
NODES will mobilize the tools of citizen and data science combined with Earth observations to monitor, analyze, and foster progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
To realize this vision, NODES will exploit novel data ecosystems in which several actors interact via infrastructure, analytics, and applications to produce, analyze, exchange, and consume data.
Three main cross-fertilizing pillars characterize the research focus of NODES:
- Advancing the field of citizen science: NODES will remain at the forefront of citizen science from conceptual advancements to innovations in citizen science practice, including the development of new means to acquire, analyze, and openly share citizen science data, as well as how citizen science can contribute to the SDGs and sustainability.
- Enriching Earth observation: NODES will utilize new types of Earth observation technology (e.g., high-resolution imagery, drones, and the Internet of things (IoT)) and develop applications that focus on the interplay between Earth observation and citizen science using Geo-Wiki tools, various forms of remote sensing, and on-site observation.
- Exploiting the digital revolution: NODES will harness the opportunities arising from the digital revolution by exploiting advancements in computing capabilities, data science (e.g., machine and deep learning), environmental informatics, and the geospatial sciences, among others, to enhance integrated systems science research and generate new and innovative data sets for further insights.
Projects
Staff
News

21 September 2023
Using satellite data to enhance global food security

19 September 2023
Turning the tide: Ghana's innovative approach to tackle marine plastic pollution with citizen science

09 August 2023
Unlocking the power of citizen science to monitor health and wellbeing targets
Events
11 September 2023 Vienna International Conference Center, Vienna, Austria
United Nations Second Expert Meeting 'Towards A Big Data Revolution for the Planet"
Focus

29 September 2023
Reshaping the local frontiers of farming and biodiversity
Managing land for agriculture has shaped civilization, but it has also led to biodiversity decline and other problems that today threaten the future of humanity. The EU Horizon 2020 FRAMEwork project is supporting a transition to biodiversity sensitive farming by uniting farmer clusters and citizen observatories to protect sensitive ecosystems while ensuring food security.

24 July 2023
Rethinking AI: from geopolitical chessboard to shared commons
2023 IIASA Young Scientists Summer Program participant, Jalal Awan, explains how reframing artificial intelligence as a common good co-created by global users and stakeholders could help harness its transformative power for the benefit of all.
26 June 2023
Citizen science: Co-creating a better future

Publications
See, L. , Gilliams, S., Conchedda, G., Degerickx, J., Van Tricht, K., Fritz, S. , Lesiv, M. , Laso Bayas, J.C. , Rosero, J., Tubiello, F.N., & Szantoi, Z. (2023). Dynamic global-scale crop and irrigation monitoring. Nature Food 4 (9) 736-737. 10.1038/s43016-023-00841-7. Fraisl, D. , See, L. , Bowers, R., Seidu, Omar, Fredua, K.B., Bowser, A., Meloche, M., Weller, S., Amaglo-Kobla, T., Ghafari, D., Laso Bayas, J.C. , Campbell, J., Cameron, G., Fritz, S. , & McCallum, I. (2023). The contributions of citizen science to SDG monitoring and reporting on marine plastics. Sustainability Science 10.1007/s11625-023-01402-4. (In Press) 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. Orduña-Cabrera, F. , Sandoval-Gastelum, M., McCallum, I. , See, L. , Fritz, S. , Karanam, S., Sturn, T., Javalera Rincón, V. , & Gonzalez-Navarro, F.F. (2023). Investigating the Use of Street-Level Imagery and Deep Learning to Produce In-Situ Crop Type Information. Geographies 3 (3) 563-573. 10.3390/geographies3030029. Delavaux, C., Crowther, T., Zohner, C., Robmann, N., Lauber, T., van den Hoogen, J., Kuebbing, S., Liang, J., de-Miguel, S., Nabuurs, G.-J., Reich, P.B., Abegg, M., Adou Yao, Y.C., Alberti, G., Almeyda Zambrano, A.M., Alvarado, B.V., Alvarez-Dávila, E., Alvarez-Loayza, P., Alves, L.F., Ammer, C., Antón-Fernández, C., Araujo-Murakami, A., Arroyo, L., Avitabile, V., Aymard, G.A., Baker, T.R., Bałazy, R., Banki, O., Barroso, J.G., Bastian, M.L., Bastin, J.-F., Birigazzi, L., Birnbaum, P., Bitariho, R., Boeckx, P., Bongers, F., Bouriaud, O., Brancalion, P.H.S., Brandl, S., Brienen, R., Broadbent, E.N., Bruelheide, H., Bussotti, F., Gatti, R.C., César, R.G., Cesljar, G., Chazdon, R., Chen, H.Y.H., Chisholm, C., Cho, H., Cienciala, E., Clark, C., Clark, D., Colletta, G.D., Coomes, D.A., Cornejo Valverde, F., Corral-Rivas, J.J., Crim, P.M., Cumming, J.R., Dayanandan, S., de Gasper, A.L., Decuyper, M., Derroire, G., DeVries, B., Djordjevic, I., Dolezal, J., Dourdain, A., Engone Obiang, N.L., Enquist, B.J., Eyre, T.J., Fandohan, A.B., Fayle, T.M., Feldpausch, T.R., Ferreira, L.V., Fischer, M., Fletcher, C., Frizzera, L., Gamarra, J.G.P., Gianelle, D., Glick, H.B., Harris, D.J., Hector, A., Hemp, A., Hengeveld, G., Hérault, B., Herbohn, J.L., Herold, M., Hillers, A., Honorio Coronado, E.N., Hui, C., Ibanez, T.T., Amaral, I., Imai, N., Jagodziński, A.M., Jaroszewicz, B., Johannsen, V.K., Joly, C.A., Jucker, T., Jung, I., Karminov, V., Kartawinata, K., Kearsley, E., Kenfack, D., Kennard, D.K., Kepfer-Rojas, S., Keppel, G., Khan, M.L., Killeen, T.J., Kim, H.S., Kitayama, K., Köhl, M., Korjus, H., Kraxner, F., Laarmann, D., Lang, M., Lewis, S.L., Lu, H., Lukina, N.V., Maitner, B.S., Malhi, Y., Marcon, E., Marimon, B.S., Marimon-Junior, B.H., Marshall, A.R., Martin, E.H., Martynenko, O., Meave, J.A., Melo-Cruz, O., Mendoza, C., Merow, C., Mendoza, A.M., Moreno, V.S., Mukul, S.A., Mundhenk, P., Nava-Miranda, M.G., Neill, D., Neldner, V., Nevenic, R., Ngugi, M., Niklaus, P., Oleksyn, J., Ontikov, P., Ortiz-Malavasi, E., Pan, Y., Paquette, A., Parada-Gutierrez, A., Parfenova, E., Park, M., Parren, M., Parthasarathy, N., Peri, P., Pfautsch, S., Phillips, O., Picard, N., Piedade, M., Piotto, D., Pitman, N., Polo, I., Poorter, L., Poulsen, A., Pretzsch, H., Ramirez Arevalo, F., Restrepo-Correa, Z., Rodeghiero, M., Rolim, S., Roopsind, A., Rovero, F., Rutishauser, E., Saikia, P., Salas-Eljatib, C., Saner, P., Schall, P., Shchepashchenko, D. , Scherer-Lorenzen, M., Schmid, B., Schöngart, J., Searle, E., Seben, V., Serra-Diaz, J., Sheil, D., Shvidenko, A., Silva-Espejo, J., Silveira, M., Singh, J., Sist, P., Slik, F., Sonké, B., Souza, A., Stanislaw, M., Stereńczak, K., Svenning, J.-C., Svoboda, M., Swanepoel, B., Targhetta, N., Tchebakova, N., ter Steege, H., Thomas, R., Tikhonova, E., Umunay, P., Usoltsev, V., Valencia, R., Valladares, F., van der Plas, F., Do, T.V., van Nuland, M., Vasquez, R., Verbeeck, H., Viana, H., Vibrans, A., Vieira, S., von Gadow, K., Wang, H.-F., Watson, J., Werner, G., Wiser, S.K., Wittmann, F., Woell, H., Wortel, V., Zagt, R., Zawiła-Niedźwiecki, T., Zhang, C., Zhao, X., Zhou, M., Zhu, Z.-X., Zo-Bi, I., & Maynard, D. (2023). Native diversity buffers against severity of non-native tree invasions. Nature 10.1038/s41586-023-06440-7.