Sarah Smed

Head of the Danish Welfare Museum

Sarah Smed is the Head of the Danish Welfare Museum. She is a trained historian and has, since 2010, overseen both the museum’s curatorial and educational programmes, creating participatory and co-produced social history projects focusing on social justice, social change, and museum activism. Sarah works across agencies and professions, between sustainable partnerships with public NGOs and educational institutions, as well as closely collaborating with people with lived experience and professionals from the welfare system. In 2019 the Danish Prime Minister gave a national apology to Care Leavers on the ground of research carried out by the Danish Welfare Museum, and at the ceremony Sarah Smed was invited to give a public speech. In 2020 an investigation into special care institutions was launched by the Danish government – an investigation which Sarah Smed is currently leading at the museum.