IIASA in Salzburg: Discover global research opportunities for your career

The University of Salzburg is pleased to welcome the Austrian International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis Committee (The Austrian IIASA Committee) for a day focused on concrete opportunities for collaboration, career development, and scientific exchange between Salzburg-based researchers and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, IIASA.

IIASA, based in Laxenburg near Vienna, was founded on the peak of the cold war to maintain east-west communication channels and collaboration at least on a scientific basis, and today, is one of the world’s leading institutes for applied systems analysis. Its researchers work across disciplines and national borders to address major global challenges — including climate change, biodiversity loss, population dynamics, energy transitions, food and water security, risk and resilience, technological transformation, sustainable development and science diplomacy. For researchers in Salzburg, this creates exciting opportunities to connect local and regional research strengths with an international research environment that has direct relevance for science, society, and policy.

Austria, as IIASAs host country, is strongly linked with the institute through a long-standing and very active partnership. Austrian researchers collaborate closely with IIASA in joint projects, publications, international networks, scientific programmes, and policy-relevant research. The Austrian IIASA Committee, situated at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Austria’s national Member organization, NMO), plays an important role in strengthening these connections and in helping Austrian researchers access IIASA’s opportunities. The visit to Salzburg builds on this strong existing collaboration and aims to make IIASA’s offers more visible and accessible to the University of Salzburg community and beyond.

Why should Salzburg-based researchers, as well as the public get involved?

Collaboration with IIASA offers researchers at all career stages the chance to:

• join international and interdisciplinary research networks with leading scientists from around the world;
• develop new collaborations and project ideas across fields such as environmental sciences, geography, economics, social sciences, data science, demography, climate research, and sustainability studies – with relevance even to local contexts;
• gain access to systems-analysis approaches, models, data, and methods that can strengthen ongoing research in Salzburg;
• increase the international visibility and policy relevance of their work;
• build links to global research and decision-making communities, including institutions working at the science-policy interface;
• explore funding, mobility, training, and career opportunities supported through IIASA and the Austrian IIASA network.

The public is invited to learn more about IIASA’s research and the institute as such:

• An attractive public lecture will present how IIASA’s research can help approach today’s grand challenges.

A special opportunity for young researchers

The event is particularly relevant for PhD candidates, postdocs, and early-career researchers who are looking for ways to broaden their academic profile, gain international experience, and connect their research to global challenges.

IIASA offers several attractive opportunities for young scientists, including the renowned Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP), which allows doctoral researchers to spend time at IIASA working on their own research project in collaboration with IIASA scientists. Participants benefit from close mentoring, feedback from an international research community, interdisciplinary training, and the chance to become part of a global alumni network. For many young researchers, the YSSP is a valuable step toward international publications, future collaborations, and career development.

In addition, IIASA provides opportunities for postdoctoral researchers, research visits, project collaboration, and participation in international scientific activities. These offers can help young scholars in Salzburg connect with experienced researchers, develop new methodological skills, and position their work within broader international debates.

What to expect from the meeting in Salzburg

The meeting will bring IIASA and the Austrian IIASA Committee closer to the University of Salzburg and its research community. It will provide space to learn more about IIASA’s research areas, discover concrete opportunities for participation, and discuss how Salzburg-based researchers can benefit from existing Austrian-IIASA links.

Participants will have the chance to:

• learn about IIASA programmes and opportunities for students, PhD candidates, postdocs, and senior researchers;
• discuss possible collaboration areas between IIASA and the research-based institutions of Salzburg;
• meet members of the Austrian IIASA Committee and learn how they support Austrian researchers;
• explore how systems analysis can strengthen interdisciplinary research in Salzburg;
• identify pathways for future research visits, joint projects, and international networking.

We warmly invite researchers, faculty members, PhD candidates, students, early-career scientists, and interested members of the wider academic community and the public to join this exchange between IIASA, the Austrian IIASA Committee, and the University of Salzburg.

Whether you are already working on sustainability, climate, environment, health, society, data, risk, transformation, or policy-related topics — or simply want to learn about IIASA in Austria — this event is an excellent opportunity to discover what IIASA does and how IIASA can open new doors for your research.

More details about the event

download program

Registration

Please register here for the event

Note: The morning session is for invited guests only

Information

Please note that photographs may be taken throughout the event. These will be used by the organizing institution in publications, online and in social media. Please contact the event organizer if you have any concerns or if you wish to be exempted from this activity.