Zenia Hellgren
Associate Professor (AQU)
Doctor of Sociology (Stockholm University)
Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the Department of Political and Social Sciences (UPF) and Barcelona School of Management (BSM), and Senior Associate Researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU Social Research).
Member of the research groups GRITIM-UPF and GRETA
Member of the Barcelona City Council's Anti-Racist Advisory Council
Presentation
My research addresses the intersections between inequalities and diversity in European societies. In this framework, I empirically investigate key issues such as the policies and practices of diversity management; discrimination, racism and anti-racism; migrant labour and agency; and undocumented migration.
I am a sociologist with an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach, combining perspectives from, primarily, sociology and political theory. I specialize in qualitative research methods, guided by an inductive and ethnographic methodology. In recent years I have applied a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach in several of the European research projects that I have designed and led. My work aims to be transformative both at the academic and societal levels, and I often collaborate with policy-makers and organized civil society to extend the impact of my work beyond academia.
New publications
Hellgren, Z. (2026). Towards a common research agenda? Addressing political and epistemological tensions around scholarship on racial/ethnic discrimination. In A Research Agenda for Immigration Settlement and Adjustment, eds. K. Bruce Newbold and Mary Crea-Arsenio. Edward Elgar Publishing
Hellgren, Z, Rodríguez-Reche, C, Gabrielli, L, Habimana Jordana, T. (2026) Detect and Deactivate Systemic Discrimination: Handbook for institutions (ENG, CAT, SPA). Project UNDETERRED: Unintentional discrimination detected and racism revealed and deactivated. Finançat per Horizon Europe, acord de subvenció ID: 101095020.
Bowman, C. & Hellgren, Z. (2026) Gendered Experiences of Racial Capitalism: Maids and Day Laborers in Barcelona’s Migrant Precariat. Social Sciences, 2026, 15(4), https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15040224
Zenia Hellgren
Department of Political and Social Sciences
Edifici Jaume I (campus de la Ciutadella)
Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
08005 Barcelona
