Researchers at IIASA are studying the direct and indirect effects of climate change on health, shedding light on healthy aging drivers and metrics and analyzing interconnections between the components of multi-dimensional national well-being.
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Links Between Climate Change, the Environment, and Health
Researchers across IIASA are exploring how a variety of climate hazards and stressors are affecting health, including wildfires in the Fire&Ice project and heat extremes in the DISCC-AT and SPARCCLE projects.
Another area of study is on air pollution and its effects on mortality and morbidity, including health co-benefits of climate mitigation, with the GAINS model, and contributions to the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.
Researchers are also studying the effects of urban infrastructure and green spaces on health, including how they can mitigate or amplify climate-health effects, through the Urban Releaf project.
In addition, the CLIMAKID project will provide a digital tool to causally link extreme weather and child undernutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa and India to global climate change.
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One Health
The project bloom brings together an interdisciplinary team to explore the complex relationships between biodiversity, land use, and zoonotic disease spillover risk in West Africa. By integrating expertise in ecosystem function, socioeconomics, modeling, and stakeholder engagement, the project enhances understanding of these dynamics, with the aim to inform policies and conservation strategies that promote both human and ecosystem well-being.
As part of the SWITCH and CHOICE projects, researchers are developing the GLOBIOM health module, which links health impacts to dietary patterns. Additionally, the FACE Africa project explored how climate change indirectly affects nutrition and food availability through changes in crop production and land use.
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Health Systems
Health systems play an important role in reducing climate risks on health. However, they are also vulnerable to extreme weather events which can affect their capacity to deliver health services. Researchers are examining how floods and heatwaves affect the provision of and access to routine maternal and child healthcare in the REACH project.
Examining the macro-economic consequences of health-related shocks is a further area of focus.
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Ageing, Cognition, and Wellbeing
IIASA researchers are developing global measures of healthy aging and wellbeing, and exploring how factors like employment, family roles and environmental exposures, shape cognitive health over the life course, in the CHIAS project.
IIASA researchers also apply systems thinking to study multi-dimensional national well-being, with the identified theoretical relationships being validated and quantified using data for the OECD countries.
News
08 April 2025
The 19th International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks: Spotlight on Sustainability and Risk Management
The prestigious international forum took place from February 10 to 14 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. It brought together leading academics, policymakers, and industry experts to discuss critical global challenges in sustainability, food security, and risk management. It was also endorsed by international scientific associations in agricultural economics, agribusiness, engineering, and information research including European Association of Agricultural Economists, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, Associzzione Internazionale di Economia Alimentare e Agro-Industriale, International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and International Network for IT in Agriculture, Food and the Environment.
14 March 2025
Launch of New Citizen Science Picture Pile Campaign on Livestock and Grassland Management
Want to contribute to the European Union’s climate neutrality target but not sure how? Join the latest Picture Pile campaign as part of IIASA’s LAMASUS project. Help us to identify livestock and grassland management practices from photographs, which will be used to validate a new geodatabase on land use management.
11 March 2025
IIASA provides insights on research, technology, and innovation to Austrian federal states
IIASA contributed to the Austrian Bundesländerdialog — a forum bringing together the federal government, representatives of different states, and other interested institutions to discuss recent developments in research, technology, and innovation. It provided an important platform to increase IIASA’s visibility in the Austrian federal states and strengthen connections with key stakeholders in research and innovation.