🇫🇮 New EU project IRISCC launched to empower climate change resilience

A new, ambitious European Research Infrastructure project, Integrated Research Infrastructure Services for Climate Change risks (IRISCC), focusing on climate change driven risks has officially started on April 1st. The project is coordinated by Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and brings together 80 partners from across Europe and integrates research services by 14 research infrastructures and e-infrastructures.

IRISCC with a budget of almost 15 million euros, is a 54-month project with a mission to bolster society’s capacity to tackle climate change risks and build resilience. We achieve this by offering access to interdisciplinary research platforms and data for researchers focusing on climate change risks.

“Understanding the climate change driven risks and being prepared to adapt to them is becoming even more crucial for our societies in the near future.” says Janne Rinne, IRISCC co-coordinator, Research Professor at Luke.

Access to a wealth of resources and boosting research and evidence-based decisions

IRISCC offers access to complementary and interdisciplinary European and national research infrastructures (RIs), encompassing observatories, experimental facilities, advanced modelling tools, and robust data infrastructures. Luke is proud to coordinate this large cross-border European project developing research infrastructures and supporting research leading to societies to be better prepared for Climate Change driven risks.

IRISCC fosters challenge-driven and interdisciplinary research on climate-change-related multi-hazard risks. This empowers informed decision-making, propelling Europe’s adaptation and resilience strategies.

IRISCC’s key objectives:

• Support evidence-based policymaking for climate change adaptation and risk management.
• Facilitate high-quality research on climate change driven risks and its components.
• Provide a user-friendly, comprehensive service portfolio for climate change risk research.
• Ensure seamless integration across RIs and harmonise their access & data policies.
• Foster user engagement and co-creation of services with researchers and other stakeholders.

Investing in the future and targeting a broad spectrum of stakeholders

IRISCC is committed to open knowledge sharing and wide capacity building. The project offers training programs to equip the new generation of researchers with the skills to use these integrated research services for impactful climate change risk research.

“Dissemination and exploitation of the services and training offered by the project is one of our key activities”, says Päivi Haapanala, IRISCC project manager, Principal Specialist at Luke.

IRISCC serves a diverse range of users, including the research community, commercial entities, local, national and international risk managers, international agencies, policymakers, and society at large.

IRISCC marks a significant step forward in empowering a collective response to climate challenges. By harnessing the collective expertise of European RIs, this project equips us to build a more resilient future. IRISCC is funded by the European union under the Grant Agreement number: 101131261.