Pågående forskningsprojekt

Living as a Survivor: A Study of the Political, Social and Economic Integration of Tsunami Survivors

How are we affected by traumatic experiences and sudden grief? Why do some people go through life with an ability to recover from such experiences while others do not?
 
This project aims to unravel the mystery of what makes us resilient to traumatic experiences and sudden grief. If we can understand how we are affected by traumatic events and sudden grief, and what makes us resilient to such events, then we can also understand what possible measures can lead to increased welfare after trauma and grief. If we can develop such measures as society, it can be of great benefit. This project gives us the prospects to do just that.
 
The project works with anonymized data from existing registers. The main data source is data on the approximately 16,030 Swedish survivors of the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia in 2004, as well as data on the relatives of those who perished (approximately 530 Swedes). We link this data to administrative data from the National Board of Health and Welfare and the population register at Statistics Sweden, and combine it with a survey. The combination of data sources, and a real large-scale crisis as an event, allows us to study the short- and long-term effects of the tsunami on a wide range of social, health, economic and political outcomes. This unique opportunity opens up for identifying what makes us resilient.
 
The aim is to understand how the surviving Swedes have fared as a group, and why some have fared better than others. We also want to understand how the relatives of those who perished have fared as a group, as these individuals were exposed to sudden grief.
 
The project provides research of high scientific quality and has good possibilities to be of use in the design of measures that lead to increased welfare after trauma and grief.
 
In summary, the knowledge from this project can contribute to increased resilience to traumatic events that affect the individual, but also to sudden large-scale crises that affect us as a society. By understanding what makes us resilient to traumatic events, we simply have the opportunity to better prepare for future crises. In the future, this knowledge may contribute to increased preparedness and security for the civilian population by offering relevant measures when the crisis comes. In this way, the project intends to contribute with important knowledge for a multifaceted crisis preparedness and a strengthened civil defense.
  • Duration of the project: 2022 - 2026
  • Funding: 5 Million SEK (The Swedish Research Council)
  • People involved: Lina M. Eriksson (PI, UU), post doctor Kalle Ekholm (UU), collaborating researcher Kåre Vernby (UU-SU).

SPARC: Stakeholder participation for climate adaptation – data crowdsourcing for improved urban flood risk management

SPARC is a 4-year research project funded by FORMAS on cloudburst flood risk and its management. The project involves a trans-disciplinary project group including Karlstad University, Lund University, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, City of Malmö, Karlstad municipality, and City of Gothenburg.

The objectives of the project are:

  • To develop systematic management of crowdsourced data for rain and flood characteristics, and to enhance resolution and accuracy of existing official rain data from SMHI and Swedish municipalities.
  • To validate the significance of high-resolution input data on the performance of two hydraulic models: LISFLOOD and HEC-RAS.
  • To increase the knowledge of flood damage to the built environment and to establish a method for systematic and secure damage data collection.
  • To assess and communicate the use of small-scale flood adaptation measures as a way for property owners to be part of a space-for-water approach to reduce flood risk for themselves and their communities.

I-CISK

The I-CISK project will innovate existing climate services by integrating the local data and knowledge, perceptions and preferences of users with research based scientific knowledge. I-CISK will develop next-generation climate services that follow a social and behaviourally informed approach for co-producing climate services that meet the climate information needs of citizens, decision makers and stakeholders at the spatial and temporal scale relevant to them. Thus, I-CISK will contribute towards a sustainable European economy, lifestyle, environmental protection and resource use, resilient to climate change and compatible with achieving climate neutrality.

Utveckling av riskbedömningsmetoder för skyfallsskador

Skyfall som orsakar lokala översvämningar är ett vanligt och kostsamt fenomen i Sverige under sommaren. Skyfallen förväntas dessutom öka i både intensitet och antal som följd av klimatförändringarna. Till skyfallens direkta konsekvenser räknas exempelvis översvämmade byggnader, vattenfyllda källare och bilar, översvämmade gator, erosionsskador på byggnader, vägar och annan infrastruktur. Dessa direkta fysiska skador kan också medföra betydande följdeffekter i form av störningar och avbrott med påverkan på individer och samhälle, även utanför och efter den primära händelsen.

Syftet med projektet är att utveckla samhällsekonomiska riskbedömningsmetoder för skyfallsskador på en geografiskt aggregerad lokal nivå (i Sverige) som kan vara ett stöd för beslutsfattare inom riskreduktion och klimatanpassning.

  • Projektets längd: 2021-2023
  • Finansiering: 3 MSEK (Formas)
  • Arbetsgrupp: Lars Nyberg, Barbara Blumenthal, Tonje Grahn, Jan Haas, Konstantinos Karagiorgos, Kristin Gustafsson (KaU-CNDS)

When it rains it pours: Biogeophysical drivers and societal responses to compound natural hazard events in Sweden

Climate change increases the risk of extreme natural hazard events, such as wildfires, extreme precipitation events and floods. Society is generally well prepared to effectively respond to single natural hazard events, but less is known about the ability to cope with compound natural hazard events, that is, several events occurring simultaneously or sequentially. This project aims to: (i) develop an integrated map of natural hazard events in Sweden, (ii) explore causal chains of compound events, and assess social vulnerabilities in exposed areas, and (iii) assess collective capacities to achieve effective collaboration in planning and response to mitigate the effects of these compound events.

  • Duration of the project: 2021-2023
  • Funding: 3.4 Million SEK (The Kamprad Family Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Research & Charity)
  • People involved: Johanna Mård (PI, UU), Daniel Nohrstedt (UU), Örjan Bodin (SRC)

Method for prioritizing and assessing the benefits of climate adaptation measures – the right action in the right place and in the right order

Today's transport system needs to be adapted to the increased risks related to weather related events already seen today, and not least expected risks due to climate change. Adaptation is needed both in short, medium and long-term perspectives. Reliable impact relationships about climate-related risks are crucial both in the planning of new installations and in the adaptation of existing installations.
 
Recently a pre-study was conducted by Andersson-Sköld et al. (2019) including a review of potential methods and models that could be used to identify, assess, and evaluate climate-related risks and risk mitigation measures. At that time, there was no method that could be used for the whole process required from risk identification to prioritization of actions. Therefore, as a first step, a conceptual approach was developed, including the cause effect chain from hazard identification to evaluation of possible measures.
The aim of the current project is to concretize, validate and develop the conceptual approach into a GIS-compliant approach for the identification and assessment of risks, measures and for prioritization of mitigation measures. This is done through case studies.
The results of the analyses shall be used to prioritize risk mitigation measures, i.e. to assess the relevance of implementing a measure, when in time it should be implemented and to assess which action is most relevant to implement. The result will be a framework for application to prioritization of climate adaptation within the STA as well as adaptable and applicable also in other sectors.
  • Duration of the project: 2020-2023
  • Funding: 3 M SEK (Trafikverket (Planera)
  • People involved: Yvonne Andersson-Sköld, Lina Nordin, Erik Nyberg, Khaldoon Mourad and more at VTI and a reference group including experts at Trafikverket, SGI, and Chalmers Geotechnic, that will be expanded through the course of the project.

The Transformative Potential of Extreme Weather Events: Triggers for Disaster Risk Reduction and Development [TRAMPOLINE]

Extreme weather events inflict major losses and disproportionally affect lower income countries, yet conditions for accelerating implementation of public policy for disaster risk reduction (DRR) are poorly understood. The TRAMPOLINE project aims to investigate extreme hazard events as potential triggers for changes in DRR policy and development. Utilizing data on DRR policy from 2007-2018, a new dataset of climate extremes and disasters, interviews, and public sources, the project will document the extent to which these events prompt policy change worldwide and assess whether variations  can be explained by income-levels, event magnitude, regular exposure, diffusion effects, agenda-setting, political mobilization, and learning.

Improved reliability and survivability of mechanical wave energy subsystems

Offshore renewable energy, in terms of offshore wind, wave, and tidal energy, is expected to become an important contribution to the future sustainable and fossil-free energy system. Whereas offshore wind turbines are being installed at shallow water depths at a rapid speed around the world, floating offshore wind, wave, and tidal energy are less mature technologies. Ensuring reliability for these systems still poses a challenge, in particular during storms and other extreme weather events. In this project, extreme offshore wave conditions are identified, and survivability and resilience of wave energy converters in these conditions is studied using numerical and experimental methods.

High pressure microfluidics for environmental analyses

High pressure analytical chemistry is used for detecting chemical hazards in environmental chemistry. Today, such analyses are made at central laboratories and personnel needs to taker sample, administrate them and wait for results from the central laboratory. We intend to build technology that enables portable analytical systems suitable for environmental monitoring. This will ease decision making, allow for more samples to be tested and reduced samples to be validated at central laboratories. Examples of use are leaching of heavy metals and arsenide from deposits or contaminated grounds in flooding.

ERC Project HydroSocialExtremes: Unraveling the mutual shaping of hydrological extremes and society

Droughts and floods affect more than 100 million people per year, and cause thousands fatalities and dramatic losses. Humans respond and adapt to the impacts of floods and droughts, while influencing (deliberately or not) their frequency, magnitude and spatial distribution. The dynamics resulting from this interplay, i.e. both response and influence, remain still poorly understood, and current risk assessment methods do not explicitly account for them. Thus, while risk reduction strategies built on these methods can work in the short-term, they can generate unintended consequences in the long-term. HydroSocialExtremes aims to unravel the mutual shaping of society and hydrological extremes, and develop new methods for planning risk reduction measures.

Extreme events in the coastal zone – a multidisciplinary approach for better preparedness

The overarching scientific questions to be addressed in this project are: To what extent does climate change alter the occurrence of extreme events, including storms, storm surges as well as heavy precipitation, and the severity of their impacts in the coastal zone; how can improved modelling lead to better preparedness, help mitigate consequences to society, and to understand key uncertainties; and what is the most effective method of communicating these risks to society?

Resilience in Sweden: Governing, Social Networks and Learning

The project will study how society can handle the impacts of a changing climate and remain resilient. Resilient here meaning an ability to retain steering and control and society's vital functions. The research will contribute to societal utility by increasing the knowledge and understanding of societal resilience, but also through concrete and practical advice on what actions that is needed in terms of changed or reformed legislation, decision making processes, models of collaboration, and organizational structures.

  • Duration of the project: 2018-2022
  • Funding: Swedish Civil Contincencies Agency (MSB)
  • People involved: Mikael Granberg (PI, KaU), Lars Nyberg (KaU)

Atmospheric rivers - key features for understanding extreme hydrometeorological events

Atmospheric rivers are long narrow bands of large integrated water vapor transport in the troposphere. At land fall they are usually associated with extreme conditions in terms of wind and precipitation. There is a growing interest in atmospheric rivers, concerning their regional impacts on water availability, the modulation by climate variability and their representation in weather and forecast models. Air-sea interaction processes are major modulators, (i) in the source area over the large oceans and by (ii) coastal processes at land fall. How atmospheric rivers interact with surface conditions and coastal features is to a large extent unknown. The ultimate goal of the project is to quantify the importance of air-sea interaction on atmospheric rivers for better prediction of extreme events in the coastal zone.

Senast uppdaterad: 2022-08-05
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