I am a historian of science, technology and industrialization who do research on the politics and culture of technology and an occasional commentor in news media on issues related to technological change, terrorism and political violence.
My current research examine the role of technology in the emergence and globalization of modern terrorism for which I have been awarded research grants from The Swedish Research Council and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond - The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences. I am also participating in developing digital humanities as a research field and currently lead a Kone Foundation research project to strengthen digital history in Finland.
I am Deputy Director of the Centre for Digital Humanities at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and currently a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. I have held positions at universities and research institutes in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, USA and the UK, and in 2006 I was appointed to the first tenured history of technology professorship in Denmark and in 2013, to Finland’s first professorial position in the history of industrialization.
Experience
2018–present
Visiting Scholar, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
2019–present
Deputy Director, Centre for Digital Humanities, University of Gothenburg
2013–2018
Associate professor, Aalto University, Finland
2011–2013
Senior lecturer, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
2008–2010
Associate professor, Centre For Advanced Security Theory, University of Copenhagen
2006–2008
Associate professor, Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
2008–2008
Visiting associate professor, Aarhus University, Denmark
2004–2006
Visiting assistant professor, Northwestern University, USA
2003–2004
Researcher, KTH, Sweden
2001–2003
Lecturer, Imperial College London
2000–2001
Researcher, Swedish Institute for Studies in Education and Research (SISTER)
2000–2001
Postdoctoral research fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
1999–2000
Assistant professor, Linköping University, Sweden
Education
1999
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, PhD (History of Technology)
1992
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, MScEng (Engineering Physics)
Publications
2019
”Keep calm and carry one: The civilian gas mask case and its containment of British emotions”, Susanne Bauer, Maria Rentetzi & Martina Schlünder, eds. Boxes: A Field Guide (Manchester: Mattering Press)
2018
Leena Malkki, Mats Fridlund & Daniel Sallaama, eds., Terrorism in Nordic Countries: Special Issue, Terrorism and Political Violence
2012
”Affording terrorism: Idealists and materialities in the emergence of modern terrorism", Max Taylor & P.M. Currie, eds., Terrorism and Affordance (London & New York: Continuum)
2011
”Buckets, Bollards and Bombs: Towards Subject Histories of Technologies and Terrors“, History and Technology: An International Journal
2011
Mats Fridlund & Gustaf Nelhans, “Science and ‘The 9/11-Effect’: The Mutual Shaping of Terrorism, National Security, and Scientific Research During the Last Ten Years”, Science Progress
2000
Mats Fridlund & Ulf Sandström, eds., Universitetets värden: Bidrag till den forskningspolitiska debatten, (Stockholm: SNS Förlag)
1999
Mats Fridlund, Den gemensamma utvecklingen: Staten, storföretaget och samarbetet kring den svenska elkrafttekniken, (Stockholm & Stehag: Symposion)
Grants and Contracts
2018
Things for Living with Terror: a Global History of the Materialities of Urban Terror and Security
Role:
PI
Funding Source:
Riksbankens Jubileumsfond
2016
From Roadmap to Road Show: A collective demonstration & information project to strengthen Finnish digital history
Role:
PI
Funding Source:
Kone Foundation
2015
Towards a Roadmap for Digital History in Finland: Mapping the Past, Present & Future Developments of Digital Historical Scholarship
Role:
PI
Funding Source:
Kone Foundation
2010
Spreading Terror: Technology and Materiality in the Transnational Emergence of Terrorism, 1866-1898
Role:
PI
Funding Source:
The Swedish Research Council (VR)
2000
Fusion in a Time of Transition
Role:
PI
Funding Source:
The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT)
Professional Memberships
Society for the History of Technology
British Society for the History of Science
The European Association for Digital Humanities
Digital Humanities in the Nordic Countries
Society for Terrorism Research
Research Areas
Research, Science And Technology Policy (160511)
History And Philosophy Of Science (Incl. Non Historical Philosophy Of Science) (220206)
History Of Ideas (220209)
History And Philosophy Of Engineering And Technology (220203)
Political Science Not Elsewhere Classified (160699)
Sociology And Social Studies Of Science And Technology (160808)
European History (Excl. British, Classical Greek And Roman) (210307)