She investigates how cities can become more resilient to cloudbursts

Sara Tunjic Ekeroth began studying at the age of 26. After attending an arts-focused program in upper secondary school with dreams of becoming a dancer, she worked in restaurants and events.

“But I felt that I wanted a different career, and sustainability has always been close to my heart,” she says.

She completed courses at Komvux and then started the Energy and Environment program at KTH.

“I really enjoyed KTH, and during my master’s studies, I had a lot of contact with SEED.”

After graduating, she worked on cloud burst management and flood-related issues at the consultancy firm Tyréns for three years. She maintained her connection with SEED since the company is also involved in research.

“I knew I wanted to pursue a PhD, but wasn’t sure exactly in what. When the opportunity in digitalization and sustainability came up, it felt perfect!”

She received the positive news in the summer of 2025 and started on October 1. She also plans to teach at the department.

“It’s fun to contribute to the education, and you learn a lot yourself through teaching.”

How would you describe the topic of your dissertation?

“The focus is on how we can manage flood risk when there is great uncertainty about the future. The methods used for predictions today rely on only a few scenarios. In other words, we build society based on a small number of cases during the planning phase. But we want to see robust solutions that work across a broader spectrum of possible futures, meaning based on more cases.”

This also means that she will address the concept of deep uncertainty, which involves considering situations where it is impossible to determine either the probability of different outcomes or what those outcomes might be. The uncertainty is too significant. She finds it an exciting combination of her background in hydrology and the more philosophical, broad perspective.

A key question is: What kind of data do we need to make better decisions? The methods used in Sweden today are standardized and structured, such as the so-called 100-year rainfall event (a rainfall that occurs on average once every 100 years). The problem is that this approach misses many scenarios, especially in the relationship between clients and consultants. Today’s models cannot run 1,000 scenarios — it is too time-consuming. Therefore, she needs to explore alternative ways of assessing how cities respond to heavy rainfall.

“We want to create something that is practically applicable. Tyréns is involved as an expert in the project, and we want to bring in more external experts,” Sara says.

The ambition is to develop a framework — a toolbox to support the creation of various types of decision materials and to enable more robust reasoning around flood risks.

“First and foremost, it will give researchers better tools. Maybe we’ll also manage to support users and clients, such as municipalities,” Sara says.

What drives you?

“Problem-solving! I can almost become obsessed with finding solutions, and that’s what’s great about being an engineer. Modeling tools, coding, and improving them — that’s another source of motivation.”