Master's Thesis Project: Climate Resilience: Managing Heat Stress Across Operations

Packaging Solutions is one of Stora Enso’s seven business areas (BA), focusing on sustainable, fiber-based packaging. We deliver premium packaging to leading brands in retail, e-commerce, and industrial markets, while providing design and automation services that improve material use, streamline logistics, and reduce CO₂.
Within Stora Enso’s Packaging Solutions BA, we are continuously working to strengthen climate resilience, employee wellbeing and safe operations across our workplaces. As part of this work, we are offering a master thesis opportunity focused on Climate Resilience: managing heat stress across production, warehouse, maintenance and logistics environments.
This project explores how changing climate conditions, increasing temperatures and more frequent heatwaves may affect employee comfort, safety, health and work ability. The objective is to develop an evidence-based framework and practical recommendations for managing heat stress across operations.
Your mission

• Review scientific evidence on how workplace climate conditions affect employee health, fatigue, concentration and work ability
• Identify high-risk locations, activities and employee groups within selected production and warehouse environments
• Compare current conditions and controls with scientific guidance, standards and industry practices
• Research available solutions such as ventilation, cooling, insulation, shading, monitoring, hydration, work-rest arrangements, workwear and PPE
• Evaluate solutions based on risk reduction, feasibility and employee acceptance
• Recommend short-, medium- and long-term improvements to support safe and resilient operations

How the project will be executed
You will work closely with Stora Enso’s Operations, Safety, Occupational Health, Sustainability and facility-related teams, as well as your supervisors. The work may include reviewing scientific literature, occupational-health guidance, standards and industry research, as well as measuring relevant workplace conditions and exposure factors.
The project execution may also include interviews with employees, supervisors, occupational-health professionals, safety specialists and facility engineers. You will map existing facility capabilities, benchmark solutions used in comparable industries, and develop and validate a practical heat-risk assessment and response framework.
For this position, you can plan your time and work flexibly from home or one of our offices, with possible visits to our production or warehouse sites as part of the project. After agreement with your university supervisor, the project scope and design will be tailored to suit your academic requirements, your interests and Stora Enso’s goals. The project will be executed during the spring semester 2027, from January to June, and consists of 30 HP (Swedish university credits).
What we offer
By writing your master thesis with Stora Enso, you will gain industry insights, valuable contacts for future working life and hands-on experience in a leading global company. You will contribute to practical work that supports employee wellbeing, safer workplaces and climate-resilient operations, while learning how research-based insights can be translated into concrete improvements in an industrial environment.
After finishing your master thesis work with us, we encourage you to apply for the scholarship offered by Ljungbergsfonden. They offer scholarships to Swedish university or college students for forestry-related projects carried out in collaboration with Stora Enso. By joining Stora Enso for your master thesis project, you will also contribute towards a more sustainable world, as we believe that anything made from fossil-based materials today can be made from a tree tomorrow.
Who are we looking for?
We believe you are in the final year of your master’s studies at a Swedish university, with an interest in occupational heat exposure, employee health, industrial workplaces and practical research. Preferred study backgrounds include Occupational Health and Safety, Occupational Hygiene, Environmental Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Ergonomics, Public Health or a related field.
You are analytical, proactive and interested in how scientific evidence, workplace conditions and practical safety measures can be combined to support employee wellbeing and operational resilience. You are fluent in English and enjoy collaborating in an international industrial environment.
How can you apply for this master thesis project?
To apply, submit your application through our recruitment tool. Include your CV and a cover letter. If applying as a thesis pair, send one joint application under one name. Attach both CVs and a shared cover letter. We review applications continuously, so apply as soon as possible and no later than October 18th.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Talent Acquisition and Employer Branding Partner Veera Kaislasalo, [email hidden]. She is more than happy to answer your questions.
Welcome to the The renewable materials company!
Stora Enso is a global leader in renewable materials with a strong focus on packaging. Our purpose is to replace non-renewable materials with renewable solutions. Together with our customers, we design and deliver competitive, high-quality packaging materials and solutions, made from fresh and recycled fibers, accelerating the transition to a circular bioeconomy.
We believe that diversity strengthens our competitiveness and leads to better decision‑making. Diverse teams with different backgrounds help us explore new perspectives and challenge our ways of thinking. We actively work to increase diversity in the workplace and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Stora Enso is an equal opportunity employer that follows non‑discriminatory practices.