Saffron Karlsen, PhD

Professor Saffron Karlsen is a Senior Lecturer in Social Research and a member of the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship. Her research is concerned with how people identify and define their own ethnicity, drawing on their family background, community belonging, and experience of life, and the challenges that they face. She has examined ethnic discrimination, ethnic inequalities in health, education and society, social mobility, attitudes towards Female Genital Mutilation, the use of ethnicity data to make policy decisions, and the notion of being British. 

Most recently Professor Karlsen has been tracking the social impact of the COVID-19 virus on ethnic groups in terms of health provision and equalities of access to support. She is part of an International Network on Female Genital Cutting and a member of the advisory board of a project funded by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare to explore approaches to FGM-safeguarding. She is leading on the creation of a Bristol Race Equality Network, co-partnered with Bristol City Council and Black South West Network. Professor Karlsen also sits on the ONS Inclusive Data Taskforce.

Education
1995 - BSc Economic History with Population Studies, London School of Economics
1996 - MSc Medical Demography, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
2006 - PhD Sociology, University College London