Support for the International Institute for Applied Systems Anaysis (IIASA)

Internationales Institut Fur Angewandte Systemanalyse, Laxenburg

Investigators

Abstract

von Winterfeldt 1148655 This grant provides the U.S. membership contribution toward core support for the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) for calendar years 2011-2015. IIASA is an independent, non-governmental, multilateral research institution devoted to interdisciplinary, policy-oriented research. It is supported by 18 member countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, representing more than 50 percent of the world population. IIASA is located in Laxenburg, Austria, near Vienna. IIASA's ten-year strategy for 2011 to 2020 focuses on three global problem areas: Energy and Climate Change, Food and Water, and Poverty and Equity. IIASA's Research Plan for 2011 to 2015 describes nine research programs that develop and apply the Institute's systems analysis approaches to advancing understanding and contributing to solutions to the three global problem areas. These research programs include Energy, Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases, Ecosystems Services and Management, Water, Ecology and Evolution, Risk Policy and Vulnerability, Population, Technology, and Advanced Systems Analysis. In addition, a Policy Forum facilitates interaction between IIASA's researchers and policy-makers worldwide; and Exploratory Projects offer flexibility to respond to changing global conditions. IIASA investigators combine methods and models from the natural and social sciences as well as applied mathematics and engineering to identify science-based policy solutions to global problems. IIASA's budget for 2010 was approximately 16 million EURO, of which 50 percent was provided by membership payments from member countries. The other half comes from contracts and grants. The budget is highly leveraged through international scientific networks of researchers and research institutions that contribute their skills, resources and specific local knowledge. Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit of IIASA's research activities lies in its innovative use of quantitative modeling and computational technologies to explore possible futures. The high quality of IIASA's work is demonstrated through its publication record in peer-reviewed journals; the worldwide interest in collaboration with IIASA's research programs; unparalleled datasets on land use, forests, energy technologies and population multi-state projections, and the recruitment of IIASA scientists to contribute to international scientific partnerships such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and other United Nations Energy, Food, Development, and Population advisory bodies, as well as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, World Wildlife Fund forestry evaluations and National Academy of Sciences studies. The research quality is maintained through a system of Council oversight, external reviews and strategic assessments by an external Science Advisory Committee. Broader Impacts: The IIASA research agenda addresses many of the most difficult issues facing the world in the 21st Century. Every program is interdisciplinary and charged to support problem focused and solution oriented research, and includes components for dissemination and application of the results. IIASA works to incorporate U.S. input and interests in the research program, and to ensure that its research results are known and utilized in appropriate research and policy fora in the United States. IIASA's capacity building program will be significantly enhanced in the next five years, building on the highly successful Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP), which each summer offers 50-60 graduate students from around the world the opportunity to explore the policy implications of their research in an international setting. In addition, IIASA has a post-doctoral program and is developing activities to strengthen systems analysis networks in member countries through teaching, workshops and collaborative projects.