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The Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS) is the National Member Organization representing Sweden's membership of IIASA. FORMAS funds IIASA and is itself financed by the Swedish Ministry of the Environment and Energy and Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation.
Prior to the establishment of FORMAS in 2001, the Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research served as the Swedish NMO for IIASA from 1983 when it took over membership from the Swedish Committee for IIASA which had joined IIASA in 1976.
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IIASA Connect
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News
24 October 2025
Defining future directions for open, fair, and sustainable research in Europe
IIASA Deputy Director General, Karen Lips, represented the Institute at the 2025 European Regional Meeting of the Global Research Council (GRC), convened by Science Europe earlier this week. The meeting provided an important forum for engagement with global research-policy networks to advance themes of open science, artificial intelligence, fairness, and sustainable research systems.
14 February 2025
Strengthening citizen science and sustainability monitoring in Europe
Researchers from the IIASA Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability (NODES) Research Group are part of the newly launched RIECS-Concept (Towards A Pan-European Research Infrastructure for Excellent Citizen Science), a project designed to develop a conceptual framework for a pan-European citizen science research infrastructure. The initiative aims to enhance the role of citizen science in data collection, validation, and policy engagement, ensuring long-term sustainability and broader participation in scientific research across Europe.
03 February 2025
Dr. h.c. Johan Kuylenstierna receives prestigious H.M. The King's Medal
Dr. h.c. Johan Kuylenstierna, IIASA Council member representing Sweden, has been awarded the H.M. The King's Medal (12th size, bright blue ribbon) in recognition of his significant contributions to sustainability and global environmental efforts.
Events
CICERO Center for International Climate Research, Oslo
HYway Kick-off meeting
Focus
08 April 2026
Forest Talks webinar explores integrating Earth observation and national forest inventories across Europe
The most recent edition of the Forest Talks webinar series – jointly hosted by the ForestNavigator project (coordinated by IIASA) together with the ForestPaths and PathFinder projects – brought together researchers, modelers, and national reporting experts to discuss advances in Earth observation (EO) for forest monitoring and greenhouse gas inventory support across Europe.
21 November 2025
The cost of connections: Social and environmental burdens of short-term rentals
International scientific collaboration brings people together, but also carries hidden costs. Jack Vahnberg and Steffen Lohrey share their experiences living in short-term rentals in Vienna during the 2025 Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP). From wasted household items and energy inefficiency to the impact on urban structures and housing affordability, they explore how the realities of temporary stays can conflict with the very sustainability goals their research aims to promote.
Projects
Nature for insurance, insurance for nature (NATURANCE)
GRANULAR – Better Knowledge for better rural policies
A Gathering place to cO-design and co-cReate Adaptation (Adaptation AGORA)
Navigating the risks of hydroclimatic extremes for freshwater ecosystem services in forest landscape (REACTION)
Publications
Lee, S., Freer, M., Wood, R., Edelenbosch, O., Sharmina, M., Doelman, J., van Vuuren, D., & Wilson, C. (2023). From future diets to dishes: communicating dietary shift associated with a 1.5°C scenario for Brazil, China, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 7 e1266708. 10.3389/fsufs.2023.1266708.
Cimdins, R., Krasovskiy, A. , & Kraxner, F. (2022). Regional Variability and Driving Forces behind Forest Fires in Sweden. Remote Sensing 14 (22) e5826. 10.3390/rs14225826.
Cimdins, R., Krasovskiy, A. , & Kraxner, F. (2022). Regional Variability and Driving Forces behind Forest Fires in Sweden. Environmental Sciences Proceedings 17 (1) e23. 10.3390/environsciproc2022017023.
Wijesinghe, C., Hansson, H., & Ekenberg, L. (2021). Determinants of ICT Innovations: Lessons Learned from Sweden and Sri Lanka. Administrative Sciences 11 (4) e135. 10.3390/admsci11040135.
Di Baldassarre, G., Mondino, E., Rusca, M., Del Giudice, E., Mård, J., Ridolfi, E., Scolobig, A., & Raffetti, E. (2021). Multiple hazards and risk perceptions over time: the availability heuristic in Italy and Sweden under COVID-19. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences Discussions 21 (11) 3439-3447. 10.5194/nhess-21-3439-2021.
Zhemchugova, H. (2021). Evaluating Risk Governance Practice Against the Sendai Framework: The Case of Forest Fires in Sweden. IIASA YSSP Report. Laxenburg, Austria: IIASA