Derek Hutcheson is Pro Dean of the Faculty of Culture and Society (KS) at Malmö University in Sweden, and professor of Political Science in the Department of Global Political Studies (GPS) at the same university.  He has researched extensively on Russian and post-Soviet politics, as well as the comparative study of electoral politics, transnational citizenship and electoral rights across Europe and elsewhere; and on local democracy in Scandinavia and Russia. 

Current funded research projects include "New perspectives on the electoral participation of immigrants in Sweden" (2024-28)", funded by the Swedish Research Council, which focuses on in-depth examination of turnout amongst foreign-born voters in Sweden; and the Swedish Institute-funded "BUILDS-UP – Building Universal and Inclusive Local Design – a Swedish-Ukrainian Partnership" project (2024-26), working with Ukrainian municipalities and to improve civic awareness of issues surrounding disability. He has been a visiting fellow at the Australian National University (2023 and 2025), where he is working on research connected to public opinion in Russia, and has also had a long association with the Global Citizenship Observatory (formerly EUDO-Citizenship) at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.