The ever-evolving global challenges have made the need for innovative solutions more evident. Due to their work and experience in developing AI-based tools for addressing global issues, IIASA's Cooperation and Transformative Governance Research Group has been invited to share their insights on developing AI-based solutions for sustainable policy crafting at the “Global Challenges Action Innovation, Emerging Technologies & the Power of Partnerships" event, a side event to the "UN ECOSOC Partnership Forum 2025.”
In recent years, the impact of global challenges and polycrises has become more visible. The large number of related policies and research stands as testimony to this visibility and the urgent need to address these issues. From climate change to economic and social problems, there has been a significant effort to craft new policies and agreements over the past decades. UN climate agreements, UN sustainability goals, and initiatives by G20, BRICS, G7, and other international groups are examples of these international efforts (e.g., G20's Global Land Initiative and Blue/Ocean-Based Economy, BRICS's Clean Rivers Programme and PUESI, G7's 2030 Nature Compact and PGII).
Even though the adopted policies and solutions have positively impacted the advancement in addressing these global issues, the speed of this progress is not as fast as the speed at which these issues are creating impacts and posing challenges. As such, the search for more effective solutions and policies is an ongoing effort, especially given the need to address the dynamic nature of societal challenges.
IIASA ASA’s Cooperation and Transformative Governance Research Group (CAT) group has been developing innovative solutions in policymaking to tackle global issues. For instance, the CAT group has been developing the social intelligence mining tool to make policymaking more inclusive and adaptable. We're focusing on AI-based methods to get a better and up-to-date understanding of people’s perceptions and societal issues as they come up in conversations.
On 5th February, Nadejda Komendantova, the CAT research group leader, was invited to give a talk at the "Global Challenges Action Innovation, Emerging Technologies & the Power of Partnerships" event, a side event to the "UN ECOSOC Partnership Forum 2025.” The event was organized by IAAI-GloCha in collaboration with the Austrian Mission to the UN in NY, the Bahamas Mission to the UN in NY, the Council of Global Change, and the UN Environment Early Warning and Data Analytics Branch. The event was aimed to explore "Global Challenges, Action Innovation, Emerging Technologies & the Power of Partnerships."
In her talk, Nadejda Komendantova shared insights on “AI & Emerging Technologies as Enablers of Global Challenges Action.” She demonstrated how AI-based solutions can help policymakers gain a better understanding of society and how these solutions can lead to the creation of more effective policies and sustainable solutions.
Read more about Social Intelligence Mining here and here.
Read more about the Global Challenges Action Innovation, Emerging Technologies & the Power of Partnerships here and here.
Read more about the UN ECOSOC Partnership Forum 2025 here.
Komendantova, N. , Hassani, H., Yeganegi, R. , Al Salaymeh, A., & Qoaider, L. (2024). Navigating the Currents: Land Use Challenges Amidst Water and Food Security Debates and Social Media Misperceptions. Land 13 (9) e1525. 10.3390/land13091525.
Hassani, H., Komendantova, N. , Rovenskaya, E. , & Yeganegi, R. (2024). Unveiling the waves of mis- and disinformation from social media. International Journal of Modeling, Simulation, and Scientific Computing 10.1142/S1793962324500338.
Hassani, H., Komendantova, N. , Rovenskaya, E. , & Yeganegi, R. (2023). Social Intelligence Mining: Unlocking Insights from X. Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction 5 (4) 1921-1936. 10.3390/make5040093.
Hassani, H., Komendantova, N. , Rovenskaya, E. , & Yeganegi, R. (2023). Social Trend Mining: Lead or Lag. Big Data and Cognitive Computing 7 (4) e171. 10.3390/bdcc7040171.
© IAAI GloCha
© IAAI GloCha
News
24 September 2026
IIASA researcher joins Austrian Academy of Sciences working group on integrated carbon neutrality
On 15 September, Principal Research Scholar Thomas Schinko represented IIASA at a high-level event of the Commission on the De-Fossilization and Carbon Neutrality of the European Energy Systems (DEE) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OEAW). The meeting denoted the kick-off workshop of the newly established DEE Working Group "Transsectoral and Transcontinental Integration”.
23 September 2026
IIASA researchers strengthen cooperation with Kyrgyzstan on AI and industrial development
IIASA Cooperation and Transformative Governance (CAT) Research Group Leader and Senior Research Scholar Nadejda Komendantova and CAT Research Scholar Dmitry Erokhin have contributed to a series of scientific and policy forums in Kyrgyzstan in 2026. Their research on artificial intelligence in the production sector builds on IIASA’s longstanding cooperation with the country on sustainable industrial development.
10 September 2026
Emotionalization of Political Discourse: IIASA Researcher Presents Study at the Day of Parliamentary Research 2026
Dmitry Erokhin, PhD, Research Scholar at IIASA, presents a poster on the emotionalization of political discourse at the Day of Parliamentary Research 2026 at the Austrian Parliament. His study analyzes public comments on YouTube videos related to major Austrian political parties and applies sentiment and topic analysis to examine how emotions, facts, polarization, and toxicity shape online political debate. The findings provide insights into how digital media influences public perceptions of parties and democratic processes, and how parliaments can better respond to emotionally charged political communication.