ATLASS Receives VR Infrastructure Funding as Part of SwedPop

The Department of Economics at the University of Gothenburg is proud to announce that the research project ATLASS – Automated Transcription and Linkage of Archival School Data from Sweden has been awarded infrastructure funding from the Swedish Research Council (VR) as part of the national research infrastructure SwedPop.

The ATLASS initiative is led by Professor Mikael Lindahl together with Professor Christian Møller Dahl, Professor Martin Karlsson, and Associate Professor Gustav Kjellsson. The grant will strengthen the department’s role in providing cutting-edge research infrastructure and create new opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.

ATLASS applies advanced machine learning and record linkage methods to digitize and connect detailed historical data from Swedish archives, focusing on school records from the early 20th century. The records will enable high-quality research and benefit several research areas such inequality within the school system, female labour force and socioeconomic status during a formative period in Swedish history. 

Through SwedPop, ATLASS becomes part of a national infrastructure of strategic importance, which brings together several major databases covering nearly three centuries of Swedish population history. The VR funding for SwedPop—over SEK 44 million for the 2027–2030 period—will allow for the continued expansion and digitization of large datasets, supporting world-leading research in the social sciences and humanities.