IIASA Insights

IIASA Insights is an informal outlet for IIASA researchers and the wider IIASA global network to share their research, insights, and perspectives. It does not necessarily represent the official views or position of the institute.

Sunny sky over an eco-friendly city with green rooftops, solar panels, and tree-lined avenues.

12 March 2026

Advancing knowledge on cities and climate change: Insights from the IIASA Urban Futures Hub

The IIASA Urban Futures Hub is a cutting-edge research initiative dedicated to studying and assessing how cities and urban systems can lead climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts from local to global scales. The Hub regularly brings together experts from various disciplines within and beyond the Institute to collaborate on assessing cities and climate change across diverse domains and scales. IIASA researchers Leila Niamir and Merle Quade share insights from the initiative's latest expert workshop.

Energy, Climate, and Environment (ECE) Sustainable Service Systems (S3) Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions (TISS) Japan

23 February 2026

Validating disaster and climate resilience: how to create a gold standard for resilience-measurement

As climate risks intensify, fostering community resilience has become a global priority but a fundamental question remains for practice and policy: how can resilience be defined, measured, and proven to inform implementation? Together with the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance, IIASA researchers have spent more than a decade developing and scientifically validating a universally-applicable framework to measure community resilience, turning a concept into an evidence-based tool to guide real-world implementation in the most vulnerable communities across the globe.

Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) Systemic Risk and Resilience (SYRR) Flood Resilience Measurement for Communities (FRMC) YSSP

Experience the resilience and strength of communities overcoming natural disasters, rebuilding with courage and determination. AI generated

16 February 2026

How do perceptions impact behavior during multi-hazard events? Citizens at the heart of multi-hazard resilience

In this IIASA Insights article, Nadejda Komendantova and Tahereh Zobeidi explore how behavioral science can strengthen disaster resilience by deepening our understanding of how people perceive and respond to risk. Drawing on their work within the PARATUS project, they highlight how integrating human decision-making into multi-hazard risk assessment can support more effective and socially grounded resilience strategies.

Network Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) Cooperation and Transformative Governance (CAT)

Downtown New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Skyline

16 January 2026

IIASA at AGU25: Engagement with Global Earth System Science

Participation in leading international scientific conferences is an important element of IIASA’s engagement with the global research community. In December, IIASA researchers participated in the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2025 (AGU25) in New Orleans, one of the world’s largest annual conferences in Earth, climate, and environmental sciences. IIASA researcher Andre Nakhavali shares some reflections and experiences from the event.

Biodiversity and Natural Resources (BNR) Integrated Biosphere Futures (IBF) United States of America

Pediatrician holding stethoscope examines patient during a doctor's visit with mother

22 December 2025

Building resilience to floods and heatwaves for maternal and child healthcare

What happens to essential maternal and child healthcare when floods or extreme heat make it harder for families to reach clinics and for health workers to deliver services? IIASA Health, Aging, and Health Systems Research Group Leader, Josephine Borghi, shares perspectives from the REACH project, which is exploring emerging risks and promising strategies to build more climate-resilient health systems.

Population and Just Societies (POPJUS) Health, Ageing and Health Systems (H2A) Brazil Zambia

People working together on laptop brainstorming ideas

22 December 2025

The Public Policy Lab: A new interactive stakeholder engagement tool

IIASA recently introduced its latest innovation to country teams of the Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land, and Energy (FABLE) Consortium: the Public Policy Lab (PPL), an interactive platform designed to help stakeholders explore, develop, and assess national food and land-use pathways together.

Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) Exploratory Modeling of Human-natural Systems (EM) Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability (NODES) Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land, and Energy (FABLE) Scenathon

People collecting water from wells in dry fields as the sun sets, illustrating severe drought conditions

19 December 2025

What if we centered justice in climate risk management and adaptation research and practice?

With intensifying climate-related risks deepening existing injustices across and within countries, it is paramount to center justice considerations in climate risk management research and practice. Earlier in December, around 50 participants worked intensely on this topic at a highly interactive three-day conference at IIASA to exchange expertise and develop concrete ideas and next steps.

Population and Just Societies (POPJUS) Equity and Justice (EQU) Austria Egypt Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Member Organization (SSARMO)

Aerial view of river meander in the lush green vegetation of the delta

17 December 2025

EvoLand’s new STAC Catalogue: Open data for exploring planetary change

If you’ve ever tried to piece together from academic publications how our planetary landscapes are shifting – from forests greening to croplands drying – you know it can feel like trying to assemble a puzzle when each piece comes from a different box. EvoLand’s new STAC Catalogue changes that. It aims to offer a simple, open doorway into the vast world of land-monitoring data, making it easier than ever to understand how our planet is evolving.

Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability (NODES)

Panoramic cityscape view on Vienna, Austria

21 November 2025

The cost of connections: Social and environmental burdens of short-term rentals

International scientific collaboration brings people together, but also carries hidden costs. Jack Vahnberg and Steffen Lohrey share their experiences living in short-term rentals in Vienna during the 2025 Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP). From wasted household items and energy inefficiency to the impact on urban structures and housing affordability, they explore how the realities of temporary stays can conflict with the very sustainability goals their research aims to promote.

YSSP Austria Germany Sweden