Karl-Johan Lundquist is professor in Human Geography. His research has been directed to fields in economic geography primarily focusing on different aspects of localization dynamics of economic activities. This includes analysis of the importance of regional resources on international competitiveness of firms and regions; changing roles of externalities in the product/industry life cycles, the role of new technologies and its diffusion pattern in time and space; technology shifts and regional development; regional welfare dimensions on long term structural change; and finally different aspects of the relations between economic growth, freight transport and emissions. He has been visiting professor at Vienna school of Economics and Business where he in particular worked on theoretical and empirical aspects on European cross-border integration processes. Since 2012 he is Head of the  Department of Human Geography.

His current research is related to a macro oriented perspectives on evolutionary economic geography with focus on technology shifts, long term structural change and growth trajectories in regional systems. Of particular interest is how these diverging and converging regional paths define growth, employment and labour market dynamics in different parts of a regional system over time.