2026 – now
Researcher / IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute
Researcher and host of futuring and technology in the Societal Transformation group.
Curriculum vitae · Based in Sweden
Álvaro Aranda Muñoz
PhD Researcher & Senior Interaction Designer
Experience
2016 – 2026
Research Engineer & Researcher / RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
Expert in prototyping. Delivered low- and high-fidelity prototypes to test and iterate on digitalization strategies within large and small organizations.
Led and took part in comprehensive user studies, translating complex data from industrial environments (battery production, district heating, manufacturing and control processes) into intuitive data visualizations and interfaces.
ABB · Hitachi · Volvo CE · Northvolt · Sandvik · Mälarenergi · ABB Control Technologies
2019 – 2024
PhD / Mälardalen University
Led interaction design initiatives empowering employees to co-create work improvements using IoT, AI and digital twins.
Facilitated collaborative workshops, bridging the gap between complex technological concepts and practical user needs.
Volvo CE · Seco Tools · Hitachi · Outokumpu · Mälarplast · Leine Linde
2014 – 2016
Research Engineer / ABB Corporate Research
Technical development of high-fidelity interactive prototypes for industrial clients, specializing in mobile (iPhone and iPad), web and augmented reality (Microsoft HoloLens).
Ownership of prototyping: the primary technical reference within multidisciplinary teams, translating design concepts into high-fidelity prototypes.
Publications
2026
Aranda-Muñoz, Á., Yamamoto, Y., & Sandström, K. (2026). Boundary objects in co-designing AI systems: A case study of supporting cross-functional collaboration. Proceedings of the Design Society, 6, 143–152. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2026.10373
2026
Bozic Yams, N., Gottlieb, L., & Aranda Muñoz, Á. (2026). Transforming how we lead together: Moving from hierarchies towards co-creation. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21622097
2026
Bozic Yams, N., Gottlieb, L., & Aranda Muñoz, Á. (2026). Att leda tillsammans: Från hierarkier mot samskapande [Leading together: From hierarchies towards co-creation]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21623587
2026
Yamamoto, Y., Aranda Muñoz, Á., & Sandström, K. (2026). Empowering factory employees through low-cost automation in IoT adoption. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 19(2), 245–259. https://doi.org/10.3926/jiem.7684
2025
Aranda-Muñoz, Á., Bozic Yams, N., & Carlgren, L. (2025). Co-experiential futuring: Where speculative design and arts meet futures studies. Futures, 166, Article 103549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2025.103549
2025
Yamamoto, Y., Aranda-Muñoz, Á., & Sandström, K. (2025). A development framework for human work integrated AI systems in manufacturing. Frontiers in Manufacturing Technology, 5, Article 1601903. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmtec.2025.1601903
2024
Aranda Muñoz, Á. (2024). Collaborative thinking with and through technology: Materials, methods and perspectives [Doctoral dissertation, Mälardalen University]. DiVA. https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-68055
2024
Aranda-Muñoz, Á., Yamamoto, Y., & Sandström, K. (2024). The Karakuri IoT toolkit: A collaborative solution for ideating and prototyping IoT opportunities. Proceedings of the Design Society, 4, 185–194. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2024.21
2024
Yamamoto, Y., Aranda Muñoz, Á., & Sandström, K. (2024). Practical aspects of designing a human-centred AI system in manufacturing. Procedia Computer Science, 232, 2626–2638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2024.02.081
2023
Aranda Muñoz, Á., Bozic Yams, N., & Carlgren, L. (2023). Co-designing technological explorations in developing futures literacy through speculative design and an artistic intervention. Proceedings of the Design Society, 3, 957–966. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2023.96
2022
Aranda-Muñoz, Á., Florin, U., Yamamoto, Y., Eriksson, Y., & Sandström, K. (2022). Co-designing with AI in sight. Proceedings of the Design Society, 2, 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2022.11
2021
Aranda Muñoz, Á., Eriksson, Y., Yamamoto, Y., Florin, U., & Sandström, K. (2021). To support IoT collaborative expressiveness on the shop floor. Proceedings of the Design Society, 1, 3149–3158. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2021.576
2021
Bozic Yams, N., & Aranda Muñoz, Á. (2021). Poetics of future work: Blending speculative design with artistic methodology. In Extended abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Article 63, pp. 1–8). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411763.3443451
2020
Aranda Muñoz, Á., Florin, U., Eriksson, Y., Yamamoto, Y., & Sandström, K. (2020). The Karakuri card deck: Co-designing industrial IoT conceptual solutions. Proceedings of the Design Society: DESIGN Conference, 1, 807–816. https://doi.org/10.1017/dsd.2020.127
2018
Yamamoto, Y., Sandström, K., & Aranda Muñoz, Á. (2018). Karakuri IoT: The concept and the result of pre-study. In P. Thorvald & K. Case (Eds.), Advances in manufacturing technology XXXII (pp. 311–316). IOS Press. https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-902-7-311
2018
Yamamoto, Y., Sandström, K., & Aranda Muñoz, Á. (2018). Development of methods that support exploration of simple and low-cost IoT-aided improvement solutions at manufacturing plants [Paper presentation]. 2018 Annual Autumn Meeting of the Japan Industrial Management Association, Tokyo, Japan.
2016
Aranda Muñoz, A., Nilsson Helander, K., de Gooijer, T., & Ralph, M. (2016). Integrating Scrum and UCD: Insights from two case studies. In G. Cockton, M. Lárusdóttir, P. Gregory, & Å. Cajander (Eds.), Integrating user-centred design in agile development (pp. 97–115). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32165-3_4
Education
Academic
2019 – 2024
PhD
Mälardalen University
2012 – 2014
Master’s in Design, Interaction Design and Game Technologies
Blekinge Institute of Technology
2011 – 2012
Master’s in Game Design
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
2010 – 2011
Erasmus exchange in Sweden
Mälardalen University (9 months)
2007 – 2011
Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Art studies
2025 – 2026
Curso Integral de Narrativa
Fuentetaja · comprehensive narrative writing course
2007 – 2012
Creative Writing
Writers’ School of Madrid
1996 – 2006
Professional Advanced-Level Music
Amaniel Professional Music School
Skills
Futures
Research
Design
Tech
Stories
Languages
Patents
2022
Henriksson, A., Aranda Munoz, A., Vartiainen, E., Blom, J., & Ralph, M. (2022). Method for controlling an industrial robot during lead-through programming of the robot and an industrial robot (U.S. Patent No. 11,364,630). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. https://patents.google.com/patent/US11364630B2
Funding
2018
inSIGHT: remote health industrial services in high-dimensional data
Authored the grant application. 6 MSEK project, 3 MSEK funded by Vinnova.
2018
Multiple data – single visualization
Authored the grant application. 0.5 MSEK project, funded by Vinnova.
Awards
2012
Honorable Mention at IDEAME++
The game Minitomic received the Honorable Mention Award.
2010
International Summer Workshop “Urban Storytelling”, Turin
Spanish writer, awarded a €1,000 grant.