Born on January 16th 1942, in Burseryd Sweden

M.B.A at the Gothenburg School of Economics an B.A. at the University of Gothenburg (political science, French and history of ideas and learning), 1967.
 
Doctor of Divinity (hon) at the University of Lund, 2002.
 
Doctor of Philosophy (hon) at the University of Växjö 2007.
 
Entrance into service in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs 1967

1969-70
Attaché in Bogota

1971-74
Second secretary in Vienna

1975-79
Head of section for Middle East and North Africa in the political department of the Ministry

1979-83
Chargé d´affaires in Damaskus and Amman

1985-86
Minister in Beijing

1987-91
Minister in Bonn

1992-96
Ambassador and head of policy planning in the Ministry

1997-01
Ambassador in Prague and Bratislava

2001-2008
Consul General in Istanbul

2009-
Senior Fellow, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Lund
Senior Research Fellow, Global Political Trends, Istanbul Kültür University

Author of sixteen books:

• God with us - religion and politics in the Middle East (1984)
• Myths in the struggle for Palestine (1987)
• China in our hearts - reflections about the Middle Kingdom facing the 90s (1987)
• The land in the middle - Germany and the New Europe (1991)
• The small Europe - a guide to the peoples without a country (1992)
• Islam and Europe - confrontation or coexistence? (1994, translated into Danish, Turkish, Arabic and Persian)
• Europe and the peoples - a European nation or the nations of Europe? (1996, translated into Danish and Slovak
• The Stepchildren of Europe - minorities without a mother-nation (2003), translated into Turkish and Bosniak
• Faith, terror and tolerance - essays on religion and politics (2004), translated into Turkish and Bosniak
• The cross and the crescent - the religious minorities in the Middle East and Sweden (2005)
• A Europe of the regions (2006), translated into Turkish
• Our Arab Heritage (2007)
• Europe and the Turk – reflections on a complicated relation (2007), translated into Bosniak, Slovak and Turkish (autumn 2007)
• Kurdistan – the country that does not exist (2008) translated into Turkish and Kurdish (Kurmandji)
• Istanbul Lectures (2008)
• A shared world – Islam and Europe yesterday, today and tomorrow (2010)

Ingmar Karlsson is married and has one daughter