Have you ever missed a train or been stunned by a surprise you did not expect to happen? In retrospect, could you have done something to prevent bad things from happening and still get the good bits? These questions are valid, not only for our daily decisions, but also for decisions on how to manage the natural environment for conservation, safety or sustainability. Ullrika is leading the new CEC research group Uncertainty and Evidence Lab, which focuses on theories for considering the extreme, rare or unlikely in decisionmaking, with applications for the management of environmental systems.

– I see the appointment as a confirmation that research on the understanding of risk and uncertainty is important in natural science, says Ullrika.