IOER strengthens collaboration with KRIHS in South Korea

At an online meeting on 29 October, Dr Gyo-Eon Shim, President of the South Korean KRIHS, and Professor Marc Wolfram, Director of the IOER, signed a Memorandum of Understanding. It underpins the contacts that have already existed between the two institutions for several years and provides a long-term framework for their further collaboration, in particular for joint research and exchange in the field of sustainable transformation of regions, cities and urban districts.

Both institutes contribute extensive experience in the development and implementation of strategies for adapting to climate change and protecting the environment. The planned joint work will focus on the urban and regional climate change mitigation and adaptation and other environmental risk protection, as well as the circularity in cities, regions and the construction sector. Another focus will be the exchange on spatial data science and geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI).

The IOER and KRIHS intend to conduct more joint research projects in the future. The collaboration also includes the joint organisation of and participation in conferences and symposia as well as reciprocal research stays by scientists. For example, Dr Seungman An from KRIHS is currently working as a visiting scholar at the IOER. Until February 2025, the landscape planner and landscape architect is researching the adaptation of cities to climatic change. His aim is to develop a methodology that can be used to quickly and easily analyse the effects of both built and "green" elements on the urban climate.

The Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS) is a state-funded think tank. The KRIHS is affiliated to the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences in the Prime Minister's Office and is roughly comparable to the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung/BBSR) in Germany. The almost 400 employees of the KRIHS conduct research into sustainable land use, nature conservation and resource management.
On the part of the KRIHS, the collaboration with the IOER is supported by the affiliated Global Development Partnership Center (GDPC). The GDPC supports developing countries in their territorial development efforts through policy consultation, capacity building program, knowledge exchange and international research.

In addition to Dr Gyo-Eon Shim, President of KRIHS, and Professor Marc Wolfram, Director of the IOER, other researchers from both sides took part in the signing of the MoU. On the KRIHS side, these were Dr Youn Hee Jeong (Director of Global Development Partnership Center and MoU contact), Dr Eunji Choi (Associate Research Fellow, GDPC), Dr Eunmo Yang (Associate Research Fellow, GDPC) and Jiin Nam (Researcher, GDPC). The IOER was represented by: Dr Marco Neubert (Senior Researcher and MoU contact), Prof. Dr Wolfgang Wende (Head of Research Area “Landscape, Ecosystems and Biodiversity”), Dr Georg Schiller (Head of Research Group “Anthropogenic and Natural Resources”) and Prof. Dr Jochen Schanze (Head of Knowledge Integration Hub).

Scientific contact at the IOER
Dr. Marco Neubert, e-mail: M.Neubertioer@ioer.de