We are pleased to share that the Department of Economic History at Lund University is currently inviting applications for two PhD positions:

1. Greenspace Across the Life Course: Inequality, School Outcomes, and Later Health

The aim of the project is to investigate, from a life-course perspective, how exposure to greenspace around the home, at school, along routes to and from school and work, and at the workplace is associated with social inequality, school outcomes, and later-life health. The project combines historical microdata for Landskrona, 1892–1967, geocoded at the block and address levels, with modern geocoded Swedish register data, 1968–2023, and high-resolution geospatial data. Using historical maps, orthophotos, and satellite imagery, the project develops measures of greenspace over time, which are then analysed using quantitative longitudinal and spatial methods. The PhD student will contribute to the empirical and methodological development of the project, for example, through research on inequality in access to greenspace, the relationship between greenspace and school outcomes in both historical and modern periods, and the long-term relationship between childhood environments and later-life health. The project is interdisciplinary but clearly rooted in economic history through its focus on long-term processes, inequality, education, and health.

Project leader: Finn Hedefalk, finn.hedefalk[at]ekh.lu.se

Application page: https://lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:926006/

Last application date: 18 May 2026

2. Health Inequalities Across Time and Space in Sweden, 1968–2023: Long-Term Regional, Social and Environmental Perspectives

The project aims to evaluate long-term trends in health inequalities across Swedish regions from the 1970s to the present, with particular focus on inequalities in chronic diseases, especially cancer, and how these trends differ by gender. These patterns will be studied in relation to broader contextual developments, including environmental exposures in residential and occupational settings and other structural and societal changes relevant to population health. The project adopts a multidimensional approach to inequality, examining how socioeconomic status, country of origin, and regional context interact in shaping health outcomes over time. It will make use of modern Swedish registers, including health and population registers covering the period 1968–2023, in combination with high-resolution geospatial data.

The PhD student will work in close collaboration with researchers from CIRCE (Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Cancer and Equity in Women) and CED (Centre for Economic Demography) at Lund University.

Project leader: Luciana Quaranta, luciana.quaranta[at]ekh.lu.se

Application page: https://lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:926050/

Last application date: 18 May 2026