Responsible Research: New #ConnectingMinds Projects Launch

Mushrooms could become key allies in building a sustainable future. The #ConnectingMinds project “BFUNGI” is investigating how mycelium – widely branched underground fungal networks – can be used as a role model for bio-based materials, circular production methods, and new forms of collaborative learning. The goal is to bring together scientific research, artistic practice, and social engagement to develop innovative solutions to the environmental challenges of the 21st century.

“The #ConnectingMinds program gives us the opportunity to work with practitioners to explore new paths toward a socio-ecological transformation. Building on our research into mycelium both as a material and a method, we are bridging scientific and social knowledge through artistic and experimental approaches. We firmly believe that sustainable solutions require shared learning processes and for people to work together as equals,” says project coordinator Sarah Kolb of the University of Arts Linz.

At the heart of this interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary project is an open mushroom lab combining science, art, design, and education. In the lab, the team is developing bio-based materials derived from mycelium, researching circular production processes, and testing new formats for knowledge exchange and collaborative experimentation. Research findings are not only obtained in the lab, but are further developed in a dialog with practitioners and the public.

BFUNGI is divided into four research areas: regenerative architecture, materials management, art & education, and design research. The close integration of these fields is intended to open up new perspectives on sustainable construction, resource-efficient materials, and resilient living environments.

In this context, the project views fungi not only as a biological resource, but also as a model for networked thinking and cooperative processes, making the mycelium the starting point for new approaches to socio-ecological transformation, in which research, creativity, and social participation go hand in hand.

Flood protection, heat mitigation measures, and new land-use planning concepts are meant to make communities more resilient to the effects of climate change. But what helps one region can be a disadvantage for others. At the same time, planners are increasingly relying on data-driven analyses and artificial intelligence, even though it is well known that AI systems can exacerbate social inequalities.

The #ConnectingMinds project “ADJUST” is exploring a key question in this context: How can adapting to climate change be planned so that it benefits everyone equally when AI is increasingly shaping planning, public participation, and political decision-making processes?

To help answer this question, ADJUST is bringing researchers in spatial planning, demography, and spatial AI (GeoAI) together with practitioners. The teams are investigating how demographic change, regional differences, and potential biases in data and AI agents influence adaptation decisions. Specifically, the project is examining how different population groups are affected by heat, what adaptation options are available to them, and how AI-based models can account for these differences more fairly.

“ADJUST is not only a project focused on fair and sustainable climate adaptation, but is also conducting basic research on spatially-oriented AI. Specifically, ADJUST is combining AI research with spatial planning and population and migration research. Together with practitioners in the field, we’re looking at how AI represents places and population groups – as well as their local and translocal perspectives – and how it can better reflect different regional realities of life, rather than making existing inequalities worse,” explains Krzysztof Janowicz, project coordinator and member of the University of Vienna’s “Data Science” network.

The goal is to develop a new equity framework for climate adaptation in Austria, which will support decision-makers in developing measures that are not only climate-resilient but also socially acceptable, fair, and responsible in their use of AI.