The Southern African Young Scientists Summer Program was the highlight of joint activities between IIASA and South Africa in 2013.
Map of South Africa
Joint activities between IIASA and South Africa in 2013 included:
The inaugural Southern African Young Scientists Summer Program (SA-YSSP) concluded in February 2013 with 20 doctoral students from around the world taking part and supervised by 20 senior scholars from South Africa and the IIASA network.
The second SA-YSSP began in November 2013 with 34 young scholars and 39 senior scientists participating.
In multiple objectives, trade-offs, and games, development of a user-friendly prototype software tool for Multiple-Criteria Model Analysis (MCMA) was completed, the co-benefits of key energy sustainability objectives were revealed, and decision-support system (DSS) with multiple objectives of energy users, producers, and legislative authorities were designed. more
The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program studied ecological risk assessment which evaluates impacts of immediate and long-term stressors on the environment. more
The Agro-Ecological Systems (AES) team joined the IMPACT2C project which explores the likely impacts of a 2°C rise in global mean temperature in Europe and in three vulnerable areas in other parts of the world outside Europe: Bangladesh, Africa, and the Maldives. more
Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program research found that selling livestock was the most frequently reported coping strategy for smallholders in rural Uganda following weather disasters. more
Agricultural products imported to Europe accounted for more than one-third of global deforestation associated with international agricultural trade, according to a new policy-oriented report prepared by a European consortium including IIASA, and published by the European Commission. more
Progress with EPIC crop modeling in 2013 allowed the Agro-Economic Systems (AES) group to join the international Ag-GRID initiative which aims to improve global gridded crop modeling. more
Strategies for addressing climate change, land-use, energy, and water can and must go beyond strategic planning for individual sectors, says a new study. more
The Energy (ENE) Program has been at the forefront of several research efforts for the wider science community. These include the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) and two international model inter-comparison projects that were successfully completed in 2013 (EMF27 and AMPERE). more
Results from IIASA's global land use model GLOBIOM model, adapted to the Congo Basin region - the CongoBIOM model - were used to inform a World Bank study on future deforestation trends in the Congo Basin published in 2013. more
Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) researchers presented novel suggestions for regional risk management platforms. Suggestions included risk insurance pools to manage climate loss and damage, which are gaining traction in the Caribbean, Pacific, Africa and recently Europe. more
Managing the risks of climate change is part of a more generalized approach to promoting sustainable development by reducing the vulnerability associated with climate risk. In 2013 the Risk, Poverty and Vulnerability Program (RPV) looked at various aspects of minimizing risk ahead of adverse weather-related impacts, including extreme events. more
Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) analysts in 2013 looked at how the energy transition might be constrained by the vulnerability of solar energy systems to extreme event risks in a changing climate. more
V.H. van Zyl-Bulitta investigates negative externalities of adaptation plans on a conceptual level in the African context through direct engagement with stakeholders in in-depth interviews. more
Henintsoa Onivola Minoarivelo studies the interplay between the effect of mutualistic interactions on the coevolution of phenotypic traits and how phenotypic character change influences the way species interact. more
Brian Washington Mandikiana makes a quantitative assessment of the carbon content in the current amount of organic waste generated in South Africa to help establish the feasibility of adding biogas into the country’s energy mix. more
Joyita Mukherjee carries out ecological network analysis to explore whole system interactions using a case study of one South African estuary, the Mdloti and in two different seasons. more
John Lupwana Kandala analyzes criminal engagement by identifying demographic aspects that might contribute to the phenomenon, with specific reference to education. more
David Kimemia of the University of Johannesburg investigates the interface between energy poverty and energy incidents, using quantitative analysis approaches on energy access and injuries data. more
Frederic Isingizwe studies how donor-control and recipient-control models fit to experimental data individually and how they compare to one another. more
Pietro Landi assesses how the interplay between natural and artificial selection, in the simplest setting in which fishery and stock co-evolve, could lead to trait diversification due to disruptive selection. more
Amin Masoumzadeh summarizes his YSSP project in which he modeled long-term world crude oil supply and demand, and subsequently the global oil price. more
Shakespear Mudombi assesses the evidence for social learning in climate change adaptation initiatives, past and present, in South Africa, and looked at the the enablers and obstacles to the use of social learning in this context. more
Avelino Mondlane describes how his knowledge of advanced systems analysis was furthered by using multicriteria decision analysis to quantitatively assess South African water and energy challenges. more
Valentina Prado-Lopez considers three main thermal electricity-generation technologies as the most viable options for an energy transition period. more
Sunday Y. Hosu presents a study characterizing the present and future vulnerability of smallholder farming households in contrasting agro-ecological zones in Eastern Cape Province. more
V.H. van Zyl-Bulitta investigates negative externalities of adaptation plans on a conceptual level in the African context through direct engagement with stakeholders in in-depth interviews. more
Henintsoa Onivola Minoarivelo studies the interplay between the effect of mutualistic interactions on the coevolution of phenotypic traits and how phenotypic character change influences the way species interact. more
Brian Washington Mandikiana makes a quantitative assessment of the carbon content in the current amount of organic waste generated in South Africa to help establish the feasibility of adding biogas into the country’s energy mix. more
Joyita Mukherjee carries out ecological network analysis to explore whole system interactions using a case study of one South African estuary, the Mdloti and in two different seasons. more
John Lupwana Kandala analyzes criminal engagement by identifying demographic aspects that might contribute to the phenomenon, with specific reference to education. more
Frederic Isingizwe studies how donor-control and recipient-control models fit to experimental data individually and how they compare to one another. more
Pietro Landi assesses how the interplay between natural and artificial selection, in the simplest setting in which fishery and stock co-evolve, could lead to trait diversification due to disruptive selection. more
Amin Masoumzadeh summarizes his YSSP project in which he modeled long-term world crude oil supply and demand, and subsequently the global oil price. more
Noran Bakr, of Cairo University, summarizes the finding of her YSSP project on investigating the impact of using an approach to energy supply combining wind and solar energy to foster development in the Mediterranean region. more
Shakespear Mudombi assesses the evidence for social learning in climate change adaptation initiatives, past and present, in South Africa, and looked at the the enablers and obstacles to the use of social learning in this context. more
Yihun Dile details his YSSP project outcomes on the implications of intensifying water harvesting on upstream-downstream social-ecological resilience in the Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia. more
Avelino Mondlane describes how his knowledge of advanced systems analysis was furthered by using multicriteria decision analysis to quantitatively assess South African water and energy challenges. more
Valentina Prado-Lopez considers three main thermal electricity-generation technologies as the most viable options for an energy transition period. more
Sunday Y. Hosu presents a study characterizing the present and future vulnerability of smallholder farming households in contrasting agro-ecological zones in Eastern Cape Province. more
