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• 2026-01-22

  Karlstad University is granted SEK 200,000 for a project supporting Ukraine

  The Swedish Institute has granted funding for an educational package focused on inclusive vocational training for people with disabilities in Ukraine.

  – We aim to formalize the collaboration between Karlstad University and NTU, the National Technical University Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, says Jesper Haglund, Senior Lecturer in Physics Education. The need to develop inclusive vocational education for people with disabilities has been identified. Karlstad University has expertise in vocational education, mechanical engineering, and plastic injection molding. Ukrainian stakeholders in the project include non-governmental organizations and industries that may serve as future employers for participating students.

• 2026-01-21

  Residents Shaped the Future of Hagfors Through “Bruksort 2.0”

  In the Bruksort 2.0 initiative, Hagfors Municipality, local businesses, and residents collaborated to strengthen attractiveness, mobility, and innovation. The work was based on co‑creation, where residents’ shared stories about the future were used to formulate future visions. The final report is now complete.

  The project resulted in the Hagfors Model—a model that captures the power of place and shows how stories, trust, and creativity can become drivers of sustainable development. Through co‑created poems, sculptures, and narratives about the future, residents themselves have given shape and expression to what future transitions may mean in an industrial town.

• 2026-01-20

  Philanthropy as a Potential Game Changer in the Pharmacy Market

  Can a dollar billionaire reshape the Swedish pharmacy market and push medicine prices down by opening a charitable pharmacy? This is the central question in a new legal study by Nick Dimitrievski, Senior Lecturer in Tax Law at the School of Business, Economics and Law.

  Dimitrievski has examined how medicine prices are set in Sweden. The key issue is the trade margin — the compensation pharmacies receive for selling medicines within the pharmaceutical benefits scheme. His conclusion is unexpected:

  – Pharmacies’ profitability resembles that of grocery retail, even though food is sold on a completely free market while pharmacies operate under strict regulation, says Dimitrievski.

• 2026-01-20

  The Power Struggle over Greenland – A Geopolitical Highway and Resource Zone

  Global power dynamics are shifting, and the lines on the world’s maps are beginning to move. Thomas Blom, professor of human geography at Karlstad University, explains the history of borders, the factors that shape them, and how power, identity, and geography are intertwined.

  How is a geographical border defined?

  – A geographical border is usually defined as a boundary separating one area from another, says Thomas Blom. But geographers rarely see borders as just lines. In practice, a border is often a system of rules, institutions, and perceptions that determine who has the right to govern, control, and belong to a certain territory. A border marks where a state or region begins and ends – but it gains meaning through how people use, guard, and interpret it.

• 2026-01-07

  Sammankonst - performances at the Värmland Museum

  Sammankonst is a creative relay involving students of dance and music production at Karlstad University and the Ingesund School of Music. This year’s performance is inspired by the River Klarälven and will be presented on five occasions, Friday and Saturday!

  It is a long-standing tradition for dance students and music production students to co-create a public project based on their own creative forms of expression. The students are in their first or second year of study, and during the later part of the autumn term they have worked on the project within various course modules in their respective programmes.

  THEME: THE RIVER KLARÄLVEN

  This year, the students’ process has centred on the River Klarälven. The starting point and source of inspiration have been five different themes:

• 2025-12-29

  The researcher: Why New Year’s resolutions fail – we often focus on the wrong things

  Friday, 9 January, marks Quitters Day – the day when most New Year’s resolutions have already fallen apart. According to Per Kristensson, professor of Psychology at Karlstad University, these failures rarely stem from a lack of ability.

  – We don’t fail because we are weak, but because we don’t change the situation we’re in, he says. Our surroundings often play a bigger role than our personal abilities.

  Behavioural research shows that people tend to overestimate the importance of motivation and underestimate how strongly everyday circumstances influence our decisions.

  – We often think New Year’s resolutions are about motivation and personal abilities. But research shows that the situation is just as important. You could say that we’re trying to renovate our lives without having the scaffolding in place, says Per Kristensson.