Research Core Area

The focus lies on the analysis and monitoring of climate and environmental change and its impacts, on the analysis of the role of human beings and the identification of transition paths towards sustainable regional development and innovation. Austria is the primary regional focus embedded in European and globally oriented research.

The inter-university research core area „Environment and Global Change“ joins more than twenty research groups from climate- and environmental physics, meteorology, environmental chemistry, hydrogeology, environmental biology, environmental economics and sociology, geography and regional research, systems sciences and sustainability research, environmental ethics and environmental law in Graz.

The scientific work and projects concentrate on six research foci:

1. GlobEOS is concerned with Global Earth Observation and Stewardship in Climate and Environmental Change.
2. RegIMOS is dedicated to Regional Integrated Modeling and Studies in Climate and Environmental Change.
3. EnviSYS (Changing Ecosystems and Earth-external Environmental Systems) analyses Changing Ecosystems and Earth-external Environmental Systems.
4. GreenPROTEC focuses on Processes and Technologies for Coping with Climate and Environmental Change.
5. HDChange (Human Dimensions of Climate and Global Change) reflects the Effects of Climate Change on Humans.
6. RegiKNOWS comprises research on Regional Changes Research and Knowledge Transfer for Sustainability.

Research Areas and their Working Groups

In 2005 the University of Graz established the Wegener Centre for Climate and Global Change to pool the available expertise. The groups of this research core area participate in numerous projects to contribute to international cutting edge research and publish in topranked journals.