Mats Fridlund

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I am a historian of science, technology and industrialization who do research on the politics and culture of technology and an occasional commentor in news media on issues related to technological change, terrorism and political violence.

My current research examine the role of technology in the emergence and globalization of modern terrorism for which I have been awarded research grants from The Swedish Research Council and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond - The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences. I am also participating in developing digital humanities as a research field and currently lead a Kone Foundation research project to strengthen digital history in Finland.

I am Deputy Director of the Centre for Digital Humanities at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and currently a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. I have held positions at universities and research institutes in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, USA and the UK, and in 2006 I was appointed to the first tenured history of technology professorship in Denmark and in 2013, to Finland’s first professorial position in the history of industrialization.

Experience

  • 2018–present
    Visiting Scholar, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
  • 2019–present
    Deputy Director, Centre for Digital Humanities, University of Gothenburg
  • 2013–2018
    Associate professor, Aalto University, Finland
  • 2011–2013
    Senior lecturer, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
  • 2008–2010
    Associate professor, Centre For Advanced Security Theory, University of Copenhagen
  • 2006–2008
    Associate professor, Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
  • 2008–2008
    Visiting associate professor, Aarhus University, Denmark
  • 2004–2006
    Visiting assistant professor, Northwestern University, USA
  • 2003–2004
    Researcher, KTH, Sweden
  • 2001–2003
    Lecturer, Imperial College London
  • 2000–2001
    Researcher, Swedish Institute for Studies in Education and Research (SISTER)
  • 2000–2001
    Postdoctoral research fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
  • 1999–2000
    Assistant professor, Linköping University, Sweden

Education

  • 1999 
    KTH Royal Institute of Technology, PhD (History of Technology)
  • 1992 
    KTH Royal Institute of Technology, MScEng (Engineering Physics)

Publications

  • 2019
    ”Keep calm and carry one: The civilian gas mask case and its containment of British emotions”, Susanne Bauer, Maria Rentetzi & Martina Schlünder, eds. Boxes: A Field Guide (Manchester: Mattering Press)
  • 2018
    Leena Malkki, Mats Fridlund & Daniel Sallaama, eds., Terrorism in Nordic Countries: Special Issue, Terrorism and Political Violence
  • 2012
    ”Affording terrorism: Idealists and materialities in the emergence of modern terrorism", Max Taylor & P.M. Currie, eds., Terrorism and Affordance (London & New York: Continuum)
  • 2011
    ”Buckets, Bollards and Bombs: Towards Subject Histories of Technologies and Terrors“, History and Technology: An International Journal
  • 2011
    Mats Fridlund & Gustaf Nelhans, “Science and ‘The 9/11-Effect’: The Mutual Shaping of Terrorism, National Security, and Scientific Research During the Last Ten Years”, Science Progress
  • 2000
    Mats Fridlund & Ulf Sandström, eds., Universitetets värden: Bidrag till den forskningspolitiska debatten, (Stockholm: SNS Förlag)
  • 1999
    Mats Fridlund, Den gemensamma utvecklingen: Staten, storföretaget och samarbetet kring den svenska elkrafttekniken, (Stockholm & Stehag: Symposion)

Grants and Contracts

  • 2018
    Things for Living with Terror: a Global History of the Materialities of Urban Terror and Security
    Role:
    PI
    Funding Source:
    Riksbankens Jubileumsfond
  • 2016
    From Roadmap to Road Show: A collective demonstration & information project to strengthen Finnish digital history
    Role:
    PI
    Funding Source:
    Kone Foundation
  • 2015
    Towards a Roadmap for Digital History in Finland: Mapping the Past, Present & Future Developments of Digital Historical Scholarship
    Role:
    PI
    Funding Source:
    Kone Foundation
  • 2010
    Spreading Terror: Technology and Materiality in the Transnational Emergence of Terrorism, 1866-1898
    Role:
    PI
    Funding Source:
    The Swedish Research Council (VR)
  • 2000
    Fusion in a Time of Transition
    Role:
    PI
    Funding Source:
    The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT)

Professional Memberships

  • Society for the History of Technology
  • British Society for the History of Science
  • The European Association for Digital Humanities
  • Digital Humanities in the Nordic Countries
  • Society for Terrorism Research

Research Areas

  • Research, Science And Technology Policy (160511)
  • History And Philosophy Of Science (Incl. Non Historical Philosophy Of Science) (220206)
  • History Of Ideas (220209)
  • History And Philosophy Of Engineering And Technology (220203)
  • Political Science Not Elsewhere Classified (160699)
  • Sociology And Social Studies Of Science And Technology (160808)
  • European History (Excl. British, Classical Greek And Roman) (210307)

Contact Mats for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision