Tag: karlstad university

144 – Helping fish pass dams

Hydropower infrastructure fragments rivers and disrupts the migrations of many freshwater fish, contributing to declines in their populations. Reconnecting these underwater highways is therefore critical for sustaining freshwater fish such as salmon, eels and trout. In her research, biologist Velizara Stoilova steps into that challenge, exploring how fish might be guided safely past dangerous turbine intakes without massive engineering structures.

The experimental research was conducted in a large flume, where everything from bubbling curtains to a newly invented “dancing rods” barrier that sways with the current were tested.

Blending animal behaviour, hydraulics, and physiology, Velizara Stoilova’s research uncovers why no single solution fits all – and how smarter, species‑tuned guidance may help restore the freedom of movement that rivers, and fish, once knew.

Velizara Stoilova’s doctoral thesis can be downloaded from DiVA: Helping fish pass dams – Is behavioural guidance the solution?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

142 – Idea Development for Innovation

What really happens to an idea after it sparks – and how are ideas turned into innovations within public and private sector organisations? In this episode, we speak with Business Administration researcher Jana Huck whose work challenges the conventional focus on simply generating and selecting ideas. Instead, she uncovers the often-overlooked activities that truly shape an idea’s journey. Drawing on studies at individual, group, and organisational levels, she reveals how ideas evolve not through a linear process, but through dynamic, intertwined activities. In our conversation, Jana argues that the results of her research can help organisations to manage idea development more consciously and holistically.

Jana Huck’s doctoral thesis can be downloaded from DiVA: Idea Development for Innovation: A Multi-Level Exploration of the Activities and Processes Propelling Ideas Towards Innovation

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

139 – Analogy competence for science teachers

In this episode of Forskningspodden, we sit down with Biology researcher Stina Eriksson, whose work sheds new light on a tool many science teachers rely on every day: analogies. Analogies help students grasp tricky scientific ideas by connecting them to something familiar – but when used carelessly, they can create misconceptions. Stina’s research investigates the knowledge and skills required by science teachers to use analogies as pedagogical tools. Stina has done this by developing the Analogy Competence for Science Teachers (ACT) framework, which clarifies what teachers need to know and do to use analogies effectively. The framework breaks analogy use into three parts: choosing accurate analogies, planning how to introduce them, and guiding students through the analogical reasoning process. In our conversation, we learn more about the ACT framework and how it can be helpful for science teachers.

Stina Eriksson’s licentiate thesis can be downloaded from DiVA: Analogy competence for science teachers: The development and validation of the ACT framework

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

137 – AI, News, and the State

How are emerging AI technologies affecting and reshaping journalism and the journalist profession? This is the fundamental question for Media and Communication scholar Joanne Kuai’s doctoral thesis. Joanne’s research investigates global power shifts and institutional challenges from AI’s integration into journalism, focusing on China with comparisons to the US and EU. In our conversation, Joanne explains AI’s impact on media-state-tech relations, journalism labour, platformisation, and copyright. She also argues for the need of a more complex understanding of Chinese journalism. Joanne Kuai’s research offers insights for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers invested in contemporary journalism.

Joanne Kuai’s doctoral thesis can be downloaded from DiVA: AI, News, and the State: Reinstitutionalising Journalism in Global China’s Algorithmic Age

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

135 – Glochidiosis and behaviour

Freshwater mussels of the order Unionida are endangered but play a vital role in aquatic ecosystems. Their larvae (glochidia) temporarily parasitize fish, attaching to gills before maturing into free-living adults. Conservation efforts to reintroduce these mussels are generally supported as Unionids are well-known ecosystem engineers. However, public concern arises due to their parasitic nature. Sebastian Rock’s doctoral thesis investigates how two rare European mussel species affect the behaviour of their fish hosts. The results suggest that mussels can influence host movement and habitat choice, possibly expressing an “extended phenotype”—traits of the parasite affecting the host. In our interview, Sebastian let us know more of how his findings can deepen our understanding of mussel-host interactions and inform future conservation strategies.

Sebastian Rock’s doctoral thesis can be downloaded from DiVA: Glochidiosis and behaviour

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

134 – Digital health technology for supporting diabetes self-care

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic illness, and diabetes self-care measures play a crucial role in disease management. Well-designed digital health technologies (DHTs) can support diabetes self-care, however, their use can be challenging. In Divya Anna Stephen’s research in nursing science, she explores perspectives on DHT support for diabetes self-care among adults with type 1 diabetes. 

Divya’s research show that these technologies often feel empowering—providing control and independence. At the same time, they can be frustrating and difficult to use, which may lead users to feel exasperated. Furthermore, the results show that people with strong confidence in managing their condition (psychosocial self-efficacy) tend to feel better and have better blood sugar control. Those who are more digitally literate (eHealth literacy) are often younger and also have better blood sugar control.

In our conversation, Divya tells us more about the results of her studies, and provide arguments for why more research is needed on this topic, so that patients’ self-care can be further promoted and successful.

Divya Anna Stephen’s doctoral thesis can be downloaded from DiVA: Digital health technology for supporting diabetes self-care: Perspectives among adults with type 1 diabetes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

131 Auditing in Transition

In this episode of Forskningspodden, we sit down with Lazarus Fotoh, researcher at Karlstad University, to talk about how technology is starting to change the way audits are done. Drawing on his doctoral research, he shares how tools like AI can make audits more efficient, more effective and help close the gap between what people expect from audits and what they actually deliver. But if the tech is so promising, why isn’t it used more? Lazarus walks us through the challenges, from outdated rules to resistance to change. We also touch on simpler tools that help auditors in uncertain times, even if they can’t handle everything. Join us for an interesting conversation about where the field is going, and what needs to happen for it to get there.

You can read the whole thesis here Technologies in External Audits: Current Impacts and Future Implications

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

130 – Business model innovation for sustainability

Many businesses worldwide are facing big sustainability challenges. In Andrey Abadzhiev’s research in business administration, he investigates how businesses can innovate their models to be more sustainable. While past research has recognized that companies need different management methods to make these changes, it hasn’t always provided a clear or structured approach.

To help with this, Andrey has developed a typology that organizes the current knowledge on sustainable business model innovation (BMIfS). This framework identifies three key areas of management: values, knowledge, and agency. In his research, Andrey has conducted four case studies in Sweden’s wood construction industry, to show how the typology can be applied in real-world situations. In our conversation, Andrey explains the typology in more detail, and we learn more about how the results of his research can be of use to businesses that need and want to transition to sustainable business models.

Andrey Abadzhiev’s doctoral thesis can be downloaded from DiVA: Managing business model innovation for sustainability transitions: Towards a theory-based typology

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

129 Protecting Patient Privacy in the Digital Health Era: Uncovering Risks and Ways Forward

In this episode of Forskningspodden, we explore the hidden privacy risks for users of digital health technologies—like mobile health apps and health information systems—that are transforming healthcare. While these tools offer huge benefits, they also open the door to serious privacy and security risks that could result in sensitive information misuse, unauthorized access to data breaches

In this episode, our guest, Phd Samuel Wairimu, breaks down the privacy challenges posed by applications like the COVID-19 contact tracing apps, the impact of cyberwar on patient privacy, and how privacy risks can be better assessed. Samuel’s research highlights real-world privacy harms and offers new ways for healthcare professionals to protect patient data. If you care about the future of digital healthcare and your privacy, you won’t want to miss this episode!

You can read the full version of the thesis here: https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-101713

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

128 – Programming as a tool for helping students with mathematics

Programming has been presented as a way for students to learn mathematics. In his licentiate thesis, David Taub challenges this idea by investigating if and how it works. In his study, groups of Swedish secondary school students, most of them novice programmers, were observed and interviewed as they conducted programming tasks in the classroom.
The findings indicate that although it seems possible for the act of programming itself to help students construct new mathematical concepts, it is unlikely to be an effective classroom strategy. In our conversation, David explains that the cognitive difficulties novice programmers encountered when writing programs became an obstacle to learning new mathematics as well as dramatically increasing the time needed to complete apparently simple tasks.

You can read the whole licentitate thesis here Programming as a Tool for
Helping Students Understand and Solve Quadratic Equations

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS