Imaginative Narratives and Scenarios for Inspiring Restoration and Innovation for European seas and water system (INSPIRI)

Collaborative mission to restore the health of the EU’s ocean and water systems by 2030 and 2050.

Overview

INSPIRI is a 3-year research and innovation action project, designed to bridge the gap between scientific data and social action.

It focuses on creating "visionary pathways" for the restoration of Europe's oceans, seas, and inland waters.

Overview

INSPIRI is a collaborative mission to restore the health of the EU’s ocean and water systems by 2030 and 2050.

INSPIRI unites citizens, scientists, policy-makers and artists across four key Lighthouse Regions or Case Studies:

Mediterranean Sea
Atlantic Ocean
Baltic Sea
Danube Delta

in a transformative journey built on four core actions:

Co-Creative Visioning: We begin by working hand-in-hand with regional stakeholders to co-design shared visions for sustainable water futures.
From Vision to Model: These co-created visions are transformed into robust scientific scenarios and models, grounding hopes in data and aligning them with key EU environmental goals.
Engaging Decision-Makers: In our regional Transformation Labs (T-Labs), we convene decision-makers and policy experts to merge insights with concrete, actionable plans to navigate towards the 2030 and 2050 targets.
Inspiring Citizens: To make the future of water a shared conversation, we foster broad public engagement through innovative art-science collaborations and an art-science online hub, connecting people to the mission in meaningful and inspiring ways.

IIASA Project team

Emilio Politti

Research Scholar (WAT)

Barbara Willaarts

Senior Research Scholar (WAT)

Taher Kahil

Research Group Leader and Senior Research Scholar (WAT)

IIASA's Water Security Research Group will contribute to the following:

The design and facilitation of participatory and co-creation processes within the Danube Lighthouse (case study)
Establishing collaborative spaces where diverse stakeholders imagine futures and align visions for ecological restoration and governance innovation.
This role bridges creative narratives with practical decision-making to ensure that project scenarios remain inclusive, grounded, and actionable.
Additionally, responsibilities include co-leading Work Package 3, which focuses on testing science-based pathways through modeling, while simultaneously executing model development and supporting stakeholder engagement specifically within the Danube case study.

IIASA models being used in this project

Community Water Model (CWatM)

An open source model to examine how future water demand will evolve in response to socioeconomic change and how water availability will change in response to climate.