News

We welcome three new members to our SAFER Board! Thomas Andersson, Vice President for the Gothenburg Mobilisation at Volvo Cars will be our new chairman, replacing Karin Svensson. Astrid Linder and Claes Avedal will represent VTI and Volvo Group, respectively.
All three are very well suited for the assignment to lead the strategic development of SAFER. The new members' perspectives, experiences and networks complement those of the other Board members and they will contribute in the future success of SAFER.

Thomas Andersson – connects road safety to other societal needs
Thomas Andersson’s current responsibility includes Volvo Cars’ strategy for leveraging Gothenburg, Sweden as a testbed where advancing mobility, sustainable transport systems and traffic safety for cities are in focus. He has broad interfaces towards external networks and innovation ecosystems at local, regional, national and international levels. Among other things, he is Volvo Cars’ representative in the steering committee of the Gothenburg Green City Zone initiative. He has an extensive international experience from executive positions in the automotive business and not least in commercial roles close to customers and will add new perspectives to the work of SAFER. Thomas will also inspire SAFER’s work with the global Sustainable Development Goals by connecting the area of safety to other societal initiatives, such as the sustainable transformation of cities.
Thomas comments on his new role as chair in the SAFER Board:
“It is with much pride and respect I enter into SAFER Board as its chairman. To be able to take active part in the future direction of such a world leading competence centre is a privilege and something I really look forward to. In addition, to get the opportunity to meet and work together with the very best in the field of safety research will be fantastic”.

We also thank Karin Svensson, who has been SAFER's chairperson since mid-2012, for her excellent leadership of the Board. Karin has been a much appreciated and competent chair who has strongly contributed to SAFER's development by motivating us to think broader. Her strength has been to see important details while maintaining a strategic, long-term direction of the centre.

Astrid Linder – a SAFER researcher since start
Astrid Linder is Professor of Traffic Safety, with a focus on injury prevention, at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Chalmers at the Vehicle Safety division. Astrid has contributed to SAFER's research with valuable expertise since the start and she has extensive experience and deep knowledge within traffic safety.
"SAFER is a unique collaborative environment in the field of road safety and I look forward to contributing to the development of the research platform with the aim to jointly support the creation of a sustainable transport system”, Astrid says.
For many, Astrid is renowned for her work in developing both physical and virtual models of the average female for crash testing. She is also currently coordinating a comprehensive EU project called VIRTUAL, aiming at developing virtual crash test methods and human body models.
Astrid Linder has been involved in injury prevention since the late 1990s. Astrid has a Master of Science in Engineering Physics, received her Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Traffic Safety at Chalmers University of Technology in 2002 and in 2016 she was appointed Associate Professor of Injury Prevention at Chalmers. She joined VTI as a Research Leader in 2005 and since 2007 she has been appointed Research Director of the Traffic Safety and Traffic Systems unit.
In addition to contributing to the development of road safety through various research projects, Astrid has participated in numerous different international collaborations and has received several international awards. Also, Astrid is strongly committed to working together to contribute to the global Sustainable Development Goals and the new UN resolution on road safety. Astrid Linder is replacing Jonas Jansson, that also has made excellent contributions to SAFER, in the Board.

Claes Avedal - a senior safety expert
Claes Avedal is currently working as Senior Safety Specialist at Product Planning at Volvo Group Trucks Technology. He is responsible for safety at Group Trucks Technology Product Planning. The department support development of future product plans and product priorities. His responsibilities are to create future safety scenarios, define input to secure effective measures and the safety content of future trucks and services. Claes has a very long experience within product development of vehicles and have been part of many new vehicle projects and their market launches. He is passionate about safety and especially the 13 years within the Accident Research team where he provided a unique knowledge of heavy truck traffic safety and insight to the daily problems of operators.
Claes is looking forward to his new role in the SAFER Board:
“I am looking forward to share my long experience from safety of heavy commercial vehicles, e.g. operators’ daily problems and the specific aspects of heavy vehicle road safety. I hope to provide background of Volvo Group safety priorities and by that contribute to SAFER’s results.” 
Claes also acts as a mentor in the area of safety, sharing knowledge and competence across the Group as well as being a spokesperson for Volvo Trucks Safety. He is also Volvo Group’s representative in ACEA Truck Safety working group, i.e. providing Volvo positions to ACEA, regulation work and the EU commission. Claes has a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology. The electrification of transports and their new safety aspects are Claes’ top interest for the future. Claes is replacing Peter Kronberg, hat also has made excellent contributions to SAFER, in the Board.