Research

The StartClim climate research program was founded in 2002 by the AustroClim climate research initiative in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment. It is a flexible instrument that can quickly address current issues in the field of climate change thanks to its short duration and annual awarding of projects. Within the framework of StartClim projects, new topics related to climate and climate change can and should be researched in an interdisciplinary manner from a wide variety of perspectives and disciplines. The project “StartClim2026 – Scientific Management” offers scientific management for quality assurance in the implementation of the StartClim program in the 2026 tender period.

Climate change is increasingly influencing agricultural systems in Europe through rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns and a higher frequency of extreme weather events such as droughts, heavy precipitation or late frosts. These changes affect plant development, increase production risks and can change the climatic suitability of agricultural regions. At the same time, it remains a challenge to translate climate information into usable decision-making bases for agriculture. The Destination Earth initiative (DestinE) provides high-resolution climate simulations for this purpose, which open up new possibilities for advanced climate risk analyses. Goals and innovation content The project is developing a proof-of-concept (TRL4) for the Agro-Climate Risk Intelligence (ACRI) framework, which combines climate simulations from the DestinE Climate and Extremes Digital Twins with Earth observation data and plant growth models. Using the ARIS modelling approach, it will analyse how climatic conditions affect plant development, climate stress and potential yield impacts in Europe. Expected results The project provides a methodological framework as well as analytical workflows for the assessment of climate-related crop risks, including indicators of heat stress, drought stress, waterlogging and frost risks. Demonstration visualisations show spatial patterns of climate-related risks and potential impacts on selected crops. The results demonstrate the feasibility of combining DestinE climate data, Earth observation information and crop modelling for the analysis of agricultural climate risks and form the basis for a possible future development into an operational service.

CLIMATE-Arch investigates the dynamic relationships between climatic conditions, climate change and vernacular architecture in the Alps and the Himalayas. Vernacular architecture is rooted in local knowledge, regional building traditions and locally available materials, and is closely connected to the climatic conditions of its region. Climate change and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events are driving new adaptations in the design, construction, materiality, use and protection of vernacular buildings, particularly in mountainous environments. The interdisciplinary project examines these transformation processes at selected sites and across different altitudes in the Alps and the Himalayas. It considers environmental, social, economic and technical factors in an integrated way. The aim is to develop a comparative methodology for understanding the complex transformation of vernacular architecture in response to climate and climate change across the past, present and future.