The Royal Colloquium

This year’s Royal Colloquium 2016 is planned to be the final activity in this series of meetings and aims to draw on the experiences and results from earlier events, and formulate a message for future research and action. Previous colloquia covered a broad number of subjects, including water, energy, agriculture, and climate, with geographical focus points ranging from coastal areas to mountains and from tropical regions to the Arctic.

The final meeting revisited some of the recurring themes with cross-cutting general aspects in mind, focusing not only on problem descriptions, but also possible solutions. IIASA Director General and CEO Professor Dr. Pavel Kabat gave a keynote lecture on “Systems science – a key to understanding, predicting and managing global change” during Session VII: Royal Colloquium Legacy on 25 May.

Demography, urbanization, globalization, and technological development are major elements in the context in which the environment is to be understood and studied. In addition to coping with major trends and developments, history has shown that unexpected and extreme events such as natural disasters, financial crises and epidemics can drastically alter the path of human development. What are the lessons learnt to date? What are the success stories and the unforeseen difficulties and emerging problems to be addressed? What are the future challenges, risks, and threats?

His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and the IIASA Director General and CEO Professor Dr. Pavel Kabat.

At the Royal Colloquium in Sweden on 24 May 2016

Last edited: 27 May 2016