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• 2025-05-30

  The Swedish Defence University rents space at Karlstad University

  From the start of next year, the Swedish Defence University’s local unit in Karlstad will be co-located with Karlstad University.
  – This enables deeper collaboration, which will create benefits for society at large, says Jerker Moodysson, vice-chancellor of Karlstad University.
  – Together, our two universities can serve as an important meeting place from a total defense perspective, says Robert Egnell, vice-chancellor of the Swedish Defence University.

  Both vice-chancellors signed the lease agreement on Wednesday 28 May, which means that the Swedish Defence University’s local office in Karlstad will move into their new facilities at Karlstad University on 1 January 2026.

• 2025-05-30

  Ingesund Students Lit Up the Polar Music Prize Red Carpet

  Earlier this week, the Polar Music Prize was awarded at the Grand Hôtel in Stockholm. In front of a diverse audience of national and international musicians, actors, other prominent guests, and members of the Swedish royal family, Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen, Herbie Hancock, and Barbara Hannigan received the Polar Music Prize. As per tradition, an ensemble from Ingesund School of Music performed on the red carpet as guests arrived at the gala.

  Jonathan Höglund, a student in the music teacher program specializing in jazz vocals, was the soloist of the day. How did it feel to perform for the crème de la crème of musicians from around the world?

• 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: