Torkel Richert
Associate Professor/Senior lecturer

Presentation

Torkel Richert is a social worker and Professor of Social Work at Malmö University. His research broadly concerns drug policy and interventions within the drug field, social work related to harmful use and dependence, as well as the everyday lives, risks, and lived experiences of people who use drugs. More specifically, his research has focused on women’s roles, agency, and vulnerability within drug economies; opioid agonist treatment; drug-related deaths; mental health among young people who use drugs; sexual health among youth in compulsory care; older adults with long-term drug problems; police work related to drugs; and the situation of family members and significant others.

Richert has extensive experience leading both large research projects and smaller R&D projects in close collaboration with practice. His research draws on a broad methodological approach, including both qualitative and quantitative methods such as interviews, surveys, register studies, ethnographic approaches, and user involvement. The research is characterized by a wide range of perspectives and theoretical frameworks.

Richert is strongly committed to contributing to knowledge development in the drug field, both nationally and internationally, as well as to strengthening and improving social work practice. This commitment is reflected in his extensive academic and popular science publications, participation in media and public debate, work as an expert in various inquiries and hearings, and a large number of lectures delivered to researchers, practitioners, civil servants, and policymakers. In recent years, he has also held a special assignment focusing on collaboration between academia and social work practice.

Richert also has substantial teaching experience at all levels of higher education and has supervised several doctoral students. His teaching has primarily taken place within the social work programme, the master’s programme in social work, the master’s programme in sexology, and the police training programme at Malmö University. He also teaches at several other universities, including the social pedagogy programme at Linnaeus University and the psychology programme at Karolinska Institutet.