Building a bridge between the needs of the Swedish game industry and academic research. That’s the main goal of the Game Development Research Centre. It is a five-year project that brings together four Swedish universities and major stakeholders within the Swedish games industry.

To bolster Sweden’s position in the global game industry, the University of Skövde, Malmö University, Blekinge Institute of Technology and Karlstad University will establish the Game Development Research Centre (GDRC). The Swedish Knowledge Foundation is the main funder of the initiative.

We wish all our students, colleagues, alumni, and partners a peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

At Karlstad Business School, we strive to create an environment where students, teachers, researchers, and professionals can develop socially important knowledge together. Below is a selection of the Business School’s impact in 2025 – a year where we have shown who we are, what we can do, and what we accomplish together.

Kristina Palm, professor of Working Life Science at Karlstad Business School, is the new editor-in-chief of The Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies.

Kristina, tell us more about The Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies?

– It’s an international scientific journal focusing on working life research, written in English. The journal aims to strengthen the exchange of experiences, perspectives, methods and outcomes of the Nordic working life research across the Nordic countries, as well as promote Nordic working life research internationally.

Kauresearch is the university’s Instagram account dedicated to research information. For the third year in a row, the themed week Kau Science Week is held at the same time as the Nobel Week.

Kau Science Week is mainly featured on the Kauresearch account. Posts will be published every day throughout the week, drawing attention to researchers and research at Karlstad University. The posts will be accompanied by stories and hashtags for further reading or listening. In addition, the university’s main accounts on Facebook, Instagram och LinkedIn will highlight parts of the content.

Gustav Stenseke Arup, senior lecturer in jurisprudence at Karlstad Business School, has served as guest editor for the Journal of Property, Planning and Environmental Law. The special issue focuses on legal geography – a relatively unexplored area within law.
– This is a first step toward establishing Karlstad Business School as a center for legal geography, says Gustav Stenseke Arup.

Explain the field of legal geography

– In legal geography, cultural geography theories and methods are used to understand geographical phenomena. It can involve how legal rules shape or are shaped by different places and landscapes. For example, researchers explore how borders are constituted and how law is understood differently depending on location. It is also a useful perspective in land-use planning and biodiversity issues.

Every year, around 1,500 people take their own lives in Sweden. Behind every statistic is a human being, a family, a community – and a tragedy that affects far more people than the individual who dies.

Suicide is not only a personal tragedy – it is also a socio-economic concern. Recent studies show that prevention can save lives and significantly reduce costs for society. 

Björn Sund, adjunct teacher in economics at Karlstad Business School and analyst at the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), has conducted research on efforts to reduce suicides in the transport sector.