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

EQU

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.

MIG

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.

MDM

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.

SHAW

Social Cohesion, Health, and Wellbeing (SHAW)

The SHAW Group’s research activities directly and comprehensively addresses the measurement of human wellbeing in its multiple dimensions with a special focus on health as a key component and social cohesion as a key determinant of wellbeing.

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

stakeholder groups

Social and Policy Simulations

Population of the world

Wittgenstein Centre Human Capital Data & Graphic Explorer Version 3.0 (WCDE)

Population

POPULATION AND HUMAN CAPITAL PROJECTIONS (SSP 2023)

EU flags

Demographic scenarios for the EU

Projects

Wildfire

Systems approach to EU wildfire risk management project (FIRELOGUE)

handshaking in modern open green work space

Sustainability Performances, Evidence and Scenarios (SPES)

grandparents using tablet

Cognitive health in aging society – The role of context for cognitive functioning and related policy implications in Europe (CHIAS)

People figurines on a map of Western Europe

Policy REcommendations to Maximise the beneficial Impact of Unexplored Mobilities in and beyond the European Union (PREMIUM_EU)

Staff

Camille Belmin profile picture

Camille Belmin

Researcher (MIG)

Arda Aktas profile picture

Arda Aktas

Guest Research Scholar (SHAW)

Christopher Wong profile picture

Christopher Wong

Researcher (EQU)

Julia Beier profile picture

Julia Beier

Researcher (EQU)

News

nature based solutions (NbS)

13 June 2024

Finance Innovation Festival shines a spotlight on Nature-based Solutions and Insurance

The Finance Innovation Festival took place at IIASA on May 23-24. The hybrid event featured 44 speakers in plenary and discussion sessions and attracted 119 participants.
DISCC

13 June 2024

2nd DISCC-AT Workshop at IIASA

Researchers from the Equity and Justice Research Group, in collaboration with Uni Graz, Umweltbundesamt, MedUni Wien, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam hosted the second stakeholder workshop of the DISCC-AT project on 28 May at IIASA.
NFL

13 June 2024

Long Night of Research 2024

IIASA EQU researchers participated in Austria's Long Night of Research, sharing their insights on the latest result of their projects at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.

Events

Focus

27 June 2024

TRUST

Researchers from the IIASA Advancing Systems Analysis Program, Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program, Energy, Climate and Environment Program, and from the Population and Just Societies Program share their expertise to carry out the IIASA Tools for Raising and UnderStanding Trust in systems science through citizen engagement (TRUST) Strategic Initiative.
speech

27 June 2024

JustTrans4All

The IIASA Just Transitions to Net‑Zero Carbon Emissions for All (JustTrans4All) project contributes to novel analyses of transition pathways that are  cognizant of diverse justice considerations. The project aims to help shape policies that make people’s lives better without harming the planet, following the UN 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.
net zero