(also publishing as Sara E. Ellis-Nilsson) is a historian and medievalist whose work focuses on Scandinavia’s early and high Middle Ages, especially the relationship between Christianization, local saints’ cults, and the making of religious communities and identities.

She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural Sciences at Linnaeus University (Sweden), where she also serves in a senior departmental leadership role. Her academic training spans Canada, the United Kingdom, and Sweden, and she holds a PhD in (medieval) history from the University of Gothenburg.

Ellis Nilsson’s research is interdisciplinary, connecting medieval history with cultural heritage, public history, material culture, hagiography/liturgy, and digital humanities. She has also contributed editorial work in the field through Scandia: Tidskrift för historisk forskning at Lund University.

Among her recent scholarly contributions, she co-edited the 2024 Routledge volume Viking Heritage and History in Europe: Practices and Re-creations, examining how “Viking” history is interpreted and re-created in modern cultural heritage contexts.