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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)
The World Aging Data Explorer (WADE)
Projects
Systems approach to EU wildfire risk management project (FIRELOGUE)
Climate Change and Human (Im)Mobility: The Role of Compound and Cascading Risks (2C-RISK)
Link4Skills (Link4Skills)
Cognitive health in aging society – The role of context for cognitive functioning and related policy implications in Europe (CHIAS)
Staff
Susanne Hanger-Kopp
Senior Research Scholar (EQU)
Côme Cheritel
Guest Research Scholar (MIG)
Manya Oriel Kagan
Archimedes-IIASA Postdoctoral Research Scholar (MIG)
Felipe Vaca
Research Scholar (MDM)
News
13 July 2026
Focus Issue in Environmental Research: Climate – Guest Editors from SPARCCLE, CROSSEU and ACCREU
A new Focus Issue has been launched in Environmental Research: Climate on ‘Climate Risks and Socioeconomic Vulnerability’, bringing together Guest Editors from sister projects SPARCCLE, CROSSEU and ACCREU.
16 June 2026
Peking University and IIASA advance plans for a new Centre on Global Change and Health
On 28 May, Peking University (PKU) and IIASA held a joint online seminar to discuss health research under global change and to review the progress, priorities, and coordination arrangements for a proposed Centre on Global Change and Health.
10 June 2026
Annual global migration has nearly tripled since 2000
Global migration has risen sharply from approximately 13 million people per year in 2000 to around 35 million people per year in 2023. This is according to a new dataset on human migration published in Nature by researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), IIASA, and the University of Hong Kong.
Events
Dakar, Senegal
Unleashing Africa’s potential: The role of education
Carcavelos – Portugal
World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE)
Focus
13 July 2026
Not everyone is equally vulnerable to heat – and workers are paying the price
Climate change does not affect everyone equally. Vulnerability to extreme heat is shaped by a combination of conditions in which people live and work. If climate adaptation is to reduce vulnerability rather than simply manage its consequences, it must address the underlying conditions that create vulnerability. This is particularly relevant for workers, whose experiences remain a major blind spot in climate adaptation despite their essential role in providing the goods and services society depends on.
Annual Report 2025
Annual Report 2025: Population and Just Societies Program Highlights
How can societies adapt to profound demographic, environmental, and social change while ensuring that no one is left behind? In 2025, the Population and Just Societies Program generated new evidence on aging, migration, labor markets, climate vulnerability, and the policies needed to build more inclusive and resilient societies.
Publications
Eker, S. , Reiter, C. , Liu, Q., Kuhn, M., & Lutz, W. (2026). Wellbeing cost of carbon. Global Sustainability 9 e1. 10.1017/sus.2025.10042.
Kagan, M.O. (2026). Schooling Experiences of Refugee Children in Uganda
Rethinking Integration Policies. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1040644867
Liu, K., Wang, R., Tukker, A., K.C., S., & Hoekstra, R. (2026). Projecting temperature-related mortality impacts at urban scale under climate scenarios: A methodological review. Sustainable Cities and Society 145 e107476. 10.1016/j.scs.2026.107476.
Federspiel, F., Borghi, J. , Tarp Jensen, H., Mbaye, E.M., & Martinez Alvarez, M. (2026). Influence of public external debt on government health expenditure: A mixed-methods case study of Senegal. PLOS Global Public Health 6 (7) e0006698. 10.1371/journal.pgph.0006698.
Tamburini, A. (2026). The Geography of Future Human Capital in Europe: Regional Dynamics of Education and Aging. IIASA Working Paper. Laxenburg, Austria: WP-26-004