Ulli Samuelsson

Research

Ulli Samuelsson's research focuses on IT usage and digital competence from a societal perspective, with an emphasis on the human aspect. Currently, this research is conducted, among other ways, through participation in the research project Welfare@home, which explores the user perspective of welfare technology in the home, focusing on older individuals receiving home care and their caregivers. The project is funded by the Kamprad Family Foundation.

As part of Ulli's tenure as a senior lecturer, research on young people's digital competence and digital inclusion will also be resumed in 2025.

Since completing a PhD in 2014, Ulli has also participated in two other research projects focusing on older adults' digital competence and digital inclusion. These two projects, funded by Forte and the Kamprad Family Foundation, have contributed knowledge about how different categories of older individuals, in their everyday lives and at various life stages, used or did not use, and perceived digital media and applications, as well as what can enable digital participation among older adults.

Knowledge about older adults' digital participation remains limited, despite political hopes that digital technology will help address the challenges of an aging population.

Biography

Ulli Samuelsson, born in 1967, has a background as an IT educator in the private business world, both as an employee and as an entrepreneur. Ulli has been employed at HLK since 2003, until 2014 as an assistant professor and from 2014 as associate professor of education. 

During the period from February 2021 to January 2025, was Ulli Associate Dean of Education at School of education and communication.

2019 and 2020 Ulli was active at the Jönköping Academy for Improvement in Health and Welfare. This is in the role of regional manager for the national project Mötesplats Social Innovation.

From 2011-2018, Ulli was also the director for the Human Resources Program, one of the bachelor programs at HLK. Under Ulli's leadership, this program was developed into the bachelor programs Human Resources with a specialization in Psychology or Business Administration.

In 2004, Ulli took the master's degree in pedagogy at HLK. The degree also included psychology and sociology. In addition, Ulli has a university education in project management, leadership and change management. 2014 she publicly defended her doctoral thesis “Digital (in)equality? ICT use in school and pupils' technological capital”. The general aim of the thesis is to increase the knowledge base of digital (in)equality by empirically charting and theoretically interpreting the use of information and communication technology (ICT) by young people.