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The POPJUS Program continues and builds upon research activities previously undertaken in the IIASA World Population and Risk and Resilience programs. Insights into current and future population sizes, structures, and distributions are fundamental to understanding human impacts on ecosystems and simultaneously, the impact of environmental changes on human wellbeing differentiated by sub-populations.
The program’s research agenda embraces the key priority in the IIASA strategic plan by identifying sustainable development challenges and exploring people-centric systems solutions for sustainable, resilient, just and equitable societies. The program focuses on strengthening the human-centered and population-based approach, taking into consideration equity and the just distribution of opportunities, outcomes, and processes. In doing so, the program builds on existing strengths and expertise in population and human capital modeling as well as expertise in understanding, managing, and equitably governing systemic and existential risks associated with global change. The program will continue to invest in advancing its methods, approaches, and data to deliver results that can be incorporated into system analytical models, inclusive policy processes, and ultimately into equitable and effective policy pathways and transformations.
POPJUS Research Groups
Equity and Justice (EQU)
The EQU Group focuses on the human dimension of selected globally relevant policy challenges, with the aim of delineating and advancing their analysis, management, and governance with special attention paid to the design and application of equity and justice frameworks, both within the group and across IIASA.
Migration and Sustainable Development (MIG)
MIG focuses on applying advanced data collection and estimation methods to quantify and better understand the trends, patterns, drivers, and consequences of different types of migration considering its interactions with the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.
Multidimensional Demographic Modeling (MDM)
Through its research, the MDM Group aims to advance demographic modeling methods to assess and forecast population dynamics with a focus on demographic and spatial heterogeneity under different socioeconomic scenarios at the global, national, and sub-national level.
Young Scientists Summer Program
The Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) at IIASA offers an exceptional opportunity for PhD students to engage in collaborative research with IIASA's interdisciplinary teams.
YSSP opportunities in POPJUS More information on applying to the YSSP
Wittgenstein Centre
POPJUS is one of the three pillars of The Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, a collaboration among the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the University of Vienna.
Read POPNET Newsletter WIC Report of Activities 2018–2022
Models, tools, datasets
Social and Policy Simulations
Wittgenstein Centre Human Capital Data & Graphic Explorer Version 3.0 (WCDE)
POPULATION AND HUMAN CAPITAL PROJECTIONS (SSP 2023)
Demographic scenarios for the EU
Projects
Systems approach to EU wildfire risk management project (FIRELOGUE)
Sustainability Performances, Evidence and Scenarios (SPES)
Cognitive health in aging society – The role of context for cognitive functioning and related policy implications in Europe (CHIAS)
Policy REcommendations to Maximise the beneficial Impact of Unexplored Mobilities in and beyond the European Union (PREMIUM_EU)
Staff
Elliott Woodhouse
Research Scholar (EQU)
Ivo Wallimann-Helmer
Guest Senior Research Scholar (EQU)
Wolfgang Lutz
IIASA Sherpa for Asia (DG); Distinguished Emeritus Research Scholar (MDM)
Andrea Tamburini
Researcher (MDM, MIG)
News
17 April 2025
Collaborating to advance sustainability science across Africa
A new special issue of the Elsevier journal, Environmental Development, highlights pioneering research addressing the continent's most pressing environmental and development challenges. The issue is the result of an ongoing collaboration between IIASA and a growing network of African and international research partners, including the IIASA Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Member Organization (SSARMO).
08 April 2025
IIASA Director General supports ambitious Austrian tree-planting initiative
A new climate initiative launched in Vorarlberg, Austria, aims to plant 50 trees for every child born in the region. The initiative, which will run under the patronage of IIASA Director General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber, was introduced on 3 April in Rankweil.
08 April 2025
Call for Submissions: Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2025
IIASA researchers are part of the organizing team for the Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2025 on 'Demographic Perspectives on Migration in the 21st Century,' which will take place from 19–21 November 2025 at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Austria.
Events
Washington, D.C.
IIASA at the PAA Annual Meeting 2025
Online and in Gvishiani room at IIASA (Laxenburg, Austria)
AI for Climate Science seminar series: AI applications for Climate Science
Focus
16 January 2025
Strengthening transdisciplinary research and knowledge co-production at IIASA
Transdisciplinary research and knowledge co-production are transforming the way IIASA addresses complex societal challenges. Susanne Hanger-Kopp reports on behalf of the participants of an IIASA-wide workshop that highlighted the potential of and hurdles to these approaches.
11 November 2024
Why are people waiting longer to start a family? Exploring the trends, challenges, and choices behind delayed parenthood
Ahead of the Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2024 on Delayed Reproduction: Challenges and Prospects, which is set to take place from 21-22 November, researchers from the IIASA Population and Just Societies Program, the Vienna Institute of Demography, and the University of Vienna look into the shifting trends, drivers, and consequences of delayed parenthood.
Publications
KC, A., Abbasi-Shavazi, M., Eigelaar-Meets, I., Lijadi, A.A., Reiter, C. , Striessnig, E. , & Lutz, W. (2025). Assessing sustainable wellbeing in Africa through “Years of Good Life”. Environmental Development 54 e101140. 10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101140. Seidler, V, Utazi, E., Finaret, A.B., Luckeneder, S., Zens, G., Bodarenko, M., Smith, A.W., Bradley, S.E.K., Tatem, A.J., & Webb, P. (2025). Subnational variations in the quality of household survey data in sub-Saharan Africa. Nature Communications 16 (1) e3771. 10.1038/s41467-025-58776-5. Creutzig, F., McPhearson, T., Bardhan, R., Belmin, C. , Chow, W.T.L., Garschagen, M., Hsu, A., Kılkış, Ş., Islam, S.T., Milojevic-Dupont, N., Pathak, M., Pereira, R.H.M., Salehi, P., & Ürge-Vorsatz, D. (2025). Bridging the scale between the local particular and the global universal in climate change assessments of cities. Nature Cities 10.1038/s44284-025-00226-w. (In Press) Hochrainer-Stigler, S. , Mechler, R. , Higuera-Roa, O. , Bachmann, M. , Šakić Trogrlić, R. , Handmer, J. , & Dieckmann, U. (2025). Understanding multiple resilience dividends and system boundaries in disaster- and climate-risk management: a systems approach for enhanced decision-making. Environmental Research Letters 20 (4) e044026. 10.1088/1748-9326/adac7a. Scheifinger, K. , Brutschin, E. , Zimm, C. , Mintz-Woo, K. , Kikstra, J. , Pachauri, S. , Rogelj, J. , Riahi, K. , Żebrowski, P. , Sovacool, B., Schinko, T. , Low, S., & Fritz, L. (2025). Breaking Barriers with Patterns: New Tools for Integrating Distributional Justice into Global Mitigation Scenarios. DOI:10.5194/egusphere-egu25-12797. In: EGU General Assembly 2025, 27 April-02 May 2025, Vienna. (Submitted)