Ongoing research projects
Adapting to temperature extremes in a changing climate: Past trends and future scenarios (ADATES)

Taking Sweden as a case-in-point, this project aims to address the following questions, of key relevance for ensuring a socially just adaptation to future temperatures: (1) which groups are most vulnerable to non-optimal and extreme temperatures? (2) what is the interplay between environmental drivers, societal processes, adaptation strategies and the resulting health impacts? and (3) how can adaptation strategies mitigate the health impacts of plausible future temperatures?
Description of the project
Aim 1: Past climate variability and vulnerability. To study the acclimatization process to different levels of warming across space and vulnerability to non-optimal and extreme temperatures in Sweden.
Aim 2: Past and ongoing adaptation. To study the interplay between adaptation to non-optimal and extreme temperatures and societal processes leveraging the comparison between Sweden and Spain, a North and a South European country.
Aim 3: Future scenarios of adaptation to temperatures. To develop scenarios of socio-sanitary impacts from plausible future temperatures in Sweden, accounting for societal and adaptation processes.ā
- Duration of the project: 2023-2026
- Funding: 12 Million SEK (FORMAS)
- People involved: Elena Raffetti (UU), Giuliano Di Baldassarre (UU), Gabriele Messori (UU), Ilias Pechlivanidis (SMHI), Jette Möller (KI), Joan Ballester (Barcelona Institute for Global Health).
Leap in Swedish freshwater monitoring for water supply risk mitigation

This project, led by researchers from Lund University in collaboration with Stockholm University, focuses on climate-related risks to water supply in southern Sweden and aims to: (i) Identify areas exposed to increased risk of climate impacts on water resources and water supply, ii) Develop new techniques for detailed monitoring of groundwater and surface water, and iii) developing a decision support system for artificial groundwater recharge to inform current and future water supply management.
- Duration of the project: 2023-2026
- Funding: 16 Million SEK (FORMAS)
- People involved: Johanna Mård (UU), Fernando Jaramillo (SU), Hossein Hashemi (LU).
TRANSCEND (Transformational and Robust AdaptatioN to water Scarcity and ClimatE chaNge under Deep uncertainty)

Worldwide, water resources management is increasingly challenged by water scarcity and climate change, which can trigger and aggravate other ecological (e.g. pests) and socioeconomic threats (e.g. commodity price fluctuations) via feedback loops and cascading impacts across systems. In this context, planning for the future is rife with uncertainties for which conventional decision-making methods and policies are inadequate. The objective of TRANSCEND is to identify and catalyze the adoption of Transformational Adaptation Policies (TAP) to water scarcity, including innovative allocation systems and economic instruments, that are robust and adaptable to uncertainty and change, while simultaneously achieving equitable and sustainable economic growth and welfare.
To this end, TRANSCEND will develop a groundbreaking ecosystem of innovation that combines three key pillars: (i) a knowledge network for stakeholder engagement and knowledge sharing, (ii) an actionable modeling suite that integrates interdisciplinary socio-ecological science and ensemble forecasting to guide TAP design, and (iii) an accounting and monitoring toolbox that supports implementation and enforcement of TAP in practice.
This project is coordinated by the University of Salamanca (Spain) and involves 15 partner organizations from 13 different countries. Giuliano Di Baldassarre will be leading WP3. Along with his research team at UU, he will develop socio-hydrological models and methods for assessing water policies in several cases studies around the world.
- Duration of the project: 2023-2026
- Funding: 5.3 million EUR (602,000 EUR to the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala university).
- People involved: Giuliano Di Baldassarre (UU) and Sina Khatami (UU).
More information in the EU website
Extreme temperatures, adverse health effects and future scenarios

Anthropogenically driven climate change is increasing the frequency of temperature extremes. This project aims to uncover how societal processes influence adaptation to non-optimal and extreme temperatures leveraging historical data and building future scenarios. This will support practitioners and stakeholders in developing recommendations and adaptation strategies. This project will contribute to data acquisition and will be carried out in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet.
- Duration of the project: 2023-2024
- Funding: 200,000 SEK
- People involved: Elena Raffetti (UU)
More information on Karolinska Institutet's website
Living as a Survivor: A Study of the Political, Social and Economic Integration of Tsunami Survivors

- 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 ā 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.
- Duration of the project: 2021-2025
- Funding: 8 Million SEK (FORMAS)
- People involved: Lars Nyberg (KAU), Konstantinos Karagiorgos (KAU), Kristin Gustafsson (KAU), Tonje Grahn (KAU), Rolf Larsson (LU), Shifteh Mobini (LU), Jonas Olsson (SMHI), Louise Petersson (SMHI) and Remco van de Beek (SMHI).
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.
- Duration of the project: 2021-2025
- Funding: 5 M euro
- People involved: Maurizio Mazzoleni (VU), Giuliano Di Baldassarre (UU), Ilias Pechlivanidis (SMHI)
Development of risk assessment methods for cloudburst damages

In the field of disaster risk management, risks are often seen as a combination of hazard and vulnerabilities. Applied on cloudbursts, the hazard is represented by rainfall amount, its intensity and the resulting water level, while the vulnerability is determined by the assets in the area affected by the cloudburst, such as buildings and infrastructure. Geographical factors such as the shape of the terrain play a role because the topography determines where and how fast the water flows. Prior research on rainfall damages in Sweden mainly focused on the hazard but in this project the vulnerabilities of the built environment will be in focus.
The proposed project aims to develop methods for assessment of damages and costs caused by cloudbursts in Sweden and its results can be used as support in decision-making processes on risk reducing and climate adaptation measures.
- Duration of the project: 2021-2023
- Funding: 3 M SEK (Formas)
- People involved: Lars Nyberg, Barbara Blumenthal, Tonje Grahn, Jan Haas, Konstantinos Karagiorgos, Kristin Gustafsson (KaU)
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 ā the right action in the right place and in the right order

- 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.
Magmatic processes and pre-eruptive magma storage conditions at volcanoes

We seek to understand the processes occurring in magma pockets, depth of magma storage or emplacement and the conditions that trigger volcanic eruptions. These petrological, geochemical and structural aspects of magmatic systems contribute to interpreting volcano deformation and volcanic seismicity that are employed for monitoring of volcanic hazards. Our main field areas include Cape Verde, where Fogo volcano is active and erupted in 2014-2015, La Palma, Canary Islands, which erupted in 2021, and Iceland, where regular volcanic activity occurs.
Duration: 2018-2025
Funding: CNDS, VR, Wallenberg, faculty funding
People involved: Abigail Barker, Steffi Burchardt
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.
- Duration of the project: 2018 - 2023
- Funding: CNDS, Kamprad Fam. Foundation, Faculty funding
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.
- Duration of the project: 2018-2023
- Funding: 20 Million SEK (European Research Council Consolidator Grant)
- People involved: Giuliano Di Baldassarre (PI, UU), Frederike Albrecht (SEDU), Hannah Cloke (UoR), Sara Lindersson (UU), Maurizio Mazzoleni (VU), Tamara Michaelis, Elena Mondino (UU), Johanna Mård (UU), Vincent Odongo (SEI), Elena Ridolfi, Maria Rusca, Elisa Savelli (UU)