Page - 2 - in options, Volume winter 2017/2018

editorialoptions Professor Dr. Pavel Kabat Director General and CEO, IIASA www.iiasa.ac.at2 options ◼ winter 2017/18 About Options Options magazine features recent IIASA research and activities. Editor Philippa Baumgartner Writers Philippa Baumgartner, Daisy Brickhill, Aisling Irwin, Katherine Leitzell, Natasha Little, Caroline Njoki, Karl Sigmund, Jeremy Summers, Parul Tewari Expert reviewers Markus Amann, Artem Baklanov, Åke Brännström, Esther Boere, Jens Borken–Kleefeld, Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, Ulf Dieckmann, Brian Fath, Steffen Fritz, Susanne Hanger-Kopp, Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler, Gregor Kiesewetter, Florian Kraxner, Mia Landauer, Sylvain Leduc, Wei Liu, Ian McCallum, Guillaume Marois, Inian Moorthy, Aline Mosnier, Raya Muttarak, Shonali Pachauri, Piera Patrizio, Sebastian Poledna, Holger Rogner, Elena Rovenskaya, Warren Sanderson, Linda See, Stefan Thurner, Yoshihide Wada, Fabian Wagner, Ping Yowargana Design Fanny Arnold © 2017 IIASA ZVR 524808900 Prepared by the IIASA Communications Department Printed by Schmidbauer Options is sent to over 6,500 policymakers, diplomats, and scientists. If you would like to update your subscription preferences or subscribe to Options or other IIASA publications, please visit www.iiasa.ac.at/keepintouch. Sections of Options may be reproduced with acknowledgment to IIASA. Please send a copy of any reproduced material. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions of IIASA or its supporting organizations. About IIASA IIASA uses systems analysis to research the critical issues of  environmental, economic, and technological change we face today. Many of the most pressing problems of our times —climate change, food and water security, and biodiversity decline, to name just a few—are too complex to be solved by a single country or discipline. IIASA produces world-class research that integrates problems, drivers, and impacts, helping countries around the world to produce effective, evidence-based policies to tackle these challenges. IIASA produces  data, models, and research tools;  peer-reviewed scientific papers; and  policy-relevant information. IIASA helps  countries produce effective policy;  develop international research networks; and  support the next generation of scientists. IIASA is represented by its National Member Organizations in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Egypt, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan (Observer), Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Vietnam. IIASA A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria Phone +43 2236 807 0 Fax +43 2236 71313 E-mail info@iiasa.ac.at Web www.iiasa.ac.at twitter.com/iiasavienna facebook.com/iiasa blog.iiasa.ac.at linkedin.com/company/iiasa-vienna youtube.com/iiasalive flickr.com/iiasa Part of something bigger As individuals, we all lead our own lives, making choices every day, what to have for lunch, where to go on holiday. But even as we make these small, seemly inconsequential decisions we are acting as part of the wider society, shaping humanity’s future. The power we can have when we work together is illustrated by our work at IIASA in crowdsourcing and citizen science (pages 12-15). The immense amount of valuable data these volunteers help to generate sets us well on the way to tackling some of the world’s most difficult challenges, such as monitoring progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals or providing critical information on disaster risk for remote communities. The importance of the individual parts of larger systems is also central to the institute’s work on systemic risk under the cross-cutting project Systemic Risk and Network Dynamics (pages 18-21). This interdisciplinary work, drawing on the expertise of researchers from across IIASA, shows how the components of very different networks—from finance to ecosystems—can be rearranged to strengthen the whole against outside shocks. IIASA itself is constantly evolving to meet the new challenges and provide new solutions to tomorrow’s world. This fall we welcomed Professor Michael Clegg as the new chair of the IIASA Council (page 28). A proven international leader, Professor Clegg will be at the helm as we move into the next stage of the institutional review process—making the most of the opportunities for development and change that it has provided.  Options online version: www.iiasa.ac.at/options