Students from Gothenburg and Paris meet in workshop on inclusive tourism
As part of the EUTOPIA Alliance, students from the School of Business, Economics and Law participated in a workshop together with Master’s students from CY Cergy Paris Université visiting Gothenburg.
Eva Maria Jernsand and Emma Björner from the School helped organise the workshop:
"This workshop is part of the EUTOPIA alliance, where we collaborate across European universities within our Connected Community on Tourism and Experiences. What we try to do is bring together students, researchers, and external partners to work on real challenges, in this case focusing on inclusion, accessibility, and sustainability.
"Rather than only discussing these topics, the idea was to explore them in practice. During the day, students worked both with a digital environment, a digital twin of Scandinavium, and with the physical environment at Lindholmen Science Park.
In the morning, the workshop participants reflected on accessibility in a digital twin, raising questions about how different users interact with space, how information is updated, and how inclusive design can support a wider range of needs, for example through seating solutions or clearer navigation.
In the afternoon, they moved into the physical space and carried out an accessibility audit of the building and surrounding area at Lindholmen. Based on their observations, they developed and presented concrete ideas and prototypes, ranging from tactile navigation systems and AI-supported menus to mobile ramps, emergency safety solutions, and even voice-controlled, inclusive public infrastructure."
How come you invited students from different programmes to join this workshop?
"We were contacted by colleagues at CY Cergy Paris University, who were planning a visit to Gothenburg as part of an Erasmus mobility and wanted to create an opportunity for their master’s students in management, specialising in tourism and hospitality, to collaborate with students here.
Together with them, we developed this workshop as a way to bring their students together with students from the School around a shared challenge. We also invited a group of students from a course in Experience Design at HDK-Valand, as part of an ongoing collaboration with the School, to broaden the perspectives in the workshop.
The workshop was developed in collaboration with Xperience Next, who also contributed to the design and facilitation of the morning sessions. The afternoon workshop was designed and facilitated by Simone de Vivo Bernardi, a Master’s student in Embedded Design at HDK-Valand, who played a key role in shaping the hands-on learning experiences.
Bringing together students from different levels and disciplines makes the discussions richer and more grounded. Some contributed with perspectives based on their backgrounds in hospitality, management and services, others with knowledge of design methods or user experience. Together they were able to approach challenges in more creative and holistic ways.
This approach also reflects EUTOPIA’s ambition to foster challenge‑driven, inclusive learning environments where students from different disciplines and countries collaborate and learn from each other."
What do you hope that the students got out of doing this workshop together?
"One important takeaway is the opportunity to step into someone else’s perspective. Several student groups explored accessibility by trying to experience the environment from the point of view of, for example, a visually impaired person, which led to powerful insights.
Working in international and interdisciplinary teams also helps them develop skills in collaboration, communication, and problem-solving. But perhaps most importantly, they get to test ideas quickly, going from identifying a problem to proposing and visualising a solution within just a few hours.
In their reflections towards the end of the day, students described a shift in how they understand accessibility and inclusion, from something abstract to something tangible and fundamental. As one student put it, “accessibility isn’t a feature, it’s the foundation.”
It also highlights that inclusion and accessibility are not add-ons, but something that needs to be integrated from the very beginning when designing both digital and physical environments."