Ellen Parsland has a bachelor and a master’s degree in social work. Ellen is since 2018 working on a PhD-project regarding how ethnicity, gender and class as complex power structures are being reproduced, contested and handled within local labour market programs for unemployed individuals.  Focus in the project lies in categorization processes used when activating unemployed individuals.

Ellen’s PhD-project is a part of larger research program called “Refugee immigration and change in the Swedish labour market - which is the role of the municipalities?”  funded by the Swedish research institute for health, working life and welfare (FORTE).

Ellen is also a part of the research group AKTIV, where researchers highlights, spreads and collaborates regarding research concerning municipal labour market policy and social assistance.