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The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) have officially launched a "Feasibility Study on Carbon Farming Solutions in Greater Central Asia", marking a new milestone in the region’s efforts toward sustainable land management and climate-resilient development.

IIASA Deputy Director General Karen Lips participates in the 2025 Global Research Council (GRC) Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Meeting and Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI) Academic Symposium, held under the theme “From Regional Dialogue to Global Impact.” This annual gathering brings together research funders, policymakers, and scholars from across Africa and beyond to strengthen regional leadership in global research governance and collaboration.

Guest Research Scholar Vahideh Shirvani from the Cooperation and Transformative Governance (CAT) Research Group will present her project at the Urban Infrastructure Risk and Resilience Webinar. 

IIASA recently hosted an exploratory workshop titled, Together for water: Fostering collaboration in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The two-day event brought together around 50 representatives from international organizations, civil society organizations, research institutions, and diplomatic missions to explore new pathways for transboundary collaboration on water challenges across the region.

IIASA joins thousands of scientists, educators, and policymakers at the premier Earth and space science conference 15-19 December in New Orleans, Louisiana, to explore groundbreaking research, connect with global experts, and shape the future of our planet.

IIASA researchers have coauthored a new report published by The Nature Conservancy that maps converging climate risks to food, water, and biodiversity, and provides a practical framework to scale nature-based solutions that strengthen resilience for people and nature.

A new EU-funded report reveals that while global emissions could peak before 2030, current efforts remain insufficient to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal. The study, produced through collaboration between IIASA, the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, and the NewClimate Institute, provides a detailed, evidence-based assessment of progress among the world’s largest emitters.

This seminar aims to deepen collaboration between IIASA and Comenius University, building on the Memorandum of Understanding signed earlier this year, and strengthening engagement with the Institute's Slovak National Member Organization. Taking place while applications for the Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) are open, it offers students and faculty a timely opportunity to learn more about IIASA and explore pathways for involvement.

The emphasis of integrated disaster and risk research has shifted from topical analysis, such as dealing with disasters associated with natural hazards, technological accidents or environmental crises, to a comprehensive analysis of interconnected and mutually interactive risk sources and crises. This interaction has often been framed in the language of “polycrisis” indicating the potentially amplifying and cascading effects of each crisis from one domain to the next. At the same time, the literature on systemic risk also includes the effects of multiple, interacting risks on the functionality and survivability of entire systems such as climate stability, cybersecurity or energy production. New approaches such as foresight, integrated risk assessment, and adaptive management, are developed and applied to cope with this new challenge.

As part of the third implementation plan (2022-2026), the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) is launching the second round of the Short Visit Program (three months) for young researchers working at universities or research centers who hold a doctorate degree. This round aims to provide a number of short-term grants in technology transfer in a number of specific topics of cooperation between the Academy and IIASA. The grant covers travel and accommodation for three months. The program aims to enable Egyptian researchers to develop their capabilities through joint research work, and opportunities to interact with high-level international researchers, contributing to technology transfer and localization. For conditions and application deadlines, please visit the Academy's website www.asrt.sci.eg.

IIASA has released its report from the European Forum Alpbach 2025, where it served as reporting partner for the Climate Track. Drawing from five insightful blogs, the report distills key ideas and reflections that emerged under the Forum’s overarching theme, “Recharge Europe.”

Explore opportunities to become a YSSP student in our BNR research group. While each YSSP selects a main Research Group, BNR encourages YSSP research engaged in cross-group collaboration.  

IIASA researchers contributed to the latest issue of the Emissions Gap Report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The assessment of available new climate pledges under the Paris Agreement finds that the predicted global temperature rise over the course of this century has only slightly fallen, leaving the world heading for a serious escalation of climate risks and damages.

Dmitry Erokhin, Research Scholar at the IIASA Cooperation and Transformative Governance (CAT) Research Group, presented the study “Using Google Trends to Analyze Public Sensitivity to Climate-Related Natural Hazards and its Correlation with Nuclear Topics: A Proxy Approach for Societal Impact and Risk Communication”, coauthored with Nadejda Komendantova, Leader of the IIASA CAT Research Group, at the International Conference on Resilience of Nuclear Installations against External Events – Focus on Climate Change, organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Engaging the local stakeholders in policy crafting and co-development of decision support systems can result in policies tailored for local socioeconomic, and environmental characteristics. The effective stakeholder’s engagement hinges on understanding their vision and expectation from the decision-making process, among others. SEVA is an open access tool developed by IIASA researchers for exploratory analysis of stakeholders’ roles and their visions.