A vibrant network of researchers and partners working together to address environmental and climate challenges through collaboration, dialogue, and shared purpose.
The ECH community includes around 100 researchers from 15 faculties at the University of Vienna. Their multifaceted research interests range from climate science and ecology to sociology, economics, and philosophy.
Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
Fresh waters | macroinvertebrates | monitoring methods | microplastics
Department of European Ethnology
Anthropology of Knowledge | Cultural Urban Studies
Department of Economics
Environmental Migration | Macro and Micro Impacts of Climate Change
Department of Philosophy
Democratic Theory | Ethics of Climate Change | Ethics of Immigration
Department of Political Science
Discourses and Institutions in International Biodiversity Politics | Global Environmental Politics | Practices
Department of Political Science
Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies | Geo-Engineering | International Climate Politics
Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics
spatio-temporal population dynamics modelling | airborne aerosol measurements
Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science
Arctic Soil Carbon Storage and the Permafrost-Climate Feedback | Carbon Use Efficiency | Growth and…
Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
Ozone Formation | Transport Processes in the Atmosphere
Department of Slavonic Studies
Energy Humanities | Fossil Fuels and Cultural Imaginaries | Posthuman Literary Studies
Department of Development Studies
Global Transformation | Human-Environment-Relations | Social Movements
Department of Political Science
Marine & Biodiversity Governance | International Negotiations | International Organizations | Data in Policymaking
Research Group Scientific Computing
Distributed Systems | Environmental Monitoring and Intelligence | Sustainable Computing
Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology
Impact of Food and Environment-Related Molecules on Human Health and Disease | Metabolomics | Exposomics
Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science
Biodiversity and Ecosystems | Clean Environment
Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics
Aerosol Long Range Transport | Urban Sustainability Transformations | Airborne Aerosol Measurements
Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research
Biological Invasions | Environmental Scenarios | Island Biogeography | Macroecology
Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
Climate Dynamics | Cloud Physics | Solar Geoengineering
Department of Sociology
Citizen Participation | Policymaking | Sustainable Development
Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
Identifying and Projecting Biogeochemical Processes | Quantifying Soil/Rock Architecture and Predicting…
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
Biodiversity in Groundwater Ecosystems | Role of Microorganisms and Metazoans in the Carbon Cycle of Subterranean…
Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science
Soil as a Complex System | Soil Organic Matter Decomposition
Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology
Brain Research | Social Psychology
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
Groundwater Microbiome Interactions | Biogeochemical Cycling | Hydrological Connectivity | Hidden Players
Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research
biodiversity genomics | genetic diversity monitoring | evolutionary adaptations
Department of Finance
Climate Finance | Corporate Finance | Financial Intermediation
Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology
behavioural physiology | citizen science | behavioural ecology | science communication | social…
Department of Demography
Carbon Footprint of Childbearing | Population Projections | Population-Environment Interactions | Sustainable Development
Department of Development Studies
Carbon Dioxide Removal | European Climate Policy | Industrial Policy and Decarbonization
Department of German Studies
Conceptualizations of Climate | Literature and Art in the Anthropocene
Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research
Biodiversity Conservation | Invasion Biology | Island Biogeography
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
marine ecology| climate change | rapid adaptation | ecophysiology
Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research
Biodiversity Conservation | Neobiota
Department of Development Studies
Energy transition and energy justice | green hydrogen | green colonialism | socio-ecological transformation and…
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
Marine Microbial and Molecular Ecology | Microbial Oceanography
Department of Biological Chemistry
Isolation and Structure Elucidation of Bioactive Molecules | Natural Product Chemistry
Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology
Food and Environmental Contaminants | Molecular Mechanisms of Toxicity | Xenobiotics and Cell…
Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Chemo-Ethnography | Epigenetics | Human and Environmental Health
Department of Systematic Theology and Ethics
Ethics of sustainability from an interreligious perspective (Islam, Judaism, Christianity) |…
Department of Marketing and International Business
Food Waste | Resource (In)efficiency | Sustainability Communication | Sustainable Consumer…
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology
Aging in Natural Environments | Lifespan Development | Social Motivation
Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology
Behavioral ecotoxicology | heavy metals | wildlife | Physiology | mining
Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science
Host-Microbe Interactions | Marine Biodiversity | Molecular Ecology
Department of Geography and Regional Research
Collaborative Learning | Environmental Justice | Urban Development
Isotope Physics
Dispersion Pathways of Long-Lived Radioisotopes Released into the Environment | Environmental Tracer Applications
Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
Aquatic Microbial Ecology and Greenhouse Gases | Environmental Change Research | Freshwater Carbon…
Department of Geography and Regional Research
Global Environmental Change and the Digital Transformation | Urban Sustainability Transformations |…
Department of Geography and Regional Research
Carbon Biogeochemistry | Peatland Science | Sustainable Management
Research Group Visualization and Data Analysis
Climate Data | Data Visualization | Human Data Interaction
Department of Organic Chemistry
Additive Manufacturing | Advanced Functional Materials | Sustainable Electronics
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Health Impacts of Pollutants | Human Exposure to Pollutants | Micro- and Nanoplastics
Department of Theoretical Chemistry
Quantum Chemistry and Molecular Dynamics | Simulations on Photocatalysis and Solar Fuels
Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research
Conservation biology | Biological invasions | Threatened species | Functional ecology
Ambassador
Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science
Carbon Storage | Soil Ecology | Soil Nutrient Cycling
Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics
Airborne Aerosol Measurements | Coarse-Mode Aerosol Transport | Wildfire Emissions
Department of Musicology
Rethinking Ecological Urgencies through Musical Multimedia | Blue Musicology | Zoocritical musicology
Department of Political Science
Science-Policy | human land-use | conservation
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology
Behaviours and Behaviour Change | Benefits of Exposure to Natural Environments for Health and Wellbeing…
Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law
Public Environmental Law | Human Rights | Climate Law
Department of Environmental Geosciences
Biodegradable Polymers | Environmental Analytical Chemistry | Enzymes in the Environment
Department of English and American Studies
Adaptation Studies | Medical Humanities
Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
Energy security | critical raw materials
Department of History
History of Technology and Infrastructure | History of the Environment and Science
Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology
Environmental Psychology | Pro-Environmental Behaviour | Risk and Science Communication |…
Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics
Heterogeneous Nucleation Processes | Nanoparticle Dynamics
Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Arctic | Alps | Infrastructure Studies | Human-Environment Interactions | Climate Change and People |…
Center for Science Education Research
Science Education | Biology Didactics | Environmental Education | One Health
Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science
Aquatic and Terrestrial Microbiology | Microbial Ecology | Nitrogen Cycling
Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology
Behaviour change | Human Dimension of Environmental Issues | Microplastics | Plastic and…
Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology
Habitat Restoration | Invasive Species | Island Conservation
Department for German Studies
History of the Environmental Sciences | Literature and Media in the Anthropocene | Theories of Habitability
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology
Natural Environments and Aging | Older Adults and Climate Action | Social Identity and…
Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science
Genomics | Machine Learning | Microbial Ecology
Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
Air Pollution | Atmospheric Processes | Atmospheric Transport | Microplastic
Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research
Invasion Biology | Spatial Biodiversity Patterns
Department of Geography and Regional Research
Environmental Science | Soil Science
Department of Environmental Geosciences
Mineral Interactions with Nucleic Acids | Pollutant and Nutrient Biogeochemistry
Department of European, International and Comparative Law
Comparative Private Environmental Law | Private International Law
Department of English and American Studies
Climate Change on Page and Screen | Environmental Racism | Human and More-than-Human Relationships
Department of Environmental Geosciences
Contaminants of emerging concern in aquatic and terrestrial systems | Groundwater modelling | Plastic…
Department of Biological Chemistry
Chemistry of Microbial Interactions | Coordinated Behaviours | Strategies for Modulating Microbial Growth |…
Department of Finance
Financial Intermediation | Price Discovery and Information Aggregation in Market Systems
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
Marine Microbial Ecology | Microbial Oceanography | Ocean Biogeochemistry
Department of Sociology
culture and inequality | political sociology | text-as-data
Department of Geography and Regional Research
Geohazards | Urban Sustainability | Disaster Risk Research | Human-Environmental System
Department of Political Science
Global Environmental Governance | International Politics
Department of Science and Technology Studies
Democratic Societies| Participation and Governance of Science/Technology | Science Communication
Department of Environmental Geosciences
Environmental Analytical Chemistry | Contaminants of Emerging Concern | Metabolomics
Department of Economic Sociology
Climate Change Vulnerabilities | Discourse | Sustainable Stranded Assets
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology | Environmental Microbial Bioinformatics | Systems Microbiology | Extreme…
Department of Political Science
Extractivism | International Political Ecology | Socio-Ecological Conflicts
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Environmental Sustainability in Healthcare and Medicine | Micro- and Nanoplastics
Department of Sociology
Impact of Food and Environment-Related Molecules on Human Health and Disease | Metabolomics and Exposomics
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
Metabolomics - from Farm to Health | Sustainable and Climate Smart Agriculture | International Agricultural…
Department of Sociology
Comparative Social Policy | International Urban Sociology
Membership in the Environment and Climate Research Hub (ECH) is open to researchers at the University of Vienna whose work contributes to environmental and climate research and who wish to actively engage in the ECH community. As an interdisciplinary hub spanning faculties and centres across the University of Vienna, ECH fosters collaboration, scientific exchange, and the development of joint research activities.
Eligible applicants include postdoctoral researchers, tenure-track professors, associate professors, and full professors at the University of Vienna. Membership is not available to Master's or PhD students.
Membership applications may be submitted throughout the year and are reviewed twice annually, typically in May and December. At the time of review, applicants must hold an employment contract with the University of Vienna extending for at least two years beyond the date of acceptance. Membership is typically granted for three years – or the duration of the remaining contract - and may be renewed.
Researchers interested in joining the ECH are invited to contact the ECH coordinators for information on the application process and membership requirements.
ECH members contribute to environmental and climate research at universities and research institutions around the world. Former members remain part of the ECH alumni network, maintaining valuable connections across disciplines, institutions, and career stages. Through these relationships, the ECH fosters continued scientific exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration, and opportunities for new research partnerships within and beyond the University of Vienna.
Ayansina Ayanlade was Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Geography and Regional Research
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Lukas Brunner was Senior Scientist at the Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
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Palak Chaturvedi is Group Leader in the Crops in a Changing Climate Environment Group
Website
Kimberly Crystal Doell was Senior Scientist at the Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology
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Sanderien Verstappen is Associate Professor in Social and Cultural Anthropology
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