In memory of Professor Anders Bergmark

We both knew Anders Bergmark as a highly skilled academic and were close to him for many years, both on a professional and personal level. He was a highly valued colleague and friend to both of us. Anders Bergmark made an important contribution to the field of social work. As Head of the Department and as Director of Doctoral Studies, he played an important role in maintaining the quality of research and thereby contributed to establishing social work research at Stockholm University as a leading social work research environment in Sweden.

During the 2000s, his and his colleagues’ critical research on the evidence paradigm in social work. made an important contribution to the Swedish and international debate. His work helped to stimulate a more critical discussion of how evidence is understood and used in social work.

Anders was also leading the Addiction Research Group (ARG) and was a long-term member of the The Kettil Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological Research on Alcohol (KBS), an international organization of scientists engaged in research on the social aspects of alcohol use and alcohol problems. His work on the construction and negotiation of the evidence dogma also triggered a critical discussion in the addiction field, resonating e.g. in the Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs: He assessed guidelines for addiction treatment and evidence-based practice in terms of their scientific underpinning and contradictory opinions on their implementation. Furthermore, Anders always pursued an interdisciplinary and comparative international approach; hosting the first International ICAA Conference on Dependencies in Stockholm 2007 serving as an example.

His critical analysis of the societal response to addiction problems encouraged collaborative projects in the spirit of KBS, such as the International Study of Drug Treatment Systems (ISDRUTS) with his contributions on the story of drug treatment in Sweden and the relationship between alcohol and drug treatment systems. Finally, his work of dealing with basic questions of prevention – issues of pleasure and information – and treatment systems – the relationship between the professional and the lay referral system– demonstrated his impressive ability of ’thinking out of the box’. We were unable to finish our most recent joint work on the diffusion of innovation in addiction treatment.

Anders had a strong voice and was a sharp analytical thinker, whose insights and assessments were highly valued by his colleagues. He could see what really mattered and offer sharp and thoughtful analyses. His contributions to discussions were often both critical and constructive and were marked by intellectual clarity and independence of thought. With his sense of humour, a good listener, while not being a man of many words he opened minds and hearts.
In addition to his research, Anders supervised a large number of doctoral students through to their PhDs. Many of them have gone on to successful academic careers.

There are many of us who mourn the loss of Anders Bergmark. Painfully missed but living on in our memory. Our thoughts are with his family and those closest to him.

October 2026
Dr.Dr.h.c. Harald Klingemann, associate researcher, Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), Switzerland
Tommy Lundström, professor emeritus, Stockholm University, Department of Social Work, Sweden.