Risk and Resilience

The Risk and Resilience (RISK) Program  aims to better understand the risks to economic, ecological, and social systems arising from global change and to help  transform the ways in which societies manage them.

© Pavliha | iStock © iStockPhoto

© Pavliha | iStock

Society needs to make effective responses to the risks associated with global change. To that end, scientists must understand the systemic and dynamic linkages of environmental, social, and economic risks and how these are impacted by different policy measures. This will enable risk management and governance systems to be improved in order to facilitate long-term sustainable development.

Systems analysis, risk modeling, and transformative governance are fundamental to the mission of Risk & Resilience (RISK). The Program examines environmental and socioeconomic risks and policy options across multiple spatial and temporal scales to provide an analytical foundation for improved management and governance of natural disasters, address climate change, and ease the technological and ecological transitions to sustainability.

The Program has four specific goals:

  • To advance the conceptual and methodological development of risk and vulnerability research 
  • To carry out selected risk and vulnerability assessments 
  • To carry out integrative stakeholder-led case studies, and 
  • To develop interactive tools for training on vulnerability and adaptation.

The program builds on the methodologies, activities and experience gained from the previous IIASA Risk, Modeling and Society (RMS) and Risk, Policy and Vulnerability Programs. It integrates across other IIASA programs and links closely with the vulnerability/resilience research communities.  

RISK research areas:

Risk analysis and modeling

The Risk Analysis and Modeling research theme advances methods and tools for evaluating risks arising in socio-ecological systems and their management options.  More

Risk Management and Adaptation

This thematic research area focuses on developing policy-relevant methodological insight for informing risk management and adaptation strategies; the aim of which is to support the multi-scale integration of agendas on risk management, climate change adaptation and sustainable socio-economic development. More

Governance in Transition

The Governance in Transition research theme analyzes how governance structures shape decisions and subsequent outcomes by building on and contributing to research on decision-making processes, public acceptance, risk perception, cognitive biases, and cultural perspectives, as well as participatory governance design. More


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Last edited: 07 January 2020

CONTACT DETAILS

Reinhard Mechler

Research Group Leader and Senior Research Scholar Systemic Risk and Resilience Research Group - Advancing Systems Analysis Program

CONTACT DETAILS

Thomas Schinko

Research Group Leader and Senior Research Scholar Equity and Justice Research Group - Population and Just Societies Program

PUBLICATIONS

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Phone: (+43 2236) 807 0 Fax:(+43 2236) 71 313