UNESCO Chair “Global Citizenship Education – Culture of Diversity and Peace“ at the University of Klagenfurt: “The world is bigger than the familiar unit that is the nation state.”

The Mediterranean Sea is significantly warmer than it was just a few years ago, and at the same time heavy storms are also becoming more frequent in Austria. The example of climate change provides compelling evidence that national unilateral action and outdated recipes are no match for current global challenges. Hans Karl Peterlini has held the UNESCO Chair “Global Citizenship Education – Culture of Diversity and Peace” since 2020 and he emphasises: “We are increasingly dealing with existential issues that cannot be tackled by national governments alone.”

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To improve safety: Using swarms of drones to inspect bridges

The construction industry is also benefiting from digitalisation: BIM (Building Information Modelling) creates digital twins of construction projects, from planning to maintenance. To ensure that the condition of civil infrastructure such as bridges can be continuously mapped in the digital twin, it is planned to collect data from swarms of drones in the future. In a project funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), researchers at the University of Klagenfurt are now developing a technology that will increase the reliability and robustness of inspection missions by swarms of drones.

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Preventing the circulation of empty lorries and goods trains

The concept of pooling resources is spreading to the logistics industry: If you receive an order but do not have a vehicle in a particular location, you can cede the transportation to another company that would otherwise face an empty run. This benefits companies and the environment. However, the sharing economy means a paradigm shift for the industry. Companies are reluctant to reveal details about order volumes, costs and regular customers. A research team at the University of Klagenfurt is investigating how transport assignments can nevertheless be distributed efficiently between competing players.

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How can renewable energy satisfy the demand for electricity as far as possible?

Wind, sun and water do not produce constant amounts of energy. What’s more, renewable energy is difficult to store. Michaela Szölgyenyi is working on mathematical methods that can be used, for example, to better predict how much electricity a solar power plant will most likely produce at any given time.

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