Lennart Koch, an early-career researcher at the Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment at UMIT TIROL, was awarded the Young ÖGPH Award (second place) at the Annual Meeting of the Austrian Public Health Association (ÖGPH). The award recognized a systematic literature review on the association between heat and hospitalizations due to cardiovascular, respiratory and cerebrovascular diseases.

The award-winning study (“A Systematic Review on the Association between Heat Exposure and Hospitalizations with Cardiovascular, Respiratory and Cerebrovascular Diseases in Warm Temperate Climates Representative for Austria”) was conducted as part of Koch’s doctoral thesis in collaboration with the Climate and Health Competence Centre of the Austrian National Public Health Institute and within the CATALYSE project.The project is being carried out at UMIT TIROL under the supervision of Associate Professor Gaby Sroczynski from the Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment (IPH), and two other CATALYSE partners, ISGlobal (Spain) and ASL ROMA 1 (Italy).

The study examined the existing scientific evidence for warm temperate climate zones relevant to west and central Europe. The findings are intended to contribute to a better understanding of the health effects of heat and to provide a foundation for investigating suitable measures in Europe. The results show that increasing heat is associated not only with a rise in the number of deaths, but probably also with an increase in acute hospital admissions due to cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory diseases. Children and older people also appear to be particularly vulnerable to such hospital admissions.

“I am very pleased to receive this award. As with almost all scientific studies, but particularly systematic reviews, it is above all an award for the entire team, which provided support and contributed at every stage,” says Lennart Koch. At the same time, the award highlights the importance of continuing to address the health effects of climate change.

Associate Professor Gaby Sroczynski views the award as recognition of the research achievement and, at the same time, as a signal of the importance of evidence-based decision sciences in the field of climate and health.

Professor Uwe Siebert, Head of the IPH at UMIT TIROL Private University, emphasizes the importance of the newly established research focus “Climate Change and Health”: “I am particularly pleased that this enables us to offer early-career researchers excellent opportunities to contribute to major European research consortia and to advance their own ideas.”

This award underlines the growing importance of the ‘Health and Climate Change’ research field at UMIT TIROL and highlights projects like CATALYSE, which seek to provide new knowledge, data, and tools to accelerate climate action and protect public health in Europe.

Hall in Tirol, 28 September 2026

Early-career researcher Lennart Koch, MPH (right), from the IPH at UMIT TIROL, is delighted to receive the Early-Career Research Award of the Austrian Public Health Association (ÖGPH), which was presented to him by Gilles Bernard (left), Co-Chair of YOUNG ÖGPH