The GDSI aims at providing innovation in scientific research on decision support with a particular focus on cross-disciplinary issues. In particular, the following objectives are formulated:
1. Development of a Generic Decision Making Framework
A generic framework for sustainability- and risk-informed decision support shall be established. It shall include methodical guidelines and methods in regard to: decision rationale, governance, knowledge and uncertainty representation, decision modeling, system representation, system analysis.
2. Implementation of an Open Decision Support Platform
Building on knowledge from stakeholders and literature an Open Decision Support Platform will be established. On the platform relevant data, assessment methods and models, risk and sustainability metrics are organized and made available to the public. The generic framework is also published on this platform.
3. Decision Support Toolbox
Based on input from various case studies, literature, and domain expert networks, a set of tools from different science-policy domains including models, regressions, modeling frameworks, and data processing engines shall be collected, analyzed for usefulness and application in different decision contexts, and finally documented with respect to their feasibility, applicability, and strength and limitations in different decision contexts, uncertainty handling, and integration potential with each other and in relation to the Generic Decision Support Framework.
4. Decision Making Case Studies
The generic framework is applied to several application domains in the context of research as well as consulting activities. Possible applications include the implementation of food production systems, natural hazards risk management, climate adaption and transport infrastructure management.