Article: News
25 August 2022
Citizen science is increasingly recognized as an important vehicle for democratizing science and promoting the goal of universal and equitable access to scientific data and information. IIASA researchers actively contribute to the development of this scientific approach and have recently published a primer aimed at both established and aspiring practitioners of citizen science to highlight key issues and how to address them.
Article: News
20 May 2022
In recent years, crowdsourcing, which involves recruiting members of the public to help collect data, has been tremendously helpful to provide researchers with unique and rich datasets, while also engaging the public in the process of scientific discovery. In a new study, an international team of researchers explored how crowdsourcing projects can make the most effective use of volunteer contributions.
Article: News
10 May 2022
IIASA recently instituted a new system of awards to recognize outstanding contributions towards meeting the strategic priorities and values of the institute. We are proud to announce that five IIASA research activities have been recognized in the inaugural 2022 award cycle.
Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA)
Exploratory Modeling of Human-natural Systems (EM)
Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability (NODES)
Biodiversity and Natural Resources (BNR)
Water Security (WAT)
Integrated Biosphere Futures (IBF)
Biodiversity, Ecology, and Conservation (BEC)
Population and Just Societies (POPJUS)
Equity and Justice (EQU)
Article: News
05 May 2022
Despite successes in reducing poverty globally in the last two decades, almost one billion people are still living without access to reliable and affordable electricity, which in turn negatively affects health and welfare, and impedes sustainable development. Knowing where these people are is crucial if aid and infrastructure are to reach them. A new IIASA-led study proposes a novel method to estimate global economic wellbeing using nighttime satellite images.
Article: News
31 March 2022
National biodiversity monitoring programs in Europe face many challenges, according to the first report of the Europe-wide EuropaBON project released today. The analysis includes data from more than 350 experts from policy, science, and environmental protection practice. The team is also drafting a proposal for a transnational monitoring of Europe's biodiversity and ecosystems.
Article: News
25 March 2022
Deforestation continues to be one of the greatest challenges in the fight against biodiversity loss and climate change. Countries all over the world have instituted protected areas, but there is still mounting human pressure on many of these areas. A new study looks at tropical deforestation and the key factors driving it.
Article: News
17 March 2022
Ahead of World Meteorological Day, you can help improve weather forecasting models with CAMALIOT, an infrastructure and app that uses GPS from smartphones to support scientific research. Join our crowdsourcing campaign on 17 March 2022 ̶ any person with access to an Android cellphone is invited to download the free app and participate.
Article: News
07 March 2022
The big data revolution is here, but what does it mean for creating a life-supporting sustainable food system? Can technological innovation help us feed the world and protect against biodiversity loss? IIASA hosts this special episode of the Prophets, Wizards & The Quest to Value Nature podcast.
Article: News
25 November 2021
Monitoring progress on our way to successfully achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is key to their achievement, but there are significant data gaps that make this crucial exercise difficult. A new IIASA-led study explored the use of a citizen science tool known as Picture Pile to see how it could contribute to SDG monitoring.
Article: News
30 March 2021
IIASA researchers have used Sentinel 1 satellite imagery from the European Space Agency to produce a map of the extent and year of detection of oil palm plantations in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand that will help policymakers and other stakeholders understand trends in oil palm expansion to inform landscape-level planning.
Article: News
12 January 2021
Citizen science is increasingly incorporated in research projects, as it has proved extremely effective in many aspects of research from collecting data to verifying information from remote sensing data in the field. A new book on citizen science offers practical support for implementing projects and addresses emerging topics around citizen science and artificial intelligence.
Article: News
26 November 2020
IIASA is collaborating with 14 partner institutions from Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain on a new research project aimed at developing a transnational system for monitoring biodiversity and ecosystems in Europe.