India

Building on its engagement at the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP16) in Riyadh, IIASA contributed to a series of events and bilateral discussions at UNCCD COP17, held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, towards the end of August. Under the theme, Restoring Land, Restoring Hope, COP17 advanced action on land degradation, drought resilience, and sustainable land management, with particular emphasis on rangelands and pastoral livelihoods.

IIASA recently welcomed Professor Subra Suresh – Vannevar Bush Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Professor at Large at Brown University, former Director of the US National Science Foundation (NSF), and former President of Carnegie Mellon University and Nanyang Technological University Singapore – for a full day of exchange culminating in a Science Parliament Lecture titled, Innovation 4.0 for Humanity 4.0. 

H.E. Ambassador Shambhu S. Kumaran, India's Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna, recently visited IIASA to explore deeper research cooperation and meet the Institute's Indian Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) cohort.