Climate Risk, Modelling, and Impacts: A Collaborative Approach to Understanding and Addressing Climate Change

Organizers:

Chahan Kropf (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Valentin Gebhart (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

This workshop aims at the interdisciplinary exploration of climate risks, climate modelling, and the impacts of climate change on society, ecosystems, and economic systems. Potential topics include climate risk assessment and uncertainty, advances in climate modelling techniques, impacts of climate change on society, ecosystems, and economy, measurement and validation techniques, adaptation strategies and policy development, and evaluation of mitigation efforts and effectiveness. We welcome young as well as established researchers and practitioners from a broad range of fields including climate science, risk modelling, social sciences, data science and machine learning, ecology, physics, meteorology, biology, economy; and practitioners from NGOs and government institutions. Inspirational ideas for concrete collaborative projects: global state-of-the-planet stock take, what is risk and how to define it, story-narratives for possible futures, multi-dimensional stress-test scenarios, etc.

The workshop will take place IN-PERSON in Benasque, a beautiful village located in the heart of the Pyrenees. The collaborative environment provided by the Centro de Ciencias in Benasque has proven highly fruitful in earlier unconference-style workshops.

Flexible workshop format

The workshop’s main goal is to create a collaborative environment in which experts can engage in in-depth discussions and develop actionable approaches to climate adaptation and mitigation. To encourage broad participation and foster interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary exchange, the workshop follows an open-schedule unconference format that allows discussions to evolve organically around participants’ interests. Each morning at 10:00, participants will gather to propose topics and ideas for discussion before breaking into smaller groups for focused sessions. Every second day, the workshop will also feature a panel discussion centered on selected topic highlights, as outlined in the table below.

Poster sessions

We will host a poster session in both week 1 and week 2, where participants can share their research and ideas. If you would like to contribute a poster, please indicate this in the “Other comments” section of the application form, including a tentative title and short abstract.

Topic highlights

A preliminary list of topics for the panel discussions, held every two days, is provided below. The agenda is intentionally flexible and may be expanded or adjusted at short notice to reflect participants’ interests and emerging discussions.

Topic	Speakers	Outcomes	Description
Climate Tipping Risks	Niki Lohmann, Rike Mühlhaus	Interdisciplinary framework & assessment of tipping risks & uncertainties	This session focuses on how to model and conceptualize the impacts of climate extremes on ecosystems, biodiversity, and ecosystem service provision, while also clarifying how “climate extremes” are defined across different contexts. It further explores how these insights can be translated into conservation planning strategies under climate change, linking process understanding with practical decision-making.
An open journal leveraging software forge for reproducible science	Dr. Samuel Juhel	A clear roadmap for the development of such a journal and a motivated community to make it happen!	Software forges such as GitLab and GitHub are already used by venues like the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS) to manage the full publication workflow for research software. This approach could be extended to all code-based research outputs by leveraging continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) to improve transparency, reproducibility, and ease of updating with new data, models, and methods, enabling a more open and dynamic form of scientific publishing.
Methods for climate justice in undisciplinary times	Ying-Syuan (Elaine) Huang	Insights on how sequencing, weighting, and leadership shape research outcomes; mapping of key methodological and institutional tensions climate research; exploration of a potential synthesis note or collaborative perspective piece; formation of a small network for continued collaboration beyond the session.	Technical solutions alone cannot address the complexity of climate change, which is shaped by social, political, cultural, and institutional contexts that influence how evidence is interpreted and applied. This session explores how social sciences and humanities can take a stronger role in interdisciplinary climate research by addressing questions of justice, uncertainty, epistemic authority, and the practical challenges of integrating disciplines in ways that are scientifically robust, institutionally feasible, and socially legitimate.
Using storylines to assess inequality as a driver of climate risk	Dr. Bina Desai	Framework outline for methodology and storyline on the role of inequality in driving climate and disaster risk; dedicated working group/ joint project on full development and application of the methodology in 2026-27.	The storyline approach helps bridge the gap between probabilistic risk models and local decision-making by exploring plausible scenarios in specific contexts, including poorly understood or data-scarce processes. This discussion will examine how growing wealth inequality and the concentration of wealth among top income groups may amplify climate-related exposure and vulnerability, using case studies such as hazard-prone megacities or food-producing regions to explore externalized risk, reduced accountability, and resulting economic and non-economic loss and damage.
Cascading and cross-sector risks in national climate vulnerability and risk assessments (CVRA)	Theódóra Matthíasdóttir	Exchange on systemic and cascading climate risks; comparison of emerging approaches; identification of key integration challenges; cross-country learning	This session explores systemic and cascading climate risks in national vulnerability and risk assessments (CVRAs), with a focus on cross-sector interdependencies and emerging approaches such as Spain’s recent framework. It highlights practical and governance challenges in integrating systemic risks into CVRAs and facilitates exchange of experiences across countries, including ongoing work in Iceland.
Biodiversity, disturbance, climate extreme and conservation	TBA	Climate extreme and biodiversity framework	This session explores how to model and conceptualize the impacts of climate extremes on ecosystems, biodiversity, and ecosystem service provision, including how climate extremes are defined and characterized across contexts. It further examines how these insights can inform and improve conservation planning under climate change by linking impact understanding with practical decision-making.
Arts for impact communication	TBA	Visual art on climate impacts	This session explores ways to bridge the gap between dense academic data and public understanding by making complex science more accessible and engaging. It focuses on the potential of collaborations between scientists and artists to translate research findings into intuitive, thought-provoking forms that foster emotional connection and broader resonance.
Social-compatible SSPs	TBA	Report evaluation of social-realism of SSPs	This session examines the social compatibility of Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), with a focus on evaluating their social realism and representativeness of diverse societal conditions. It explores what is required for a socially grounded and feasible climate transition, including key assumptions, trade-offs, and structural transformations.

Registration and acceptance

Registration is open until Jul 10 2026. You can register for the whole two weeks (450 eur), which is preferred and recommended, or only for one of the weeks (350 eur). You will receive an acceptance confirmation by Jul 17 2026 at the latest. The first 75 registrations will be accepted by default. After that, if there is high request, participants who register for two weeks will be given precedence.

The registration fee includes transportation by bus from and to Barcelona, coffee breaks with cakes and fruits for all working days, and one buffet type reception with wine and soft drinks. Information about accommodation, transport and Benasque can be found in the VISITORS section on http://benasque.org. Accommodation reservation will also be possible on this website from Jul 15 to Sep 10 2026.

Please pay the registration fee only after your registration has been accepted.

Registration fee information

The registration fee for this conference is:

Two weeks fee: 450 eur.
One week fee: 350 eur.

The registration fee includes:

- organised bus transportation (reserve seat in advance)
- one reception buffet
- one coffee break with pastries a day
- use of the Centro de Ciencias facilities
- technical assistance and secretarial support

*Cancellation Policy*
A 30 euro charge will be applied for cancellations made up to 10 days before the conference start date.
A no refund policy will be applied to cancellations made after this date.

Bus transportation

The center provides free buses:
From Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 686, Metro: L3 Palau Reial at 15:00h (Note that the bus stops opposite University of Barcelona, Facultat de Física i Química)

From Barcelona airport ('El Prat', Terminal T2A: on leaving exit, turn left and you will find a police building called 'Mossos d'Esquadra'.
Cross the road using the zebra crossing and turn left. The bus will stop there) at 15:30h.

Return buses:
From Benasque to Barcelona airport and then university, departure at 9:00h.
The trip by bus to Barcelona takes 4-5h. approximately. The trip by car only takes 3h 30m.

Bus trajectories and dates:
- Barcelona-Benasque, Sep 20.
- Benasque-Barcelona, Oct 03.