For Matilda, her thesis led to employment at SCA

“SCA has such a wide range of activities, that it will never become monotonous,” she says.

Matilda studied for a Master of Science in Engineering Physics at Umeå University and when it was time to apply for her thesis, she had decided: R&D Centre was the right place for her.

“I wanted to do my thesis at a company that contributes to sustainable development. The fact that SCA works with renewable raw materials from the forest was a perfect fit,” Matilda says. Additionally, its size and stability were also factors considered in her decision.  

The fact that SCA is a big and stable company also played a role in her choice.

“I have always had the image that SCA is a reliable employer, with a wide variety of activities and tasks. I hoped that the thesis would be a way to get a permanent position,” she continues.

An educational experience

At that time, R&D Centre did not have any published thesis projects that could be applied for, but Matilda took her own initiative. She checked which alumni from her program were working at SCA, and contacted one of them.

“He then suggested a thesis project that involved taking a closer look at a statistical material model that describes the failure behavior of fibers subjected to an arbitrary load. I accepted, and it was an interesting time where I learned a lot, both about how to set up a project, how to analyze data, and about the industry in general,” says Matilda.

When Matilda completed her degree, she got a project position at R&D Centre and a few months later she was offered a permanent position as a research engineer. Today, she works mainly with the mechanical properties as well as with the surfaces and prints of liners and the end products that packaging paper is used for.

“It is a varied job and I really appreciate that. Thanks to the variety of SCA's processes and products, there is so much to learn and it will never become boring. I find that the work becomes more and more interesting the more knowledge I get,” says Matilda.

Opportunity to develop

She also appreciates that there is a balance between the company's goals and her own individual goals.

“I get the opportunity to develop in the areas that I am interested in. After just one year as an employee, I was given the opportunity to be a supervisor for participants in the program Tekniksprånget (The technology leap) because I had expressed that I would like to work with people. And when I mentioned that I wanted to try being a project manager, it didn’t take long before I got the opportunity to lead my own project.

Tips for students

Are you a student yourself and are you going to apply for a thesis project? Then Matilda has some tips:

“Put a lot of effort into your choice. Try to find a thesis project that is about something you are interested in and with an employer that you would like to work for in the future. Don't give up if there are no thesis projects to apply for at that time, try to contact the company and ask what opportunities are available.

Text: Kerstin Olofsson.

Image above: For Matilda, her thesis became the path to a job she had long aspired to. Just as she had hoped. Photo: Torbjörn Bergkvist.