Water and climate expert Professor Pavel Kabat has been appointed Director of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria, effective today, February 1, 2012.

Professor Kabat joins IIASA following a distinguished career in scientific research and research management. He retains a Professorship at the Earth System Science and Climate Change Group, of which he is the immediate past Chair.

“Pavel Kabat has an impeccable record both as a scientist and a science leader”, says Professor Peter Lemke, Chair of the IIASA Council. “He brings to IIASA expertise in many aspects of global change, specifically the interaction of humans with the natural environment – an interaction that is at the heart of some of the most intangible issues facing science and policy communities today, such as the sustainable management of food and water resources, and energy access, areas that are of strategic research importance to IIASA.”

“IIASA’s role as an international, interdisciplinary organization is to bring nations together to better define and address these issues from a scientific perspective, and importantly, to ensure these findings are accessible to decision-makers in government and industry. In Prof. Kabat we have a leader with the interdisciplinary knowledge, international perspectives, and the management expertise to ensure IIASA is able to maintain and grow what is a rather unique place in the international science community,” says Lemke. “On behalf of the IIASA Council, which represents the interests of the science academies and research organizations in nearly 20 nations around the world, I warmly welcome Prof. Kabat to IIASA.”

Read more at the IIASA website.