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• 2025-05-28

  How social media places the far right front and centre

  Social media has helped normalise the far right. The algorithms amplify and advance strong feelings and opinions and turn us all into consumers of extreme views. This has been identified in Enjoying the Fall, a new doctoral thesis at Karlstad University by Pasko Kisić-Merino.

  – One example is how the idea of “the immigrant”, in particular the male immigrant, is constantly being connected to violence, criminality, and genderphobia at the hands of the far-right. It may not affect your opinions or the way you think overtly, but it can significantly affect what you think about and thus moves the needle in terms of what gets constructed and felt as normal, says Pasko.

• 2025-05-28

  Jakob Olsson receives the Martha Sandwall-Bergström Scholarship

  Jakob Olsson, PhD in Comparative Literature at Karlstad University, has been awarded the Martha Sandwall-Bergström Scholarship for his research in children’s and young adult literature. The scholarship is awarded every other year to authors and researchers active in the field.

  Congratulations, Jakob! What does this mean to you?

  – Thank you! It means a great deal to me, both personally and professionally, to receive such recognition. It’s especially exciting that the scholarship was established by none other than Martha Sandwall-Bergström! The funds will be put to good use in my ongoing projects – particularly for acquiring primary materials, which can sometimes be difficult to access through libraries.

• 2025-05-26

  New report: Respect! My body! has an effect

  Children in lower primary school gain more knowledge about bodily integrity, boundaries and safety after working with the school programme “Respect! My body!” (Stopp! Min kropp!). These are the findings of a recent study that was conducted by researchers at Karlstad University, commissioned by Save the Children.

  The school programme “Respect! My body!” has been developed by Save the Children to increase children’s understanding of bodily integrity and to prevent sexual abuse. The material is available both in printed form and as a digital game and is used in teaching.

• 2025-05-26

  Quiet quitting – a hidden symptom of digital work stress

  The concept of quiet quitting has become a hot topic of conversation in the workplace. According to a new study, it is not just about lazy employees or a demanding younger generation. Alexandre Sukhov, new docent in business administration at Karlstad Business School, is one of the authors behind the study.

  Quiet quitting means that employees stop engaging more than necessary – they do their job, but nothing beyond that. The study “Exploring the role of information systems-induced depletion, boreout syndrome, social media use on quiet quitting among digital cohorts” shows that this is often a reaction to socio-technical stress in today’s digitalised work environments.

  The study shows that two factors stand out:

• 2025-05-26

  University flags at half-mast

  The former chairman of the choir CMB, Mattias Norén, has passed away. Therefore, Karlstad University flags are flying at half-mast today, Monday, May 26. Our thoughts go out to Mattias Norén's closest and all affected choir friends. A memorial service will be held today, Monday, May 26 in the Aula Magna at 6:00 p.m.

  Mattias Norén joined the choire when he was studying to be a teacher at the then University College of Karlstad, in the mid-1990s. During his years in CMB, he held a number of positions on its board and was also vice conductor for a period. For the past two years, he has been chairman and worked to ensure that more people would discover the joy of choral singing. 

  For those who wish to receive support, there is 

• 2025-05-26

  New method to help young traumatised children

  Young children who are exposed to trauma rarely receive the help they need, partly because there are no suitable methods targeting this age group in Sweden. However, new research from Karlstad University now points to a method that works.

  "It feels good to contribute to making a difference for vulnerable children who currently fall through the cracks," says Anna Norlén.

  "Many who work with children and adolescents, such as professionals in child and adolescent psychiatry and social services, do the best they can to achieve results. However, the methods we’ve been using in Sweden so far haven’t been very effective. What we have here is a method that evidently works," says Anna Norlén.