Systemic Risk and Resilience (SYRR) aims to assess and support the management of systemic anthropogenic and environmental risks.
The SYRR research group analyses the increasingly systemic socio-ecological risks associated with global and local change, and with policy, practice and civil society co-generates options for building resilience.
Global change through rising physical and social interdependencies is leading to increasingly systemic and existential risks that lead to cascading impacts and potentially intolerable burdens on communities and societies across the world.
SYRR develops and applies agile systems science to address social-ecological risks that are embedded in complex systems and characterised by potentially cascading, irreversible and existential consequences. We identify risk drivers, model network interactions, assess probabilistic outcomes and co-develop stakeholder-driven options with policy, practice and civil society that are applicable across scales. Our approach for addressing existential and systemic risk combines advanced quantitative modeling and qualitative research with empirical assessment and soft systems analysis.
Studying systemic risk and resilience in this context includes:
- Taking a systems approach for understanding and modelling the interconnected drivers of multiple and compound risks across scales.
- Utilizing a network perspective for studying complexity in socio-ecological systems.
- Analysing failure and limits of conventional risk management and adaptation in complex, dynamic and adaptive systems.
- Developing and carrying out empirical and process-based resilience measurement for addressing key risks.
- Generating systemic resilience in relevant local to global socio-ecological systems through co-generating effective and applicable policy options that address risks as well as create developmental co-benefits.
We focus, inter alia, on risk and resilience associated with climate change, disasters, food webs, finance and pandemics. SYRR work builds on activities and experience gained from the previous IIASA programs on Risk and Resilience (RISK) as well as Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) and Evolution and Ecology (EEP).
Staff
News

14 July 2023
People and Patterns: IIASA-CSER joint consultation on mitigating the global risks

07 December 2022
Reinhard Mechler joins Advisory Committee on Climate Resilience of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)

09 November 2022
Urgent need to address climate-related losses and damages
Events
27 June 2023 Limassol, Cyprus
IIASA participation at the 28th Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists
27 June 2023 Novi Sad, Serbia
IIASA participation at the International conference on Hydro-Climate Extremes and Society
02 October 2023 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Systemic Risk and Resilience Group at Adaptation Futures in Canada
Focus

19 September 2023
Engaging communities in resilience planning: Insights from the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance learning event
IIASA researchers Teresa Deubelli-Hwang and Jung Hee Hyun share insights from a decade of collaborating on fostering flood resilience in communities around the world following a recent Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance learning event.
28 June 2023
Analyzing the impact of ecosystem services in coastal Brazil


19 June 2023
A community-driven flood resilience information platform for Nicaragua
IIASA researchers and colleagues from Plan International are using modern digital tools to enhance community-driven flood resilience in rural flood-prone communities in Nicaragua.
Publications
Birkmann, J., Schüttrumpf, H., Handmer, J., Thieken, A., Kuhlicke, C., Truedinger, A., Sauter, H., Klopries, E.-M., Greiving, S., Jamshed, A., Merz, B., Solecki, W., & Kirschbauer, L. (2023). Strengthening resilience in reconstruction after extreme events – Insights from flood affected communities in Germany. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 96 e103965. 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103965. Chen, S., Fang, K., Dhakal, S., Kharrazi, A. , Tong, K., & Ramaswami, A. (2023). Advancing urban infrastructure research for a carbon-neutral and sustainable future. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 197 e107049. 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107049. Riera, R., Fath, B. , Herrera, A.M., & Rodríguez, R.A. (2023). Concerns regarding the proposal for an ecological equation of state: an assessment starting from the organic biophysics of ecosystems (OBEC). Ecological Modelling 484 e110462. 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2023.110462. Lutz, W. & Pachauri, S. (2023). Systems Analysis for Sustainable Wellbeing. 50 years of IIASA research, 40 years after the Brundtland Commission, contributing to the post-2030 Global Agenda. IIASA Report. Laxenburg, Austria: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) 10.5281/zenodo.8214208. Joshi, J., Hofhansl, F. , Singh, S., Stocker, B., Vignal, T., Brännström, Å., Franklin, O. , Blanco, C., Aleixo, I., Lapola, D., Prentice, I., & Dieckmann, U. (2023). Predicting the adaptive responses of biodiverse plant communities using functional trait evolution. In: Ecological Society of American 2023 Annual Meeting, 6-11 August 2023, Portland.