Crises Lenses: Extending Cross-Border Crisis Training into VR is a part of INCREDILAB and make training for floods, wildfires and other large-scale events that demand coordination between regions, organisations and stakeholders possible.
– Building that coordination before a real crisis occurs is both difficult and essential, says Ala Sarah Alaqra, docent in information systems at Karlstad Business School.

Crisis Lenses is a virtual reality (VR) training game developed within INcreased Climate Resilience Education and DIgital transformation Lab project (INCREDILAB).

– Crises Lenses is built on our joint work in the project of the board game Collaborate or Collapse, which was designed to support collaborative decision-making in cross-border crisis scenarios, says Ala Sarah Alaqra. While the board game encourages structured discussion around a table, Crisis Lenses explores how immersive digital environments can add new dimensions to learning and training.

Small spontaneous gifts with no expectations of something in return can influence both purchasing behavior and customer relationships in powerful ways. Amie Gustafsson, PhD in Business Administration at Karlstad Business School and researcher at the Service Research Center (CTF), has had her work published in the prestigious Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.

Amie Gustafsson, what might such a gift consist of, and when is it given to the consumer?

– It’s about small, unexpected gifts that are given without requiring anything in return. It might be a free accessory with a purchase, an extra product in the delivery, a gift when the customer walks into the store, or something included with their first online order. The important thing is that it’s not perceived as a reward that needs to be earned. We tested this with, for example, packages of coffee and chocolate.

Interest from international students continues to grow – and this year it’s especially noticeable. New programmes are attracting applicants, and established programmes are also seeing increases in both total applicants and first-choice applications.

The Master’s Programme in Management – Sustainable Value Creation is experiencing a significant rise in interest ahead of autumn 2026. The total number of applicants has more than doubled to 467 people since the programme was launched six months ago, making it the third most applied for international master’s programme at Karlstad University.

– The number of first-choice applicants has more than tripled to 70 people, which is absolutely fantastic, says Programme leader Sara Davoudi.

As part of a growing collaboration between the Business School at Karlstad University and GEM Alpine Business School, four of our PhD candidates presented their research and explored advanced simulation environments.
– The visit provided new perspectives and strengthened the internationalisation of the Business School, says the participating doctoral students.

Within the framework of what we have chosen to call the “KBS (Karlstad Business School) PhD Academy,” the Business School has, over the past few years and under the leadership of Professor Robert Mackenzie and the doctoral student steering group, built a forum for interdisciplinary exchange among PhD candidates from different subject areas.

Working less can make people healthier – and also more creative and more productive. New research shows that a reduction in working hours can be associated with improved work ability, lower stress levels, and organizational behavioral changes.

Which results would you say are the most important in your research?

– We see strong results regarding health, says Lena Lid Falkman. But equally important are the results on increased work ability and problem‑solving capacity. Not only do employees feel better after a period of shorter working hours, but they also work better. And on top of that, they are happier.

Stephen Ackroyd is a sociologist by training and aptitude. Now retired from teaching, he is Emeritus Professor at Lancaster University, UK, where he taught sociology and organisational studies for more than 30 years.

Stephen Ackroyd has also researched and written about the changing forms of organisations in the UK and their connection with broader systems of economic and political relations.