Governance
IIASA is governed by a Council comprised of one permanent representative from each National Member Organization. Regulations concerning the institute’s objectives, conditions of membership, internal structure, and the roles and responsibilities of the Council are outlined in the institutional Charter.
Membership of IIASA
The IIASA Charter stipulates that membership of the institute is open to one professional institution from any country as long as it represents the relevant scholarly community of that country, subscribes to the IIASA Charter, and meets the financial obligations of membership. The IIASA Council votes on each country’s application to join the institute and on whether to discontinue a country’s membership. In June 2019, the Council noted with regret the decision by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) to become an observer starting in 2020.
The IIASA Council
As the governing body of the institute, the IIASA Council is composed of one permanent representative from each NMO. The Council meets twice a year, in June and November. The Charter and subsequent resolutions of Council document the role of Council, its processes, and decisions.
The Council is responsible for determining financial and managerial policies and subject areas for IIASA research, as well as ensuring that IIASA activities are in line with institutional objectives, the provisions of the Charter, and the interests of NMOs.
The Council elects a chair and two vice chairs who act as officers of the Council. Michael Clegg (United States) has been the Council chair since September 2017. Lea Kauppi (Finland) has been the Council vice chair since January 2019 and Gansen Pillay (South Africa) has been the Council vice chair since January 2018.
The Council appoints the director general, the deputy director general for science, and the chief operations officer who, as the chief executive officers of the institute, are responsible for implementing the research program and managing the day-to-day operations. In November 2019, the Council appointed Dr. Leena Srivastava as the deputy director general for science. Previously, Dr. Srivastava was the Vice Chancellor of the TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi, an interdisciplinary higher education institution focused on sustainable development. Further, in March 2019 the Council appointed Dr. Jan Marco Mueller as the acting chief operations officer while the position was advertised.
During 2019, the IIASA Council exercised its oversight responsibilities through a committee structure comprising of an Executive Committee, a Finance Committee, a Membership Committee, a Program Committee, and an Outreach, Capacity Building and Science Engagement Committee. In addition, an external Science Advisory Committee and external evaluation committees provide specialized input to Council.
Council Committee Membership
On 31 December 2019, the Council Committee membership was as follows:
Michael Clegg, Council Chair
Lea Kauppi, Vice Chair
Gansen Pillay, Vice Chair
Executive Committee
Michael Clegg (Council Chair)
Lea Kauppi (Vice Chair)
Gansen Pillay (Vice Chair)
Ingrid Petersson
Asma Ismail
Helga Weisz
Duncan Wingham
Christian Koeberl (ex-officio as host country representative)
Xincheng Xie (rotating member for 2019)
Finance Committee
Ingrid Petersson (Chair)
Kazu Takemoto (Vice Chair)
Christian Koeberl
Vladislav Panchenko
Membership Committee
Helga Weisz (Chair)
Lea Kauppi (Interim Vice Chair)
Ninh Khac Ban
Kuntoro Mangkusubroto
Anatoly Zagorodny
Program Committee
Asma Ismail (Chair)
Kirsten Broch Mathisen (Vice Chair)
Maria Elena Alvarez-Buylla Roces
Moti Herskowitz
Xincheng Xie
Eaman Eftekhary
Outreach, Capacity Building, and Science Engagement Committee
Duncan Wingham (Chair)
Mauro Rabelo
Kil-Choo Moon
Mahmoud Sakr
National Member Organizations
Each IIASA member country designates a National Member Organization (NMO) to represent the nation’s scholarly community, and act as a bridge between their research and policy communities and the institute. There are three types of NMOs namely, national academies, government research funding agencies, and autonomous organizations or committees. Each member country fulfills two main roles, which it enacts through its NMO. The first of these involves the governance of the institute through its representative council member for IIASA, while the second requires the NMO to act as a link between IIASA and national stakeholders.
IIASA National Member Organizations (NMO) and Council members
On 31 December 2019, IIASA had 22 member countries (1 observer) represented by the following National Member Organizations:
AUSTRIA The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Council member: Professor Dr. Christian Köberl
BRAZIL The Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES)
Council member: Professor Mauro Luiz Rabelo
CHINA The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
Council member: Professor Dr. Xincheng Xie
EGYPT Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT)
Council member: Professor Dr. Mahmoud M. Sakr
FINLAND The Finnish Committee for IIASA
Council member: Dr. Lea Kauppi
GERMANY Association for the Advancement of IIASA
Council member: Professor Dr. Helga Weisz
INDIA (Observer) Technology Information, Forecasting, and Assessment Council (TIFAC)
Council member: Mr. Sanjay Singh
INDONESIA Indonesian National Committee for IIASA
Council member: Professor Dr. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto
IRAN Iran National Science Foundation (INSF)
Council member: Professor Dr. Eaman Eftekhary
ISRAEL The Israel Committee for IIASA
Council member: Professor Dr. Moti Herskowitz
JAPAN The Japan Committee for IIASA
Council member: Professor Dr. Kazu Takemoto
KOREA, REPUBLIC OF The National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)
Council member: Dr. Kil-Choo Moon
MALAYSIA Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM)
Council member: Professor Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail
MEXICO Mexican National Committee for IIASA
Council member: Dra. Maria Elena Alvarez-Buylla Roces
NORWAY The Research Council of Norway (RCN)
Council member: Dr. Kirsten Broch Mathisen
RUSSIA The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS)
Council member: Academician Professor Vladislav Panchenko
SOUTH AFRICA The National Research Foundation (NRF)
Council member: Dr. Dorsamy (Gansen) Pillay
SWEDEN The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences, and Spatial Planning (FORMAS)
Council member: Dr. Ingrid Petersson
UKRAINE The Ukrainian Academy of Sciences
Council member: Academician Professor Dr. Anatoly G. Zagorodny
UK Research Councils of the UK
Council member: Professor Dr. Duncan Wingham
USA The National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
Council member: Professor Dr. Michael Clegg
VIETNAM Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST)
Council member: Professor Dr. Ninh Khac Ban
2019 IIASA Governance and Decision Making Structure and its External Advisory Bodies*
*The 2019 IIASA governance structure will be replaced with the new governance structure as approved by the IIASA Council starting from 2020. During the transition, the Council appointed the acting chief operations officer in March 2019 and the deputy director general for science in November 2019.
Science Advisory Committee
Another component of research oversight is the Science Advisory Committee (SAC). The SAC, established by the IIASA Council in 2002, is an advisory structure constituted of independent scientists appointed by the IIASA Council with the task of providing scientific guidance and a research assurance function for IIASA. In 2019, the SAC continued to provide independent, expert advice to the Council and IIASA to ensure that the institute’s work continues to meet the highest scientific standards and remains relevant to policymakers.
Science Advisory Committee (SAC)
On 31 December 2019, the SAC membership was as follows:
Professor Dr. Mary Scholes – Chair
University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)
Johannesburg, South Africa
Dr. John R. Birge
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Chicago, IL, USA
Professor Dr. Mirjam de Bruijn
African Studies Centre
Leiden, Netherlands
Professor Dr. Ruth Defries
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
Columbia University
New York, NY, USA
Professor Dr. Bojie Fu
Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing, P.R. China
Professor Dr. Nils Petter Gleditch
Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
Oslo, Norway
Professor Dr. Jim Hall
Oxford University
Oxford, UK
Dr. Youba Sokona
The South Centre and the University of Surrey
Geneva, Switzerland
Professor Dr. Mari Elka Pangestu
University of Indonesia and Centre for Strategic and International Studies
Jakarta, Indonesia
Professor Dr. Silvia Elena Giorguli Saucedo
El Colegio de México
Mexico
Professor Dr. Roberto Schaeffer
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Professor Dr. Igor Sheremet
Bauman Moscow State Technical State University
Moscow, Russian Federation
Professor Dr. Karen Helen Wiltshire
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Helgoland, Germany
IIASA management
During 2019 IIASA was structured into nine research programs and five departments that support the institute’s scientific activities. In addition to the appointments of deputy director general for science and chief operations officer mentioned above, the following personnel changes took place:
- Leena Srivastava commenced her 5-year appointment as the deputy director general for science on 15 November.
- The term of Nebojsa Nakicenovic as deputy director general ended on 30 June. For the period between 1 July – 14 November Elena Rovenskaya filled the position of acting deputy director general.
- A new position of chief operations officer was created to provide administrative leadership at the institute and ensure that researchers are supported by an enabling operational environment. Jan Marco Müller was appointed as acting chief operations officer on 1 March.
- Sanja Drinkovic was formally appointed by the IIASA Council as governing council secretary on 1 March.
- Elena Rovenskaya took over as Evolution and Ecology Program acting director as of 11 January, replacing Ulf Dieckmann.
- Yoshihide Wada became the Water Program acting director on 11 May, replacing Simon Langan.
- Steffen Fritz was appointed Ecosystems Services and Management Program acting director as of July 2019, replacing Michael Obersteiner.
- Tanja Laßnig was confirmed as head of Human Resources as of 1 March.
- Andreas Stigler was appointed as acting head of Technical Infrastructure as of 1 March, replacing Stefan Lendl.
- Monica Manchanda was appointed as acting head of Finance and Sponsored Research following the retirement of Susan Riley on 31 August.
