Research Areas

Research Programmes

At the University College research is conducted within the framework of 20 programmes. Examples of research programmes with great development potential are Smart Textiles, Energy and Materials plus Information Exchange and Co-Design.

Research Areas

The research activity can be divided into six major fields:

1. Energy and Materials: environmental, sustainable development through new bio-based materials, plus development of new methods for converting biomass to bioethanol and renewable materials.
2. Information systems and library services focusing on Information Exchange and Co-Design.
3. Learning and Information Seeking – close to practice research about the contents of learning and the tools for it.
4. Logistics and Commerce: Development of sustainable material flow related logistics.
5. New ways of working in care and nursing, focusing on care for elders and pre-hospital emergency care (E-Care).
6. Textile and Design: method, theory, material and technological development, construction, design and use of textile products. In Smart Textiles research covers, for example, high-tech textiles whose appearance and/or function is changed based on external stimuli.

Overall profile fields

The University College also has two overriding profile fields for research; library and information science plus textile and design.

Integrated Design

Apart from distinguishing itself through powerful and competitive areas of research, the research conducted at the UCB is distinguished through Integrated Design. Integrated refers to the cooperation between research groups across traditional boundaries and to partnerships with the surrounding society. Design states that research projects include construction of models and systems of diverse kinds, intended to make the problems posed to the practice more manageable.