Mikael Holmqvist (Stockholm University) starts with his investigation on “Royal consecration of “leadership”: The case of the Swedish king“

Emma Bell (SSE) will then share some reflections on studying high-profile leaders:

"What ethical and methodological issues need to be considered when doing research that focuses on a leader who is a well-known public figure? I will talk about how and why I collected publicly available data (mainstream and social media) in my earlier study of the death of Steve Jobs and in my recent research on the leadership of refusal, focusing on three women leaders – Julia Gillard, Grace Thame and Greta Thunberg. However, there are also challenges in studying societally powerful individuals who cannot be anonymised, especially if they are engaged in controversial political activities. I will use my current study of the Tesla Takedown protests, which explores responses to the leadership of Elon Musk, to explore what this type of research enables and the potential challenges it entails."

On site at SSE and via Zoom. Contact staffan.alsparr@hhs.se to sign up.