On April 8–9, the first Ethical Hackarinas event was held at Karlstad University. It was two intensive days that put ethical hacking in focus and contributed to increased knowledge and awareness in the field of cybersecurity.

The program offered a mix of inspiring lectures and hands-on activities, with participants from industry, academia, and the public sector. The event was aimed at both beginners and individuals with a broader interest in technology, security, and issues related to inclusion and representation within tech. With a strong emphasis on practical elements, participants had the opportunity to try things out themselves, and no prior knowledge was required.

Two of the attendees explained why they were interested in participating:

– Our mentors come from everything from commercial and human rights law firms to courts and other public authorities, says David Johansson, Senior Lecturer in Civil Law at Karlstad Business School.

The mentorship programme gives law students at Karlstad Business School the opportunity to receive support and guidance from a practising lawyer who has previously been a law student themselves. Being able to discuss issues related to studies and career choices with a role model who is easy to relate to is invaluable. It better prepares students for the transition from student life to professional practice and, ideally, helps reduce stress.

One of the largest reproducibility studies to date in economics and political science has been published in Nature. The project was led by the Institute for Replication (I4R) and examined 110 articles from leading journals with strict requirements for open sharing of data and code.

– The study provides a more nuanced picture than the common narrative that published research either stands or falls, says Carl Bonander, who together with Niklas Jakobsson, both at Karlstad Business School, took part in the study.

A central principle of science is that results should be verifiable by other researchers. The study therefore investigated two key questions:

Jasper, what does it mean to you to be appointed associate professor (docent) in Information Systems?
– For me, it is a fun and welcome sign that I’m starting to find my footing in information systems and in the Swedish academic system. At the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft in the Netherlands, I conducted research as a design researcher on information systems, such as digital travel cards and digital public services, but here in Karlstad I have transitioned into the field of Information Systems.

– I hope to contribute with my knowledge of design and human‑centred approaches. Especially when it comes to digitalisation, there is a lot to gain – we are increasingly encountering drawbacks and limitations connected to it. And digitalisation is an excellent bridge between the Service Research Center (CTF) and Information Systems, the two parts of Karlstad University to which I am affiliated. These days, there is no service without a digital component, and at the same time most people experience digital systems as services.

In software development, people often talk about technical debt – the legacy embedded in our technical environment that ultimately affects users. The phenomenon that Tomas Gustavsson, Senior Lecturer in Information systems and Project Management at Karlstad Business School, has examined is called process debt, and his recent article in the Journal of Systems and Software was awarded Best Paper 2025.

What is technical debt really?

– Technical debt can arise when a system is built using a programming language that worked well at the time, but over the years has proven to have shortcomings, making changes more difficult and more expensive, explains Tomas Gustavsson. Every day you continue patching an old system, the debt grows.

Human Resource Management Day is an annual career fair for students in the Human Resource Management and Working Life program, held at the Business School at Karlstad University.

The event offers lectures, exhibitors, and booth mingling designed to inspire and create connections ahead of students’ future working lives. This year’s theme: Together we shape the future of work.