The main objectives of the research pillar “Societal Impacts, Resilience and Adaptation” are threefold:  

1. contribute to the understanding of how climate change impacts and associated risks affect social systems and sectors;  

2. develop the understanding and knowledge required to support a transition towards a climate-resilient, just, and healthy society; and  

3. address the resilience and adaptation challenges of particularly the agricultural sector.  

Impacts - This pillar investigates how climate change affects human-environment systems including health, infrastructure, socioeconomic structures, migration, and issues related to injustice and security. We are especially interested in the cascading effects of climate change that compound to multiple impacts across sectors, increasing the complexity of adaptation. 

Resilience and adaptation - The pillar also addresses how we can adapt to the inevitable negative impacts of climate change and develop resilient sectors and societies that can withstand the increasingly dynamic climate system and its impacts. We especially focus on adaptation gaps in policy and regulation, cost-effectiveness of adaptation options, just resilience, how to design sustainable cities that are resilient to greater climate variability, and the potential for nature-based solutions (NbS) as a cost-effective solution that can provide multiple benefits. 

In the agricultural sector, we are especially interested in quantifying the impacts and interaction between agriculture and climate and assessing how agricultural production in future climates and different shared socioeconomic pathways will be impacted in terms of quantity and quality. 

This pillar works across disciplines including genetics, agronomy, crop science, climate science, biological science and social sciences (economics, political science and sociology) and seeks to collaborate with key public and private stakeholders.