Cooperation and Transformative Governance (CAT) aims to analyze governance systems addressing sustainability at different scales and to generate cooperative solutions.

Societal transitions caused by unprecedented technological innovations and industrial transformations, such as energy transitions or digitalisation, as well as environmental or health related crises require new effective governance approaches to handle inherent social dilemmas and wicked problems.

Transformative governance includes formal and informal institutions which are involved - at multiple scales - in responding to, managing, and triggering positive shifts in coupled social-ecological systems towards sustainability. A growing complexity of decision-making processes in modern society requires improved synchronization and coordination of different branches and levels of governance. Transformative governance faces two major challenges. First, the underlying difficulty of any transformative governance process is a social dilemma, that is a collective action situation when interests of separate individuals contradict interests of a community or society. Second, transformative governance involves with wicked problems – problems that are difficult or impossible to solve as they are characterized by incomplete information and contradicting and constantly evolving views and objectives of involved stakeholders and social groups. 

Th CAT group focus is on wicked problems and social dilemmas in decision-making advancing appropriate methodologies and conducting a series of case studies. Areas of application include:

  1. Public health including COVID-19;
  2. Climate change and natural hazards,
  3. Biodiversity and ecosystems, including oceans;
  4. Societal transitions caused by technological innovations, industrial transformations or environmental changes; and
  5. Digital world and misinformation spread in the Internet. 

The CAT group is using the following methods:

  • cooperation models, including game-theoretical models for public good and common pool management with real-world complexities as well as bounded rationality, social heterogeneity, cultural dispositions, and institutional incentives;
  • decision support systems accounting for multiple conflicting objectives; and
  • methods to facilitate stakeholder dialogue, including participatory modelling, systems mapping, gamification, scenario planning. 

The overarching methodological ambition of CAT’s work is to advance the practice of using models to understand and support decision making processes that are characterized by uncertainty, volatility, ambiguity and complexity. 

CAT has a unique composition of researchers from a wide area range of disciplines that are fundamental for addressing its goals. The Research Group includes researchers from political sciences, mathematics, game theorists, behavioural economists, among others. The unique combination of deep disciplinary knowledge, a broad understanding of the practical challenges of transformative governance, and rigorous mathematical and systems-analytical focus is a strong basis for innovative work of high societal relevance. Extended networks of several young and senior scientists enables delivering real-world impact by addressing contested governance problems.

Models, tools, datasets

QRM

Qualitative systems analysis tools to inform strategic planning for policymaking (QSAM)

Meeting

Integrated Risk and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

Projects

Amazing agriculture landscape in Macin mountains

The Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land, and Energy (FABLE) Consortium

Paper plane

Agent-based models to inform economic policies on migration (ABM2Policy)

Staff

Gergely Boza profile picture

Gergely Boza

Guest Research Scholar (EM, CAT)

Darina Zlatanova profile picture

Darina Zlatanova

Program and Project Officer (ASA, CAT)

Taher Zobeidi profile picture

Taher Zobeidi

Researcher (CAT)

Pratik Patil profile picture

Pratik Patil

Researcher (ASA, CAT)

News

Food products representing the Mediterranean diet

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.
Health Day

03 April 2025

Celebrating Research on Health at IIASA; World Health Day 2025

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.
Guiding a multinational company through AI-driven innovation for sustainable growth.

06 March 2025

IIASA’s CAT Research Group joined the UN ECOSOC Partnership Forum 2025’s event: Global Challenges Action Innovation, Emerging Technologies & the Power of Partnerships

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.”

Focus

Abstract image depicting AI system analyzing vast amounts of social media data

18 November 2024

Leveraging social media intelligence for disaster risk management: a game-changer in real-time response

Social media intelligence mining is transforming disaster risk management. A new cutting-edge tool developed by IIASA researchers provides real-time insights from platforms like X and Google, enhancing rapid response during and after disasters, resource distribution, and effective crisis communication to better safeguard communities.

27 June 2024

Social media to unravel human sentiments

Social media can be a critical source of data to help explore the formation and evolution of public opinion. IIASA researchers are at the forefront of  exploring this field, leveraging platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and Google combined with advanced statistics and machine learning to offer insights into the collective psyche of society.
social media