Ian McCallum
Research Group Leader and Principal Research Scholar
Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability Research Group
Advancing Systems Analysis Program
Biography
Ian McCallum leads the Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability (NODES) Research Group of the Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. NODES exploits both citizen and data science combined with Earth observations to monitor, analyze, and foster progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The group is comprised of 30 members with expertise in applied research, development, and project management.McCallum contributes to numerous research projects within NODES, applying various geo-spatial analysis techniques to global environmental and socioeconomic challenges. For example, he is leading the efforts to develop new and novel data and methods within the GRANULAR Project – an ambitious project developing indicators of rural development in Europe. He also leads the activities on stakeholder engagement within the EuropaBON project, a policy-oriented effort with the aim to develop a comprehensive biodiversity monitoring coordination center in Europe. Furthermore, he contributes to the development of the Geo-Wiki, a globally recognized Citizen Science platform designed to monitor the Earth's surface and related activities.
McCallum holds graduate degrees in Forest Science, where he specialized in the application of Geographic Information Systems to issues surrounding view-shed analysis and wildlife habitat modeling, and a doctoral degree applying satellite derived biophysical variables to model vegetation productivity. He is currently on the faculty of the Master of Science in Environmental Technology and International Relations (ETIA) in Vienna, Austria, where he teaches a course on Remote Sensing and the Environment.
Prior to joining IIASA, he worked for both forest industry and forest consulting firms in central and western Canada and the United States.
Last update: 20 MAR 2023
Publications
See, L. , Fritz, S. , McCallum, I. , Obersteiner, M. , & Bone, S. (2009). A cross-border deforestation index to understand underlying drivers of deforestation. In: XIII World Forestry Congress, 18-23 October 2009.
McCallum, I. , Kidd, R., Fritz, S. , Kraxner, F., & Obersteiner, M. (2008). Banda Aceh-The Value of Earth Observation Data in Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction: A Case Study. IIASA Interim Report. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: IR-08-048
Kindermann, G. , McCallum, I. , Fritz, S. , & Obersteiner, M. (2008). A global forest growing stock, biomass and carbon map based on FAO statistics. Silva Fennica 42 (3) 387-396. 10.14214/sf.244.
Gusti, M., Jonas, M. , Shvidenko, A., & McCallum, I. (2008). How well do we know Russia's carbon budget for 1988-1992? Critical look from uncertainty study of IIASA's full carbon account. In: Program and Abstract Book.
Shvidenko, A., Shchepashchenko, D.G. , McCallum, I. , & Nilsson, S. (2008). Land cover of Russia: system integration of remote sensing and ground data. In: Enviromis 2008. International Conference on Environmental Observations, Modeling and Information Systems, 28 June-6 July 2008.