Nordic Prostitution Policy Reform

Dr Gregg Bucken-Knapp (Ph.D., 1999, The George Washington University, Docent/Reader in political science, University West, Sweden, 2009) is a senior lecturer in politics at the University of Stirling in Scotland. In addition to his current funding from the Swedish Research Council for the NPPR Project, he has also been the recipient of several other prestigious research awards, including a U.S. Fulbright Grant, a Norwegian Marshall Fund Grant, and a grant from the Danish Research Agency, totaling approximately £300,000. His publications include the co-edited volume Borders Matter: Transboundary Regions in Contemporary Europe (Aabenraa, Denmark: IFG Press, 2001), Elites Language and the Politics of Identity: The Norwegian Case in Comparative Perspective (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003) and multiple journal articles. His most recent book is Defending the Swedish Model: Social Democrats, Trade Unions and Labor Migration Policy Reform (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009).

Dr Johan Karlsson Schaffer (Ph.D., 2008, University of Gothenburg) is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo, Norway, where he is involved in the research project “Should states ratify human rights conventions?” His main research interests are in the fields of political theory and international political theory.

Research Assistants

Pia Levin (M.A., Åbo Akademi University, 2010) is the research assistant responsible for collection and translation of Finnish language data sources. Pia earned an M.A. in Nordic History at Åbo Academy University in Finland in 2010.  Her M.A. dissertation examined the construction of knowledge by the Medical Society of Finland for the issues of poverty, prostitution and mental illness during the period 1871-1912.

Affiliated Postgraduate Students

(While not funded by the NPPR Project, we have affiliated students who have chosen to undertake their postgraduate studies at the University of Stirling, focusing on various aspects of the commercial sex industry and public policy.)

Karin Persson-Strömbäck (MSc, University of Stirling, 2010) is a doctoral student in politics at the University of Stirling.  She was awarded a PhD Postgraduate Research Studentship in 2010 to fund research into the question of trade union membership for sex workers in a European context.  Karin was awarded an MSc with distinction in the International Conflict and Cooperation Program at the University of Stirling. She also holds a BA in political science from the International Program for Politics and Economics (IPPE) at University West. Karin has studied Development and International Cooperation and African studies at the University of Gothenburg, has studied Chinese and Chinese business culture at Ningbo University, China and is a former NPPR Project intern. The supervisors for her PhD thesis are Dr Gregg Bucken-Knapp (primary) and Dr Eric Shaw (secondary).



Emily St.Denny (MSc, Univerity of Edinburgh, 2010) is a PhD candidate in politics at the University of Stirling.  Her research will examine the recent evolution of French prostitution policies. She holds a BaHons in Politics and Journalism from the University of Stirling and has studied journalism and politics at the Institut d’Études Politiques in Paris. Her MSc dissertation looked at the forms and functions of anti-male violence during the genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Dr Gregg Bucken-Knapp is the primary supervisor for her PhD thesis.