Environment and Climate Research Hub

Our Research

Interdisciplinary research at the ECH explores the complex dynamics of environmental change – bridging humanities, natural and social sciences to generate impactful knowledge.

Overview | Focus Areas | Projects

Shaping Tomorrow: The Impact of Today’s Research

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Projects

The projects presented here showcase the breadth and excellence of environmental, climate, and sustainability research at the University of Vienna and the ECH. They are either listed as Member Projects (hosted at the faculties of ECH members) or ECH Projects, funded by the ECH itself (e.g. ECH Seed Funding Program) or external institutions. Together, they reflect a broad range of research approaches, as well as outreach activities to foster societal impact and change. We feature projects led by ECH members as Principal Investigators (PIs), and projects in which ECH members participate as part of larger research consortia, including Horizon Europe initiatives.

The Many Labs Megastudy to Promote Climate Action Across the Globe

Changing Society
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Noah Buscher on unsplash

Kim Doell from the Faculty of Psychology was co-leading one of the largest experiments in the Psychology of Climate Change, together with Madalina Vlasceanu and Jay J. Van Bavel.

Talking to over 59 000 participants from 63 different countries, Kim and her co-investigators tried to develop a better understanding on what humans think about climate change and possible ways to combat it.

MICROCLIM: A Micro-Scale Perspective on Alpine Floras Under Climate Change

Biodiversity and Ecosystems
Researchers on mountain
MICROCLIM

Stefan Dullinger from the Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research is leading the “MICROCLIM” project.

The diversity of organisms, one of the most striking features of life on Earth, is under threat, and climate change may become a major driver of the biodiversity crisis in the decades to come. However, climate effects on species will vary across ecosystems and regions.

IrrevoChrom: Irreversible Organic Electrochromic Links for Tamperproof

Clean Environment
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Laura Maggini

Laura Maggini from the Department of Chemistry is leading the “IrrevoChrom” project.

The Irrevochrom fellowship aims to create an irreversible color changing material for use in anti-tampering, authentication and quality control applications. Currently unavailable in the market, this material will be integrated into flexible, low-cost visual indicators, particularly relevant in e-commerce.

playNICE: Interplay Between Biological Nitrification Inhibitors, Nitrogen Cycling, and Agronomic Nitrogen Use Efficiency

Clean Environment
play NICE logo

Petra Pjevac at the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CMESS) is leading the “playNICE” project.

The playNICE project aims to identify (novel) Biological Nitrification Inhibitors (BNIs) naturally secreted in the root exudates of common crop plants, evaluate the efficacy and inhibition mechanism of BNIs and their degradation productss, determine the effect of BNIs and their…

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Environment and Climate Research Hub