Fuad

What are the best aspects of your program?

You get a strong technical foundation, and then you actually use it. In my first year alone, my classmates and I built five different team projects in XR, human perception, haptics, and digital accessibility, plus a few smaller things on the side. Every one of them started from a blank page. You ideate, argue, execute, and run user tests, and a few weeks later, something exists that didn't exist before. Doing that with a team is the part I didn't expect to enjoy as much as I do, and learning and building at the same time is one of the main reasons I'm glad I chose this program. 

Have you chosen a specialisation track within the program?

I've shaped my own focus around tangible interaction and computer vision, specifically gaze tracking and how it can be applied to accessibility and safety. Interactive Media Technology lets you build a direction instead of picking one from a fixed list, and that freedom is what sold me on it. It also means my coursework feeds straight into my research. I recently submitted work to the NordiCHI 2026 and AccessCoVE conferences, so if you're leaning toward a more academic path, there's a lot of room here to start early. 

How do studies at KTH differ from your previous studies?

Back home, studying was mostly theory. You read something, did a short lab, then sat in a room and wrote an exam that tested how well you remembered things. At KTH I haven't sat a single written exam yet. Some courses still have them, but in my experience, your understanding shows up in the projects you build, not in what you can recall under pressure, and that suits me. 

The other big difference is freedom. My earlier studies had one fixed path that you simply followed. Here you're your own boss. You choose your direction, you choose the classes that matter to you, and there are very few hard restrictions. What surprised me is how connected everything still feels. The courses complete each other, and from the very first period, you can see how the pieces fit together.

How is student life in Stockholm?

Stockholm is wonderful. It's dense with startups and pace, and somehow it still protects your study and life balance. I love studying in the libraries, and I love walking by the water near my apartment when my brain needs a break. I also cycle to university almost every day, which is faster than public transport and one of the small things that makes me happy here, since the city is built for cyclists too. Add a big, friendly international community on top of that, much of it through my program and the Swedish Institute network, and it starts to feel like home fast. 

What do you want to do after graduating?

I want to do industrial research on accessibility and safety. More precisely, I want to build gaze and computer vision systems that make technology usable for more people and safer in critical situations, ideally at one of the companies leading this work. Sweden is one of the best places in the world for exactly this kind of research, which is a big part of why I'm here, and a path toward a PhD is very much on the table, too. 

What would you like to say to students thinking of choosing KTH for master's studies?

Apply, and don't let your background talk you out of it. When I applied, I didn't have enough academic credits in coding, but my work experience counted, and there were alternative ways to prove what I could do. So, if you're worried you don't fit the exact mould, look closer before you give up. 

And don't hesitate to talk to a student before you decide. Reach out to someone like me. I just finished my first year, I walked the same road you're on now, and the distance between us is honestly small. I'm especially happy to talk to career changers and to anyone curious about KTH's research groups or the path toward a PhD, which is the part I had to figure out mostly on my own. KTH gave me clear answers when I was asking, and I'd like to do the same for you.