Research Center Global Change - Regional Sustainability
https://www.uibk.ac.at/globalchange
Head
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Johann Stötter (Department of Geography)
Deputy Head
Dr. nat. techn. Karl-Michael Höferl (Department of Geography)
Research Objectives
The topic of Global Change (climate change, globalization, socio-cultural change, re-source scarcity...) is gaining importance in society and politics as well as the academic discourse. The interaction of driving forces, actions and impacts on all scales (global to local) is a key characteristic of the Anthropocene. The objective of the research centre "Global Change - Regional Sustainability" is on the one hand to understand this dynam-ic and its consequences for human-environment-systems. On the other hand, a central question is how society can meet the challenges of the 21st century with sustainable development as guiding policy.
The research center generates space for interdisciplinary dialogue in global change and sustainability research - set at the interface of natural and social sciences. Work on a theoretical-conceptual level, empirical and practical research as well as imple-mentation are tantamount. The members of the research center are actively engaging in a transdisciplinary dialogue with society to contribute to a sustainable development while being aware of their responsibility as researchers.
Currently, the focus topic of the research center is resources. Those include natural and artificial, tangible and non-tangible resources as well as discursive attribution of meaning. Main issues are the origin and potentials, limits and usage, right of disposal and conflicts and the consequences in space and time.