Biography:

Dr. Sibel Eker is a Senior Research Scholar at International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. Her interdisciplinary research profile combines systems analysis and engineering, decision sciences and social sciences, and her work brings systems thinking and uncertainty focus to climate change and sustainability problems with model-based approaches. Complementing her academic experience, she has worked with several stakeholders and policy actors such as UK DBEIS, World Bank, EIT-Climate KIC, governmental and private organizations. Her current research interests center around the drivers and implications of demand-side climate change mitigation, sustainable diets, and co-production of mitigation and sustainability scenarios through simple integrated assessment models. Sibel is a selected member of Global Young Academy where she co-led the Scientific Excellence Working Group; a Lead Author in UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7); holds multiple editorial roles and leadership roles in European research projects. She was an Assistant, then Associate Professor of System Dynamics at Radboud University, Netherlands between 2021 and 2025.

Abstract:

CHOICE project strives to mainstream Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) by embedding behavioural change and actor heterogeneity, and increasing their outreach to citizens, communities and industrial actors in the food, agriculture and land use sectors. The project employs three models for this purpose: FABLE Calculator, GLOBIOM and FeliX. This talk will discuss the role of these three models in outreach campaigns and citizen engagement, as well as the methodological improvements to capture behavior changes. The talk will then focus on the FeliX model — a feedback-rich system dynamics model of climate, economy, environment and society interactions—and how it is used to explore long-term dietary changes and sustainable development based on social dynamics.