Master thesis Student

"Founded in 1927, the Volvo Group is committed to driving prosperity and shaping the future landscape through sustainable transport, mobility, and infrastructure solutions. By offering trucks, buses, construction equipment, power solutions for marine and industrial applications, financing and services that increase our customers’ uptime and productivity.

Our headquarters are in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Group shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm."

Transport is at the core of modern society. Imagine using your expertise to shape sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions for the future? If you seek to make a difference on a global scale, working with next-gen technologies and the sharpest collaborative teams, then we could be a perfect match. 

Communicating qualitative user study outcomes while preserving context information

Background
Driver Interaction and Infotainment work with everything from the platform layer on ECUs to content and interaction design on truck screens, mirrors, controls, and other things the driver sees and interacts with. In such diverse teams, maintaining the product owners, function developers and others' understanding of the end user as well as the customer still important. However, it isn’t practically possible for every individual to be out getting this information for all applications in all markets. 
The goal of the project is to explore and evaluate different ways of sharing qualitative data that can contribute to product owners and function developers getting a better understanding of how their products are being used, and the issues in the real world.

Suitable background for the student
Design and product development, interaction design, media technology or related sciences, with a strong interest in communication and experience in qualitative research methods as well as prototyping and testing. 
Student must be tied to a Swedish university for their thesis. 

Description of thesis work
With a wide range of applications and a global footprint, getting access to the full range of customers and end-users is a challenge. Data from qualitative user studies such as focus groups, interviews, co-rides and more, provide important in-depth understanding of the challenges facing end-users. This then provides insights on potential problems and solutions, and may provide a way to iteratively evaluate the solution along the way for those who are involved in the development process.
Many current methods can be too aggregated to provide insight into fine-grained problems (e.g. personas), or too demanding (e.g. large reports) for all roles to take the chance to read it. This thesis will explore how Volvo Group can scale the sharing of what issues drivers and customers are experiencing, without necessitating that all relevant employees are doing qualitative data collection themselves. 

Examples of questions are 
What technologies can be used to provide a fuller picture of the qualitative data, without resorting to personas and other aggregated and reduced means of presenting qualitative data?
Is it possible to find a balance where qualitative data is easily accessible but not superficial, doesn’t lose context, and captures and enlivens the users’ actions and experiences?

Thesis Level: Master

Language: 
Swedish or English
Starting date:
December 2024/January 2025
Number of students:
One
Tutor
Annika Larsson, Operational Excellence and Strategy manager, annika.larsson@volvo.com




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Who we are and what we believe in 
Our focus on Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity allows each of us the opportunity to bring our full authentic self to work and thrive by providing a safe and supportive environment, free of harassment and discrimination. We are committed to removing the barriers to entry, which is why we ask that even if you feel you may not meet every qualification on the job description, please apply and let us decide.

Applying to this job offers you the opportunity to join Volvo Group. Every day, across the globe, our trucks, buses, engines, construction equipment, financial services, and solutions make modern life possible. We are almost 100,000 people empowered to shape the future landscape of efficient, safe and sustainable transport solutions. Fulfilling our mission creates countless career opportunities for talents with sharp minds and passion across the group’s leading brands and entities. 

Group Trucks Technology are seeking talents to help design sustainable transportation solutions for the future. As part of our team, you’ll help us by engineering exciting next-gen technologies and contribute to projects that determine new, sustainable solutions. Bring your love of developing systems, working collaboratively, and your advanced skills to a place where you can make an impact. Join our design shift that leaves society in good shape for the next generation.