A status analysis of research activities at Austrian universities and non-university research institutions (September 2020)
In 2020, the Climate Change Centre Austria (CCCA) was commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Education, Research and Science (BMBWF) to carry out the survey on current climate and environmental research as set out in the government programme. The central focus of the report is the presentation of current research activities at Austrian public universities and non-university research institutions, as well as the identification of development prospects, so as to ensure the necessary steps for strategic further development.
In order to incorporate as many perspectives as possible into the report, a wide range of data was collected and interviews were conducted with as diverse a group of stakeholders and experts from various disciplines as possible. These served to analyse structures and mechanisms in the research field. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all interview partners who gave us an insight into their working environment and provided us with the necessary foundations for this report.
Due to the scope of the data and the limitations of the survey project, this report cannot be considered a comprehensive survey. Rather, an attempt was made to paint as informative a picture as possible of Austrian climate and environmental research, starting with the tip of the iceberg. Nevertheless, numerous noteworthy perspectives and data points remain unconsidered. The structure of the report aims to trace the path from research input, through research output, to societal impact.
The survey for the present report took place in spring and early summer 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to this crisis, the topic of "resilience" was highly topical and was widely discussed in public. Societies as well as economic and health systems were tested for their crisis resilience, and rapid rethinking took place. This also had an impact on research activities and findings in the climate, environment, and sustainability sectors.
Given the circumstances in spring 2020 and the several-week lockdown of almost all public and some private sectors, the present survey gained relevance in the context of economic recovery and the accompanying stimulus packages. Climate and environmental research in the context of strategic and political imperatives for a societal transformation following the COVID-19 crisis has the potential to sustainably shape our future. In this regard, the existing expertise in basic and applied research can support the government on key topics such as adaptation, mitigation, and societal transformation in developing cross-sectoral measures to rebuild our economy whilst simultaneously creating a resilient, climate- and environmentally-compatible economic system.