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

World population

Wittgenstein Centre Human Capital Data Explorer (WCDE)

Mumbai, India, Passengers

Sub-national Population and Human Capital Projections

EU flags

Demographic scenarios for the EU

Projects

Wildfire

Systems approach to EU wildfire risk management project (FIRELOGUE)

Hand die durch die Wand bricht

Future Migration Scenarios for Europe (FUME)

Senior couple with nordic walking poles hiking in snow-covered winter nature.

The Demography of Sustainable Human Wellbeing (EmpoweredLifeYears)

Human Tracks

Quantifying Migration Scenarios for Better Policy (QuantMig)

Staff

Michaela Potancokova profile picture

Michaela Potancokova

Research Scholar (MDM)

Armon Rezai profile picture

Armon Rezai

Research Scholar (EQU)

Alberto Fresolone profile picture

Alberto Fresolone

Research Assistant (EQU)

No image available

Marija Mamolo

Guest Research Scholar (MDM)

News

Migration

04 October 2023

Migration Estimates, Scenarios and Policies: Three new QuantMig online tools

The project Quantifying Migration Scenarios for Better Policy (QuantMig) has launched three freely-accessible, open online tools.
flagship report banner

13 September 2023

IIASA Flagship Report: Illuminating the path to sustainable wellbeing

IIASA is proud to announce the launch of its Flagship Report, "Systems Analysis for Sustainable Wellbeing. 50 Years of IIASA Research, 40 Years After the Brundtland Commission, Contributing to the Post-2030 Global Agenda” on Wednesday, 13 September 2023 at an official UN event in the framework of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly and the Sustainable Development Goals mid-term review.
A group of people moving to a new city against the sunset

07 September 2023

A finer picture of global migration reveals complex patterns

New research by an international team challenges the common narrative linking climate change to migration. The findings emphasize the importance of human development factors over climate considerations and reveal the complexity of migration patterns often obscured by national averages.

Events

Focus

Colorful paper-people cutouts holding hands

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.  

05 September 2023

Policy and finance innovation for nature-based solutions

Policy Brief #38, September 2023. The European Commission is investing considerably in nature-based solutions to position Europe as a leader for ‘innovation with nature’. While ambition is growing, implementation remains problematic.
PB38

26 June 2023

Addressing population decline in Ukraine after the Russian invasion

Options Magazine, Summer 2023: Joint Research Centre (JRC) and IIASA collaborate to explore the future of Ukraine's massively declining population post-war.
Ukraine Refugees

Publications