Wilfried Winiwarter

Biography

Wilfried Winiwarter is a chemical engineer by training. He earned a PhD in environmental analytical chemistry at Vienna University of Technology in 1988. Following post-doctoral research in the U.S. and again in Vienna he joined Austria's largest non-university research center, the Austrian Research Centers at Seibersdorf, on mostly project-related research related to emission inventories and emission abatement. On a term-of-leave, Dr. Winiwarter joined IIASA in 2003, while maintaining (at varying degrees of intensity) an affiliation with his old institute. He relinquished this association upon accepting the position of Professor of Systems Sciences at the University of Graz (part-time, limited period contract 2012-2014). Since February 2014 he has been contributing full-time to IIASA's Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases (AIR) Program (formerly Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program). Dr. Winiwarter’s interest in systems analysis derives from the overarching challenges of climate research. Originally an atmospheric scientist and specialist in assessing the release of trace compounds into the atmosphere, his expertise was called upon to quantify current and potential future emissions of climate relevant greenhouse gases, specifically nitrous oxide in the GAINS model. This triggered his interest in investigating global biogeochemical cycles, focusing on the nitrogen cycle. The interaction between physical and social systems and their respective interferences now also serves as a major focus of his work. He serves as a Director of the European Centre of the International Nitrogen Initiative, as a deputy chairman to the Climate and Air Quality Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and teaches at several Austrian universities.

Research Interest

Dr. Winiwarter’s interest in systems analysis derives from the overarching challenges of climate research.