For the 18th time, the scientific "who's who" of Austrian climate research came together at the Austrian Climate Day; this time from Monday, 22 to Wednesday, 24 May 2017 at the University of Vienna. More than 100 talks on current research findings around the most pressing topic of the coming decades formed the heart of the Climate Day.

The focus of this year's pre-day to the Climate Day was on networking within the climate research community (early-career researchers with senior scientists) as well as with practitioners and multipliers in this field. In order to put together the most diverse, interdisciplinary project teams possible, collaboration between universities and research institutions with stakeholders from practice is essential — and so over 70 participants came together for a lively exchange at the "marketplace".

The following two days were, as is tradition, dedicated to a wealth of talks on the most current and interesting projects from the Austrian climate (impact) research community. The individual focus areas spanned such varied fields as socio-ecological change, governance and energy policy, as well as the accounting of greenhouse gas emissions and the costs of climate change.

Awards were also presented again this year — in the poster competition, Susanna Tscharner (Strengthening Risk Awareness and Personal Preparedness among People with a Migration Background in Austria) took first place ahead of her BOKU colleague Christoph Schürz. The CCCA Early Career Award was shared, owing to the high quality of two submissions — Sabine Rumpf (Climate warming and elevational range limits: rear edges shift faster than leading edges) and Dominik Thom (The impact of future forest dynamics on climate: Interactive effects of changing vegetation and disturbance regimes) were both able to claim victory.

A special lifetime achievement honour was bestowed upon Dr Ingeborg Auer, who was awarded the Julius Hann Medal of the ÖGM. The Julius von Hann Medal in Gold is awarded to individuals who have rendered outstanding services to the science of meteorology and/or climatology. Dr Ingeborg Auer is one such individual. The board of Climate Change Centre Austria extends its warmest congratulations to her on this distinction.

<link http: www.ccca.ac.at de ccca-aktivitaeten oesterr-klimatag klimatag-2017 impressionennachlese external-link-new-window external link in new>Photos from the Climate Day and all information on the talks can be found here.

The relevance of the research findings presented at the Climate Day for society is also reflected in the extensive coverage by various media outlets — we'd like to share a brief overview of the articles that appeared during or around the Climate Day:

• <link http: derstandard.at meteorologe-klimawandel-manifestiert-sich-lokal external-link-new-window external link in new>Climate change manifests locally (03 June 2017, derStandard)
• <link http: derstandard.at facettenreiches-problem-in-der-hitze-des-klimagefechts external-link-new-window external link in new>In the heat of the climate battle (01 June 2017, der Standard)
• <link https: science.apa.at site natur_und_technik external-link-new-window external link in new>Farmers also see opportunities through climate change (26 May 2017, APA)
• <link http: www.tt.com home external-link-new-window external link in new>7,000-year-old drill core set to shed light on flood risk (24 May 2017, Tiroler Tageszeitung)
• <link http: derstandard.at bohrkern-aus-dem-mondsee-liefert-daten-aus-7-000-jahren external-link-new-window external link in new>Drill core from Mondsee delivers data spanning 7,000 years (23 May 2017, der Standard)
• <link https: science.apa.at rubrik natur_und_technik oesterreichischer_klimatag_forscher-appell_fuer_klimaschutz sci_20170523_sci39391351436195254 external-link-new-window external link in new>Austrian Climate Day: researchers call for climate protection (23 May 2017, APA)
• <link https: kurier.at wissen klimaforscherin-kromp-kolb-der-klimawandel-ist-eine-grosse-chance external-link-new-window external link in new>Climate change is a great opportunity (22 May 2017, Kurier)
• <link http: steiermark.orf.at news stories external-link-new-window external link in new>Mondsee drill core set to shed light on flood risk (steiermark.orf.at)

The event was organised by Climate Change Centre Austria in cooperation with the Forschungsverbund Umwelt and the Faculty of Geosciences, Geography and Astronomy at the University of Vienna, the climate protection coordination of the City of Vienna and Wien 3420 Aspern Development AG (aspern Die Seestadt Wiens), the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, alps GmbH, weatherpark, the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, the Environment Agency Austria, and the Austrian Meteorological Society. The Austrian Climate Day is funded and supported by the Climate and Energy Fund as part of its research programme "ACRP - Austrian Climate Research Programme".