitteratur AB, p. 127–154.

Forsberg, Håkan & Alm Fjellborg, Andreas (2024), ”Social bakgrund och kvalitet i svensk förskola”, i Forsberg, Håkan, Larsson, Esbjörn & Alm Fjellborg, Andreas (2024), Förskolans expansion och marknadisering. Studentlitteratur AB, p. 99–126.

Waddling, Jennifer (2024), ”‪Främmande språk som pedagogisk profil – val av internationell förskola” i Forsberg, Håkan, Larsson, Esbjörn & Alm Fjellborg, Andreas (2024), Förskolans expansion och marknadisering. Studentlitteratur AB, p.155-176.

Alm Fjellborg, Andreas & Forsberg, Håkan (2023), ”Even in preschools: analysing the preschool and neighbourhood segregation gap in Swedish municipalities”, European Sociological Review 39 (5) (oktober 1) p. 677–691.

Fjellborg, Andreas Alm & Forsberg, Håkan (2022), ”Commuting patterns of preschool children in metropolitan Stockholm”, Regional Science Policy & Practice 14 (4) p. 960–980.