Research with practical applications
At SMHI's research department, we work with applied research and development to directly benefit society. This means that we seek answers to socially relevant questions in areas affected by weather, water and climate.
Weather, water and climate have always affected society. Ongoing climate change brings new challenges as the climate warms and extremes become more extreme. Adaptation of society is required to meet these challenges. This is where SMHI's research comes in.
We conduct research in meteorology, hydrology, oceanography and climate to create new, often more detailed knowledge and models of the climate and earth system. Our research and development enables us to describe future weather, water and climate. This enables society to make the choices needed to mitigate climate change and adapt to its consequences.
Research based on users' needs
Our work often takes place close to different user groups, where we use co-creative processes to explore the issues that users are grappling with and on which we can contribute more knowledge. These co-creative processes make us responsive to users' needs and questions. They also mean that the results of our research can be quickly utilised both for different types of policy decisions and in practical work at, for example, a municipality or county administrative board.
We also take part in a large number of international projects where we collaborate and exchange knowledge with researchers in Europe and around the world. These networks enable us to benefit from the methods, knowledge and results of others, which also creates social benefits for Swedish users. In addition, our knowledge and models create benefits elsewhere in the world. We enable the exchange of knowledge and produce basic modelling calculations that we share in easily accessible web services, useful in countries that do not have the same capacity as us to do the heavy calculations, but which are in great need of data to future-proof their society.
Only the best research gets funded
Our research and development is mainly project-funded. This means that we apply for money from national and international research funders, who evaluate the benefits of our research when they review our research applications. Competition for funding is fierce. Only research that has a clear societal benefit will receive funding.
Our research and development is funded through the EU Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation - Horizon Europe and Destination Earth, among others. National research funding bodies such as the Swedish Research Council, Formas and Vinnova and authorities such as the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the Swedish National Space Agency and the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management also fund our projects.
We also carry out projects funded by the European Copernicus Programme for Open Data from Earth Observations, the European Space Agency ESA, the UN World Meteorological Organisation WMO, the UN Climate Research Programme WCRP and the Green Climate Fund.
See a selection of our ongoing and recently completed research projects:
