Welcome to the Environment and Climate Research Hub!

Climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution are highly complex global challenges and require integrated and interdisciplinary collaboration. We are facing a triple global crisis that threatens our future. Solutions for these problems are urgently needed - and they lie in front of us: science and research are key enablers in displaying the interconnectedness of multiple crises and together highlight that tackling each crisis needs to be done from all angles and disciplines. To meet these challenges, the "Environment and Climate Research Hub" (ECH) bridges faculties and centres, considering disciplinary anchoring and existing high-class track records, to promote excellent research in the field of environment and climate.

The ECH delivers the versatile knowledge and understanding that is necessary to secure our common future.


We are motivated to deliver scientific research that contributes to the protection of our climate and environment. We work jointly in excellent cross-disciplinary teams beyond the border of each discipline on research ideas and collaborations.

© Barbara Mair/ECH

We focus on training, education and excellent qualification of our members. We constantly develop our knowledge and competencies further to develop innovative concepts and approaches for solutions in the areas of environment and climate.

© Barbara Mair/ECH

At the University of Vienna, one of the biggest and most renowned in Europe, we want to advance environmental research for society. We use the strength of networking excellent expertise of individual disciplines in our research hub.

© Markus Korenjak

We want to shape society – as an education institution, a hub and a partner for dialogue. For this reason, we educate students and early career scientists and enter active dialogues with civil society and decision-makers in government and society.

© Barbara Mair/ECH

 News

A new smart ink based on electrochromic materials could not only prevent the forgery of event tickets, but also facilitate the monitoring of sensitive products and resources such as blood reserves. The applications for this innovative material are almost endless, says one of the developers, chemist and ECH member Laura Maggini.

On 10.10.2023, our event series "Umwelt im Gespräch" celebrated its 10th jubilee with an engaging discussion about trash and recycling. Relive the evening with our follow-up report.

New materials are considered very promising for solving the acute challenges of our time, but they also create new problems. We take a closer, transdisciplinary look at those materials that have shaped us and those that are yet to come.

Published in Environment International, a groundbreaking study from the Institute of Biological Chemistry and Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS) at the University of Vienna, in collaboration with the University of Konstanz and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, reveals a microbial metabolite's role in inducing Parkinson's-like symptoms. This discovery could...

For several years, an Austrian choreographer, an American playwright, and a Dutch composer have collaborated with scientists to shed light on various dimensions of the ecological crisis in artistic ways. Under the title ‘What We Want,’ they present a program of eco-theater. Eco-Theater is a movement of artists that strives to create science-based work in the context of our new climate reality...

In Europe and America, many of the alien plant species there originate from their own continent. They usually originate in warmer regions closer to the equator - a phenomenon that could be exacerbated by climate change. This is the conclusion of an international research team led by the University of Konstanz and including biodiversity researchers Franz Essl and Bernd Lenzner from the University...