On 1 April 2024, the new European research infrastructure project IRISCC was launched in Helsinki. The ambitious project will focus on risks that are driven and intensified by climate change.
The project is coordinated by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE) and brings together 80 partners from across Europe – among them NILU in Norway. IRISCC also integrates research services by 14 research infrastructures (RIs) and e-infrastructures.
IRISCC, with a budget of almost €15 million, is a 4,5 year project with a mission to bolster society’s capacity to tackle climate change risks and build resilience. It will be achieved 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.
Access to a wealth of resources
IRISCC offers access to complementary and interdisciplinary European and national RIs, encompassing observatories, experimental facilities, advanced modelling tools, and robust data infrastructures.
NILU is proud to contribute and lead the work on virtual access to climate change risk services. There will be at least 2 releases of the services.
The first release will combine existing services within the various RIs, and make them available through a common system. The second release will add the new comprehensive services developed within IRISCC, across the environmental domain combining new data and models. NILU is involved in developing one of the new services on biomass burning and fire events, and distribution of pollution.
Boosting research-based decisions
IRISCC fosters 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 are to:
- 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
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.
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 is funded by the European union under the Grant Agreement number 101131261.
