The 1st LAMASUS & BrightSpace Summer School took place from June 2 to 6, 2025, on the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) campus in Laxenburg, Austria.
The event convened early-career researchers, students, and professionals from across Europe and beyond, focusing on advanced modelling techniques for land-use and policy analysis and offered participants an immersive experience in cutting-edge econometric, biophysical, and integrated land-use modelling, specifically tailored to assess the impacts of European agricultural policies.
The first day focused on the LAMASUS project with an introduction and overview of LAMASUS’s objectives and key outputs by Tamás Krisztin, scientific coordinator, and Petr Havlík, principal investigator. Tassos Haniotis, member of the Policy Advisory Board, discussed the relevance of key agricultural policy questions, while Linda See and Michael Wögerer introduced the Land-Use and Management (LUM) geodatabase. These sessions laid the groundwork for understanding how advanced models can inform policy decisions at various governance levels.
On the second and third days, participants dived into the BrightSpace project. Marc Müller, the project coordinator, presented BrightSpace’s objectives and outputs, and participants were introduced to GLOBIOM (Global Biosphere Management Model) and its structure, followed by hands-on sessions where they worked on scenario drivers, model outputs, and GLOBIOM-based use cases. Participants then worked on the development of five case studies focusing on regional impacts across the EU and Asia.
During Day 4, participants practiced their technical skills and real-world applications, by engaging in coding sessions using R, exploring high-resolution modelling tools, and examining the integration of LAMASUS and BrightSpace model outputs. Practice sessions addressed land-use change modelling within integrated assessment frameworks, highlighting policy implications for environmental and agricultural strategies. The day concluded with an informal excursion to the vineyards surrounding Vienna, offering participants a chance to unwind and continue their discussions in a relaxed setting.
The summer school ended with sessions dedicated to biophysical modelling as a tool to estimate agricultural land response to management interventions and changing climate at the EU scale, with an introduction and hands-on experience with the EPIC-IIASA modelling approach, and final words and exercises around LUM scenarios and biodiversity impact assessments.
We will organize a second edition of the LAMASUS & Brightspace summer school in 2026.
Information on the details for the 2026 Summer School will be available early November, 2025.
Applications for the 2026 LAMASUS / BrightSpace Summer School should be submitted by January 31st, 2026.
Source: IIASA
