08 December 2014 - 09 December 2014
Vienna Hofburg Palace

IIASA Risk Expert at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of
Nuclear Weapons

IIASA Senior Researcher Reinhard Mechler presents systems perspective on the "Risk from Nuclear Weapon Use"

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The government of Austria will host the third International Conference on the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna on 8 and 9 December 2014. The event will be hosted by Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz and attended by high-level decision makers from around the world. The event is expected to attract approximately 1,000 participants from more than 145 countries.

The conference will address global and long-term consequences of any nuclear detonation, accidental or deliberate, from the perspective and concerns of the 21st century society, including areas such as public health, humanitarian assistance, the economy, development and environmental issues, climate change, food security and risk management, amongst others.

Senior Scientist Reinhard Mechler will present IIASA’s systems perspective on the risk of nuclear weapons use. The presentation builds on IIASA’s extensive expertise on advanced systems analysis to conduct policy-oriented research into the most pressing areas of global change and their main drivers. IIASA uses systems analysis to examine complex systems, with an emphasis on holistic and integrated problem formulation and an interdisciplinary approach to finding solutions.

At IIASA, Senior Researcher Reinhard Mechler is Deputy Director of the Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program. Systems analysis, risk modeling, and transformative governance are fundamental to the mission of RPV, which is to better understand the risks to economic, ecological, and social systems arising from global change and to help transform the ways in which societies manage them. The research feeds into a number of major projects, such as ENHANCEFlood Resilience, and IMPACT2C.

The second Conference on the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons, which took place in February 2014, attracted delegates from 146 countries. At the third conference in December, Austria is therefore aiming at full participation by governmental representatives and experts from all States as well as by relevant international organizations. This will be complemented by invited academia and civil society organizations. 




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Last edited: 05 December 2014

CONTACT DETAILS

Reinhard Mechler

Research Group Leader and Senior Research Scholar Systemic Risk and Resilience Research Group - Advancing Systems Analysis Program

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Phone: (+43 2236) 807 0 Fax:(+43 2236) 71 313