The MEDiate project is designed to help policymakers in decisions on natural disaster risk reduction. This year’s general assembly was held on 24 and 25 October. During this event, IIASA’s CAT team in the project held a serious-game workshop for finding sustainable solutions to natural hazard risk reduction. The workshop guided the participants trough silent negotiation to find a risk reduction solution for city-wide disaster scenarios.
The “multi-hazard and risk-informed system for enhanced local and regional disaster risk management” (MEDiate) project is set to put forward the development of a robust framework that guides the co-design, co-development, implementation, and operational phases of a multi-hazard disaster resilience decision-support system. This project provides a Decision Support System (DSS) to support policymakers and assists in finding a sustainable solution to multi-natural hazards’ risk mitigation. In the MEDiate project, IIASA’s Cooperation and Transformative Governance (CAT) research group is leading efforts to build a cooperative and inclusive framework to find such risk mitigation solutions.
CAT research group leader Nadejda Komendantova and her team Mats Danielson and Mohammad Reza Yeganegi developed a negotiation-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework to integrate the quantitative risk assessment results with local and regional representatives and experts in the decision-making process. As a negotiation-based method, their framework acknowledges conflict of opinions and creates the opportunity to address concerns and pressing issues on a local and regional level.
This year’s MEDiate general assembly was hosted by Deltares in Delft on October 24-25. During this event, IIASA’s CAT team held a serious-game workshop to find sustainable solutions for natural disaster risk reduction. The workshop was designed based on a city-wide disaster scenario, and participants engaged in guided negotiation and discussion to find the risk reduction solution. The participants used their experiences and expertise to effectively identify local priorities in the mitigation process. The exercise not only revealed the abilities of the designed framework but also helped participants with different backgrounds and experiences form a collaboration and address the conflicts among their expert opinions.
Read more about MEDiate project here.
News
15 October 2026
IIASA strengthens science diplomacy ties at UNGA in New York
IIASA Science Diplomacy Director and Head of Communications and External Relations Susie Kitchens represented the Institute at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-level Week and Science Summit in New York in September, contributing to discussions on how science and international cooperation can help address shared global challenges.
13 October 2026
Connecting disciplines and inspiring new ideas with the Environment and Climate Research Hub
IIASA Deputy Director General Karen Lips delivered a keynote at the University of Vienna's recent Environment and Climate Research Hub (ECH) Research Frontiers Workshop in Bad Vöslau, Austria, emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing complex environmental and climate challenges.
12 October 2026
Connecting science across borders: IIASA Committee meets University of Salzburg
How can universities and international research organisations work together to address the complex challenges of a changing world? This question shaped a full day of scientific exchange at the University of Salzburg on 6 October, when the Austrian IIASA Committee met with members of the University community to discuss research, collaboration and opportunities for researchers and students.