About RCR Simulation Lab
The overall purpose of RCR Simulation Lab is to contribute to a safe and sustainable society, and to contribute to growth in our region, as well as on a national level, by providing a physical environment for exercises and development of products / services in the risk management area.
Of central importance is a flexible exercise environment where both physical and virtual crisis exercises can be performed.
Activities in the laboratory consist of three main areas:
- Research – world-leading research with a focus on management, cooperation and communication in collaboration with external researchers, students and partners
- Collaboration – Exercises, conferences, workshops, theme days, lectures, demonstrations. RCR Simulation Lab is a resource for external partners. There are close collaborations with regional companies and organizations, which is considered a critical factor for success for RCR Simulation Lab.
- Education – cooperation with the surrounding society, e-learning, lectures, laboratory work and exercises for students, secondary school students, partners, colleagues, and customers.
Alongside the 64 square meters of the simulation room at Mid Sweden University Campus Östersund, RCR Simulation Lab also have access to a mobile unit where the technological resources of the lab can be transported for studies and exercises in real environments. The mobile unit can for example be used in industries, hospitals, or public facilities.
RCR Simulation Lab is run by manager Kari Pihl, and technical supervisor Per Alexander Esbjörnsson. The director is a researcher from the Risk and Crisis Research Centre (RCR), currently PhD Minna Lundgren.
RCR Simulation Lab is located at the fourth floor in building P at Mid Sweden University, Campus Östersund. The address is Kunskapens väg 1.
Please contact us by e-mail: rcrlab@miun.se
Creating a simulation lab
The idea of building RCR Simulation Lab was born in 2013. The ambition was to create a flexible, accessible and open environment for experiments and exercises, using modern technology.
Beyond using traditional methods of data collection, such as interviews, observations and surveys, the purpose of RCR Simulation Lab was to enable studies of crisis situations simulated in real-time and allow these exact scenarios to be repeated with different participants. This ambition partly emerged from a research project funded by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, in which simulation experiments were carried out with staff from three different organizations. The results of the experiments showed a difference between the included organizations in the way of managing the simulated crisis situation. The result gave rise to the idea of developing this unique combination of simulation and experiment to study other risk and crisis areas in new studies.
In the beginning, a number of meetings and a workshop were held in order to establish collaborations, develop the concept and get input from actors who might have use of the lab. Mid Sweden University, Combitech, Östersund Municipality, The House of Safety, Jämtkraft and Mid Sweden Science Park participated in this process. Consequently, RCR Simulation Lab was designed in collaboration with companies and organizations in the region. At the same time, a working group was formed at the Risk and Crisis Research Centre. This group consisted of Susanna Öhman, Dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences, Anna Olofsson, Centre manager of RCR, and the researchers Erna Danielsson, Erik Borglund, Lena-Maria Öberg and Jörgen Sparf. After several discussions and meetings, the decision to start the construction of RCR Simulation Lab was made in February 2017.
The construction of RCR Simulation Lab in Östersund began March 2017 with financing from Mid Sweden University and the municipality of Östersund. The laboratory also received financing from The European Region Fund when the construction process had begun, for completing the laboratory and starting up activities. During the whole construction process, there was a great collaboration with professionals from A4 Campus and Mid Sweden University. Additionally, decisions regarding the design of the laboratory and technological equipment were made with essential support from a project group consisting of technicians and staff from university departments. In November 2017, RCR Simulation Lab (then RCR Lab) was inaugurated. After some small adjustments to the facilities and the acquisition of virtual reality tools, the laboratory was completed during the summer of 2018. A critical step in the development process was the hiring of Kari Phil and Per Alexander Esbjörnsson. Today, they are a driving force in the technical and conceptual development of RCR Simulation Lab.
Building RCR Simulation Lab, March 2017.