School of Sustainability
Organisational unit: Research School
- Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM)
- Institute of Ecology
- Institute of Ethics and Transdisciplinary Sustainability Research
- Institute of Sustainability Governance
- Institute of Sustainability Material Flows and Circularity
- Institute of Sustainability Psychology
- Institute of Sustainable Chemistry
- Social-Ecological Systems Institute (SESI)
- Sustainability Education and Transdisciplinary Research Institute
Organisation profile
Sustainability has many facets. Inter- and transdisciplinary research and teaching characterize the School of Sustainability. Scientists in our research projects work together in the laboratory, on the heath, in the grassland, in the classroom, with the city administration, with farmers, with non-governmental organizations, with companies, with students in the lecture hall and of course at their desks.
Furthermore, we work with regional and national political actors, e.g. ministries, as well as international organizations, e.g. UNEP, UNESCO, EU. We are part of national and international bodies, e.g. sustainability advisory boards of companies, member of the German Sustainability Award, World Biodiversity Council (IPBES), in order to contribute to social change with scientific findings.
Main research areas
Vision
Sustainability science investigates on a theoretical, conceptual and empirical level how to promote sustainable development and how to find and implement effective solutions for current social and ecological challenges. The aim is to create a more sustainable future.
Sustainability researchers are called upon to take responsibility for their research, which is anchored in existing scientific knowledge and methods and serves to make the world a better place for everyone.
Mission
We promote change towards a sustainable future by developing theories, concepts and practices of inclusive education for sustainability, research, governance and management.
We acknowledge the diversity and dynamics of values, norms and behaviour and contribute with transdisciplinary methods to ensuring that tensions and differences between different disciplines, methods, topics and standards are fruitfully taken up and used with productive compromises and further developments towards sustainable development.
Principles
The School of Sustainability is guided by the normative concepts of ecological system integrity and social and economic justice.
Ecological system integrity refers to the safeguarding of life-support systems, as well as the maintenance of the well-being of life on Earth.
With social and economic justice we strive for a world in which all people can fulfil their potential without endangering system integrity and the well-being of others.
Information about the School
The School of Sustainability includes...
... ca. 25 professors
... ca. 100 research assistants
... ca. 1000 students in Bachelor and Master courses
In various inter- and transdisciplinary projects we are constantly researching and working together on changes and solutions for current challenges.
ISC3: Internationales Kooperationszentrum Nachhaltige Chemie ISC3 Phase II
Kümmerer, K. (Project manager, academic)
01.01.21 → 31.12.24
Project: Other
Regularities in Reading Times
Wallot, S. (Project manager, academic)
01.01.21 → 31.12.22
Project: Research
Social Innovation Thinkathon - Innovative teaching and learning concepts: Innovation plus
Hörisch, J. (Project manager, academic) & Fokuhl, M. (Project staff)
Ministry of Science and Culture of the State of Lower Saxony
01.01.21 → 31.12.22
Project: Teaching
The Interplay of Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Conflicts as a Barrier to Sustainable Solutions
Majer, J. (Project manager, academic) & Trötschel, R. (Project manager, academic)
01.01.21 → 31.03.24
Project: Research
VidEX: Video4Bio – Lehren und Lernen mittels biologischer Experimentier-Videos
Stinken-Rösner, L. (Project manager, academic)
01.01.21 → 31.12.21
Project: Other
Gender Equality in the 21st Century - Country-Level and Individual-Level Factors Related to Women’s and Men’s Intentions to Contribute to Childcare – A Cross-National Comparison across 49 Countries
Schuster, C. (Project manager, academic), Martiny, S. E. (Partner), Schmader, T. (Partner), Block, K. (Partner), Van Laar, C. (Partner) & Meeussen, L. (Partner)
15.01.21 → 31.12.23
Project: Research
RangeX: Mechanisms underlying the success and impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of range-expanding species under climate change
Haider, S. (Project manager, academic), Buhaly, M. (Project staff), Alexander, J. M. (Coordination), Clark, V. R. (Partner), Høye, T. T. (Partner), Kardol, P. (Partner) & Vandvik, V. (Partner)
01.04.21 → 31.03.25
Project: Research
ZIL-Kontakt: Sustainable information logistics for digital contact tracing of infectious diseases
Drews, P. (Project manager, academic), Funk, B. (Project manager, academic), Heger, J. (Project manager, academic), Lehr, D. (Project manager, academic), Zimmer, M. P. (Coordination), Kortmann, F. (Project staff), Fassmeyer, P. (Project staff) & Usko, N. (Project manager, academic)
21.05.21 → 31.03.23
Project: Research
INPLAMINT 3: INPLAMINT - Erhöhung der landwirtschaftlichen Nährstoffnutzungseffizienz durch Optimierung von Pflanze-Boden-Mikroorganismen-Wechselwirkungen (Teilprojekt F)
Temperton, V. (Project manager, academic)
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
01.06.21 → 31.12.24
Project: Research
C2C-Modellregion: Modellvorhaben: Neue Strategien und Strukturen für eine Cradle to Cradle Modellregion in Nordost-Niedersachsen
Braungart, M. (Project manager, academic)
01.06.21 → 30.04.24
Project: Research
A-SYM: The role of (non-)synchronous coordination and its quantification in joint action
Wallot, S. (Project manager, academic), Mønster, D. (Project manager, academic), Leonardi, G. (Project manager, academic) & Gordon, I. (Project manager, academic)
01.07.21 → 30.06.25
Project: Research
DigiTaL - Teilprojekt 04: Methoden-Wiki
von Wehrden, H. (Project manager, academic), Chauhan, N. (Project manager, academic) & Rau, A.-L. (Project manager, academic)
01.08.21 → 31.12.25
Project: Teaching
DigiTaL - Teilprojekt 06: Skills for a Digital Future. Entwicklung eines studienbegleitenden Formats zur Reflexion des eigenen Lern- und Entwicklungsprozesses für Studierende
Abels, S. (Project manager, academic) & Dablé, N. (Coordination)
01.08.21 → 31.12.25
Project: Teaching
DigiTaL - Teilprojekt 09: Digitale Lehr-/Lernformate zur Internationalisierung der Master- und Promotionsphase
Abels, S. (Project manager, academic), Soltau, A. (Project manager, academic) & Sundermann, A. (Project staff)
01.08.21 → 31.12.25
Project: Teaching
BiodiWert II: Konzepte zur Wiederherstellung von artenreichem Grünland in Deutschland (Grassworks-2) - Koordination, Sozialökologie und Modellregion Nord
Temperton, V. (Project manager, academic), Kuhn, L. (Project staff), Cebrián-Piqueras, M. A. (Project staff), Twerski, A. (Project staff) & Patru-Duse, I. A. (Project staff)
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
01.11.21 → 30.04.25
Project: Research
Forschungskostenz. Stipendium Evely Araripe
Kümmerer, K. (Project manager, academic)
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
01.11.21 → 31.03.22
Project: Individual grant
Machbarkeitsstudie zur Operationalisierung einer interaktiven, virtuell unterstützten Lernumgebung zur Stärkung von Nachhaltigkeitskompetenzen
von Wehrden, H. (Project manager, academic)
German Federal Environmental Foundation
01.11.21 → 28.02.23
Project: Research
s4f: studies4future - Blog für Gesellschaftsgestaltung
Möller, S. (Project manager, academic)
01.11.21 → 31.12.22
Project: Transfer (Scientific Services)
Move'n'Sense: Sense of place and mobility in cross-border contexts – essentialist and progressive perspectives
Gottwald, S. (Project manager, academic) & Kołodyńska, I. (Project manager, academic)
05.11.21 → 02.01.25
Project: Research
HyperSys: High Perfomance Analytical System
Kümmerer, K. (Project manager, academic)
15.11.21 → 31.03.23
Project: Research
PRIME - Changing understandings in businesses for the achievement of societal sustainability aims
Schaltegger, S. (Project manager, academic) & Imbrogiano, J.-P. (Project staff)
01.12.21 → 31.05.23
Project: Research
Postdoc Academy - 4. Kursdurchlauf
Lang, D. J. (Project manager, academic)
07.12.21 → 07.06.22
Project: Teaching
Digidok: Das Versuchsprotokoll 2.0 - aus analog wird digital
Abels, S. (Project manager, academic) & Stinken-Rösner, L. (Project staff)
01.01.22 → 31.12.22
Project: Research
FoLe-Diklusiv: Forschendes Lernen mit digitalen Medien als Beitrag zu erfolgreicher Inklusion
Stinken-Rösner, L. (Project manager, academic) & Abels, S. (Project manager, academic)
01.01.22 → 28.02.23
Project: Research
Linking soil chemical legacies with root economics to improve the predictability of plant-soil feedbacks
Delory, B. (Project manager, academic)
01.01.22 → 31.12.24
Project: Research
Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie Niedersachsen
Heinrichs, H. (Project manager, academic), Hartmann, E. (Project staff) & Redenius, P. (Project staff)
Ministry of Science and Culture of the State of Lower Saxony
01.01.22 → 31.12.25
Project: Research
Met-Total: Plant Meta-Metabolomics – Development of an Unbiased Survey of Habitat-Dependent Metabolic Diversity (Met-Total)
Wessjohann, L. (Project manager, academic) & Haider, S. (Project staff)
01.01.22 → 31.12.24
Project: Research
P4F: Politics4Future: Youth teacher engagement on SDG 4.7 – Building political agency in youth teacher trai-nees for global citizenship learning, sustainability and social transformation
Lang, D. J. (Project manager, academic), Joon, D. (Project staff) & Bürgener, L. (Coordination)
German Federal Environmental Foundation
01.01.22 → 01.07.24
Project: Research
Towards robust detection of plant diversity & management in grasslands’ spectral signals
Doktor, D. (Project manager, academic) & Haider, S. (Project staff)
01.01.22 → 31.12.24
Project: Research
TRACE: TRACE – TRAit-environment interactions driving elevational range expansions under ClimatE change
Haider, S. (Project manager, academic) & Ratier Backes, A. (Project manager, academic)
01.01.22 → 31.12.23
Project: Research
iSleep: Investigating non-inferiority and additional benefits of internet-delivered versus face-to-face cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I): a randomised controlled trial
Lehr, D. (Project manager, academic), Grolig, L. (Project manager, academic) & Hannibal, S. (Project manager, academic)
01.02.22 → 31.01.26
Project: Research
Vom Öko zum Ökopreneur – Förderung der Gründung von nachhaltigkeitsorientierten Start-ups und KMU bei nachhaltigkeitsbewussten Studierenden und jungen Erwachsenen
Hörisch, J. (Project manager, academic) & Buhr, M. (Project staff)
German Federal Environmental Foundation
01.03.22 → 01.03.25
Project: Research
Föderung wissenschaftlicher Nachwuchs - Nachhaltige Chemie
Kümmerer, K. (Project manager, academic)
01.04.22 → 31.03.26
Project: Research
Analytische Methoden, Konzentrationen und Persistenz ausgewählter Pharmazeutika gegen die Coronavirusinfektion Covid-19 in niedersächsischen Oberflächengewässern
Kümmerer, K. (Project manager, academic)
Lower Saxony Water Management, Coastal Defence and Nature Conservation Agency
01.05.22 → 31.01.24
Project: Research
BETA-FOR: Understorey plant assemblages and primary production
von Oheimb, G. (Project manager, academic) & Fichtner, A. (Project manager, academic)
01.05.22 → 01.05.26
Project: Research
IRISS: The InteRnatIonal ecosystem for accelerating the transition to Safe-and-Sustainable-by-design materials, products and processes
Kümmerer, K. (Project manager, academic), Olsson, O. (Project manager, academic) & Apel, C. (Project staff)
01.06.22 → 31.05.25
Project: Research
TransPharm: Transforming into a sustainable European pharmaceutical sector
Kümmerer, K. (Project manager, academic) & Olsson, O. (Project manager, academic)
01.06.22 → 31.05.26
Project: Research
SPONSORs Zertifikats
Schaltegger, S. (Project manager, academic), Schmitt, C. (Coordination) & Sachs, B. (Project staff)
01.07.22 → 30.06.24
Project: Transfer (professional training)
Transformations:Räume für zukunftsorientiertes Lernen
Japsen, A. (Coordination), Meier, N. (Coordination), Wenzel, M. (Project manager, academic), Farny, S. (Project manager, academic), Schmidt, T. (Project manager, academic) & Cnossen, B. (Project manager, academic)
01.07.22 → 31.12.23
Project: Other
GrünlandVielfalt: Ökologische und gesellschaftliche Grünland-Transformation in der Ise-Niederung"
Petersen-Schlapkohl, U. (Project manager, academic), Temperton, V. (Partner) & Ernst, L. M. (Project staff)
01.10.22 → …
Project: Research
KuNaH: Hochschulen in Gesellschaft – Realexperimente transformativer Lern- und Forschungsprozesse für eine Kultur der Nachhaltigkeit an Hochschulen: Teilprojekt D - Begleitung Realexperimente und Synthese
Schaltegger, S. (Project manager, academic), Lang, D. J. (Partner), Potthast, T. (Coordination), Singer-Brodowski, M. (Partner), Nölting, B. (Partner), Parodi, O. (Partner) & Scheiding, C. (Project staff)
01.10.22 → 30.09.25
Project: Research
DAS: Studienpfad für den Beruf als kommunale*r Klimamanager*in
Hörisch, J. (Project manager, academic), Möller, S. (Project staff) & Redenius, P. (Project staff)
01.10.22 → 31.03.25
Project: Research
Circular EURO 2024
Süßenbach, J. (Project manager, academic), Schröder, S. (Project staff), Greve, S. (Project staff) & Abels, S. (Project staff)
25.10.22 → 30.06.25
Project: Research
CCEHN: Climate Change & Early Humans in the North
Urban, B. (Project manager, academic)
01.11.22 → 31.10.25
Project: Research
I4C: IMPETUS4CHANGE (I4C): Improving near-term climate predictions for societal transformation
Kause, A. (Project manager, academic)
01.11.22 → 31.10.26
Project: Research
FDS-G: Fühlen Denken Sprechen in der Grundschule - Fortbildung zur durchgängigen inhaltsorientierten Sprachförderung für alle Betreuungspersonen - Teilprojekt Emotionsentwicklung
Salisch, M. (Project manager, academic), Voltmer, K. (Project manager, academic), Koch, K. (Partner), Langlotz, M. (Partner) & Hormann, O. (Partner)
01.12.22 → 30.11.25
Project: Research
TreeDi: Tree Diversity Interactions: The role of tree-tree interactions in local neighbourhoods in Chinese subtropical forests; P2: Complementarity through trait variation
Haider, S. (Project manager, academic), Harpole, W. S. (Project manager, academic), Ma, Z. (Project manager, academic) & Yang, B. (Project manager, academic)
01.12.22 → 31.05.27
Project: Research
TreeDi: Tree Diversity Interactions (TreeDi): The role of tree-tree interactions in local neighbourhoods in Chinese subtropical forests; P1: Spatial above- and belowground complementarity
von Oheimb, G. (Project manager, academic), Fichtner, A. (Project manager, academic), Liu, X. (Project manager, academic), Ma, K. (Project manager, academic) & Bu, W. (Project manager, academic)
01.12.22 → 31.05.27
Project: Research
PlanFoL: Auf die Planung kommt es an (PlanFoL)
Abels, S. (Project manager, academic) & Hofer, E. (Project manager, academic)
01.01.23 → 30.06.26
Project: Research