Dilek Fraisl
Senior Research Scholar
Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability Research Group
Advancing Systems Analysis Program
Biography
Dilek Fraisl is a senior research scholar in the Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability Research Group of the IIASA Advancing Systems Analysis Program. She also serves as the managing director of the Citizen Science Global Partnership (CSGP), a global network of networks dedicated to advancing citizen science data and practice for sustainable development.Her research examines citizen science, artificial intelligence, earth observation, and data innovation as tools for enhancing official statistics and advancing evidence-based policymaking to improve the monitoring and achievement of sustainable development. She specializes in data governance and management, including research on citizen science data quality.
Fraisl serves as principal investigator and contributor to numerous projects focused on citizen science, marine litter, land use and land cover, as well as a range of environmental, socioeconomic, and governance issues, funded by the European Commission, United Nations agencies, and various international donors.
In addition to publishing in high-impact scientific journals, she has contributed to several key international reports, including the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Monitoring Assessment, and major publications from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).
Fraisl also serves on several boards and expert groups across scientific communities, the UN system, and other global initiatives. These include the UN Statistics Division Collaborative on Citizen Data, UN-Habitat Quality of Life Programme, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Resilience Frontiers, and the UNEP Science-Policy-Business Forum, among others.
She is actively involved in the organizing committees and scientific advisory boards of major European and global conferences, including the UN World Data Forum. With many years of experience, Fraisl has collaborated extensively with international organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Health Organization (WHO) and various government agencies, ministries, and national statistical offices (NSOs) in advisory, consultancy, and expert roles.
Fraisl holds a PhD in Sustainability Transitions from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Austria. She also has a master’s degree in sustainable development jointly from the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium, the University of Padua in Italy, and Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne in France.
Last update: 05 NOV 2025
Publications
Wehn, U., Fraisl, D. , Pau, J.M., Gharesifard, M., See, L. , Hager, G. , Oliver, J.L., Crystal, T., Ajates, A., Bilbao, A., Butkevičienė, E., Biraghi, C.A., Campbell, J., Durieux, L., Gervasini, E., Gold, M., Kragh, G., Matheus, A., Mac Feely, S., Mocek, L., Muniafu, M., Shanley, L., & Yousefi, A. (2026). Consolidating Dispersed Knowledge About Citizen Science and Citizen Observatories: Experiences from the Four WeObserve Communities of Practice. Environmental Management 76 (5) e172. 10.1007/s00267-026-02442-z.
Fraisl, D. , Sturn, T., Karanam, S., & Fritz, S. (2026). Citizen Science, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Urban Monitoring Framework: Linking Local Action to Global Impact. In: World Urban Forum 13, 17–22 May 2026, Baku, Azerbaijan.
Fraisl, D. , Moorthy, I. , See, L. , Hager, G. , Mwaniki, D., & Ndugwa, R.P. (2026). Mapping Urban Realities: Integrating Citizen Science and Earth Observation for the UMF. In: StatEO26, 5-7 May 2026, Frascati, Italy.
Fraisl, D. , Pérez Guzmán, K. , Sanz, F.S., Mondardini, R., & Marafioti, E. (2026). Building a federated future: Conceptualizing governance and sustainability for the pan-European Citizen Science infrastructure. In: European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) 2026, 3-6 March 2026, Oulu, Finland.
Fraisl, D. , Harwell, T. , Crocket, L., Moorthy, I. , & Boas, V. (2026). Designing User-Centered Protocols for Scaling Citizen Science: Five Project-Based Personas and Strategies from the CROPS Initiative. In: European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) 2026, 3-6 March 2026, Oulu, Finland.