Frida Jonsson

I have a background in public health and completed my PhD in 2018 with a thesis on social inequalities in health. Since 2023, I have been an Associate Professor (Docent) in Public Health Sciences, and since 2025 I have held a position as Senior Lecturer in Social Work. My research lies at the intersection of youth studies and social policy, with a particular focus on early school leaving, NEET trajectories, and the organisation of welfare services aimed at supporting young people in the transition from school to work.

Ongoing research projects

Returns to education – supporting early school leavers on equal terms

I am currently leading a research project on early school leaving funded by the Swedish Research Council (2026–2029). The project builds on the statutory responsibility of municipalities to support young people aged 16–20 who have left upper secondary education without a diploma through the Municipal Responsibility to Act (MRA). It aims to contribute knowledge that enable a more equitable implementation of the MRA across municipalities and subgroups of young people in Sweden, ensuring that no early school leavers are left behind due to social or geographical disadvantages. The project is conducted by an interdisciplinary research team and combines analyses of national register data with case studies and a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA).

Understanding and improving local support for NEET-situated young people

I am the main supervisor of Carl Lundberg, whose doctoral project aims to generate empirically grounded and theoretically informed knowledge about how local support for NEET-situated young people can be strengthened. The project is conducted with Örnsköldsvik municipality and partly funded by the Industrial Doctoral School at Umeå University (2024–2028). It is based on a co-creation approach, with a focus on public innovation for addressing a complex societal challenge.

Finished research projects

Young people not in employment, education or training (NEET)
In 2018, I came in contact with a group of NEET-situated young people, which became the starting point for what is currently a large part of my research. Since then, I have led three projects that focused on understanding and improving the situation of this youth demographic. The first was a realist evaluation of community-based initaitives. This describes how relational welfare is a possible and important way forward to strengthen the abilities of, and conditions for, NEETs to reach goals that they have reason to value through various relational, co-creation and practical strategies. The second aimed to explore their lived experiences within the context of the the COVID-19 pandemic. The third was a scoping review of initiatives for NEET-situated young people with mental health problems and disability. 

Health and social care systems in sparsely populated areas
Within two previous projects i have also studied ccess to, and experiences of, health and social care among rural young people as well as on the importance of health innovations to improve the avaliablity of care services in sparsely populated areas. The first project was about understanding what constitues caring landscarpes for rural young people and how sparsely populated areas can ensure that they can live a good life in decent health. The second was about identifying opportunities and challenges with co-creating health and social care services across organisational boundaries in sparsely populated areas.

Complex interventions
Evaluating complex interventions focused not only on measuring effects, but on gaining a deeper understanding of how and why policies, processes, systems and services work, also lie close to my heart. I have so far conducted two theory-driven evaluations and is involved in a project to analyse the importance of social prescribing for reduced loneliness and improved health among older adults.