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I am interested in work that promotes our understanding of what it takes for Software Engineering to be created for the common good, within the limits of the biosphere and with equity and justice as guiding principles for design. Also, I'm interested in the use of large-scale social simulations to promote better conversations around sustainability and transformations to a sustainable society. I welcome any thesis topic ideas that are in line with those general areas. That said, there are some specific areas I'm more able to offer support for at the moment.

Current thesis proposals

Applying Critical Systems Heuristics to Requirements Engineering

The motivation for this thesis topic is to understand different sources of influence and power in systems development, and understand how to change systems development so as to take into account methods from Critical Systems Heuristics (CSH) to ask critical questions about the goals and methods employed during the development of technical systems. Practically, the thesis would have to be conducted on site at a company willing to explore critical questions on how they frame systems development and how they engage with different groups in that process.

References

Duboc, L., McCord, C., Becker, C., and Ahmed, S. I. (2020). Critical requirements engineering in practice. IEEE Software.

Analyzing interactions during a Megagame without interrupting gameplay

In our research project on the use of large-scale social games, so-called Megagames, we study how to enable better conversations about societal transformations towards a sustainable society. We provide a large number of people with different roles and agency related to each role, and have them negotiate and discuss how best to promote a just and sustainable future. In doing so, we need to understand how they make sense of scenarios presented during the game, and what actually happens during the game. As our game is physical, actions are mediated by cards and tokens that move across a room and on tables in the room. This project aims to explore how best to position equipment, record and analyze image contents when trying to capture cards and other elements that players manipulate, to facilitate in answering research questions in our project.

Background: This project is appropriate for both students with a design and product development background, as we need to take measures to design an unobtrusive equipment that is easy to set up, and those with a computer science background as image analysis and modelling of how components move will also be important.

Extent1-2 students, 30 credits.

Using an Energy systems model to support a Megagame on societal transformations

The research project Switching the Current studies the use of large-scale physical game experiences to facilitate conversations about different possible societal futures. To enhance participants' understanding of physical processes in the energy system and potential pathways for a transformation towards a sustainable system, we employ a simulation of an energy system that is used to provide input to the game based on players' actions. However, the interface for how to present information from a simulation in such a way that it benefits players' understanding is not well understood. Maybe we will need to provide simulation results at the end of the game, maybe the simulation can provide input before playing the game, maybe we can do both. Your task will be to explore different designs and see how potential players respond to the use of different interactions with the simulations, to allow us to make informed choices about how best to employ the simulation model.

Background: The task is appropriate for two students, one with a background in Energy systems, one with an interest in interaction design.

Extent2 students, 30 credits.

Localization of the Climate Change Megagame

We have created a Megagame around making a region carbon neutral, that features a multitude of actors, game components and a simple Excel simulation of emission reduction interventions and effects in line with future scenarios for a sustainable society. As our project created a concrete regional scenario för Östergötland, we tailored the geography and emission profiles to data from the region. However, to play the game in other regions, it would be desirable to create custom games for any geographical region and pathways available there with little effort. We would therefore need to see how to help this process best, by using geographical information systems and sources relevant for producing starting points for different regions.

Background: This would be appropriate for a student with an environmental science background, along with a student in computer science.

Extent: 2 students, 30 credits

Page responsible: Ola Leifler
Last updated: 2022-10-06