Much of Professor Modell's research focuses on the institutional, political and social aspects of accounting, control and governance in organisations and society. He has conducted empirical research across a broad range of settings including public health care, higher education, local and central government and state-owned enterprises in different countries. Most of his research is of a qualitative nature and often applies longitudinal, process-orientated research approaches as well as multi-level and cross-national perspectives.  His current empirical research mainly focuses on the implications of the burgeoning "New Space" economy for accounting, control and governance practices. This stream of research partly overlaps with his growing interest in social and environmental accounting.

In addition to these areas of research, Professor Modell has a long-standing interest in methodological issues and theory development in accounting research. He has written extensively about the paradigmatic foundations of contemporary accounting research, mixed methods research, interpretive methodology and theoretical pluralism. He is taking a particular interest in critical realism as a basis for method and theory development in accounting research and has applied this perspective to a range of methodological issues as well as in his empirical research.

He is interested in supervising research students with an interest in sociological perspectives on accounting.

Sven Modell received his PhD in Business Administration from Lund University, Sweden in 1998. Prior to joining Alliance Manchester Business School in 2007 he held a Chair in Accounting at Stockholm University School of Business, Sweden. He also holds Visiting Professorships at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), Norway, and Turku School of Economics, Finland (honorary title). He has previously been a Visiting Professor at the University of Technology Sydney and the University of Sydney, Australia, and an Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Professor Modell currently serves as Associate Editor of Accounting and Business Research and European Accounting Review and sits on the editorial boards of a number of other, leading accounting journals. Between 2019 and 2022, he served as International Director and Chair of the International Committee of the American Accounting Association Management Accounting Section and was also a member of the Executive Committee of the section.

Professor Modell is the recipient of several prestigious research awards, including Oscar II's Prize for Best Social Science Doctoral Dissertation at Lund University (1998), the John Perrin Prize for Best Paper in Financial Accountability and Management (2001) and the Mary Parker Follett Award for Outstanding Paper in Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (2019). In 2025, he was inducted into the AAAJ/APIRA Hall of Fame for his contributions and service to the global interdisciplinary accounting research community.