VTI's professors sharpen the quality of research

How do VTI’s seven professors affect the quality of the institute’s research and what tools do they have at their disposal? VTI News put this question to two of them: Jan Andersson and Karolina Isaksson.

“That’s really up to others to assess, but we do increase the chances of attaining a high level of scientific quality. We also ensure that VTI has the requisite expertise,” says Jan Andersson, Professor of Human-Machine Interaction and Chair of VTI’s Scientific Council.

The Scientific Council consists of the seven professors employed by VTI. Pursuant to the Ordinance with instructions for the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI may appoint its own professors. The decision to appoint a professor rests with VTI’s Board of Directors and all appointments are made in accordance with the Higher Education Ordinance.

“We have a remit to lead and conduct research, increase collaboration with the surrounding community and ensure good conditions for our doctoral students,” says Karolina Isaksson, Professor of Transport Policy and Transport Planning. “We strive to integrate various elements into our working methods as a sort of quality assurance culture. Everything must be reviewed and examined.”

Both professors mention responsibility, peer-review and research ethics as key values at VTI. One major ethical issue at present is the enormous capacity of AI to disseminate disinformation, while at the same time we are all being encouraged to use AI in both research and society at large. According to Isaksson, when we do use it we need to be more risk-aware.

“This creates new problems that the scientific community needs to consider and develop common approaches to. Using AI in research presupposes that one has relatively good knowledge oneself, otherwise it’s difficult to determine whether results are true. AI cannot substitute for the knowledge and professional judgement of individual researchers and research groups. There are new issues to get to grips with. Who is writing the text? New grey zones are appearing and there aren’t always obvious answers.”

Isaksson believes that VTI’s Scientific Council can be one forum for collegial learning through discussion and exchanges of experience, but also for developing new approaches to issues of research ethics. According to Andersson, it is also a matter of influencing the conditions and discourse within VTI.

“We have an assignment to promote high-quality research and must therefore give our opinions on what direction we should be taking, even if we don’t have a formal policymaking mandate.”

The professors also arrange meetings with VTI’s doctoral students and the staff who supervise them. Andersson believes that this raises scientific standards and provides the doctoral students with the best possible conditions.

Isaksson and Andersson agree that fact that VTI can announce its own professorships is critical to skills provision, long-term planning and the quality of research.

“Without that opportunity, important expertise – Karolina’s, for example – would probably have ended up elsewhere,” says Andersson.

“The fact that we can make appointments strengthens VTI’s ability to develop a long-term research strategy both independently and in collaboration with others. It also means we can emphasise values that enhance and contribute to the quality of research,” says Isaksson, whose own research deals with the policy processes that govern the planning of the transition to a sustainable transport system at national and local level. “I study structures and power relations that influence what happens in various planning and policymaking contexts. I work a great deal with qualitative interviews, document analysis and workshops.”

Among other things, Andersson studies various aspects of cycling safety, road safety for people with disabilities, how train dispatchers cope with their job, and how autonomous vehicles affect drivers.

“I always study the phenomenon or problem from the road user’s perspective, with the focus on their interplay with other road users. This interaction is where things get really exciting.”

Text: Johan Granath/ Redakta

Translation: CBG