Emma Sahlström

I am a PhD student in rural development. My research centers different forms of international migration to rural Sweden with a focus on environmental relations. 

Previously I have worked within 'Team collaboration', engaging practictioners and researchers in different collaborative processes. 

I hold an agronomy degree from SLU with a masters degree in rural development and natural resource management. 

My research departs from an interest in how rural environments are affected by in-migration of people from different places, for different reasons. While rural areas have always been part of people’s mobilities, research on international migration has tended to focus on urban perspectives. In a Swedish context, the reception of refugees and asylum-seekers has been framed as solution to population decline and demographic rejuvenation in Swedish rural areas both by scholars and public discourse. The arrival of migrants from Europe seeking new lifestyles ‘closer to nature’ has implied new businesses ventures often within tourism Meanwhile green industrie located in rural areas have long been dependent on the labour of seasonal migrants picking berries, planting trees and harvesting produce. Taken together, these processes speak to the potential impacts of migration to rural development in terms of repopulation, sustaining and developing new businesses and land use, as well as how environments, whether for work or recreation, are central to rural livelihoods and conceptualizations of rurality. It is in this intersection of rural development, migration and environmental relations that my PhD project places its focus.