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.

  1. 2015
  2. Published

    The ground beetle supertribe zuphiitae in the southern levant: (Coleoptera, carabidae)

    Austin, K., Buse, J., Chikatunov, V., Drees, C., Felix, R. F. F. L., Friedman, A. L. L., Khoury, F., Renan, I., Schmidt, C., Wrase, D. W., Aßmann, T., Marcus, T. & Boutaud, E., 01.12.2015, In: Spixiana. 38, 2, p. 237-262 26 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    The IRENA Project Navigator: Developing bankable renewable energy projects

    Roesch, R., Sánchez, C. G. R., Benmarraze, S., Salgado Gonzalez, A. & Bohr, K., 01.12.2015, In: Development (Basingstoke). 58, 4, p. 556-563 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    The significance of different health institutions and their respective contributions of active pharmaceutical ingredients to wastewater

    Herrmann, M., Olsson, O., Fiehn, R., Herrel, M. & Kümmerer, K., 01.12.2015, In: Environmental international. 85, p. 61-76 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    What role for frames in scalar conflicts?

    Jürges, N. & Newig, J., 01.12.2015, In: Land Use Policy. 49, p. 426-434 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Excavations at Schöningen and paradigm shifts in human evolution

    Conard, N. J., Serangeli, J., Böhner, U., Starkovich, B. M., Miller, C. E., Urban, B. & van Kolfschoten, T., 02.12.2015, In: Journal of Human Evolution. 89, p. 1-17 17 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Lexsyg smart - A luminescence detection system for dosimetry, material research and dating application

    Richter, D., Richter, A. & Dornich, K., 04.12.2015, In: Geochronometria. 42, 1, p. 202-209 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Living in Heterogeneous Woodlands - Are Habitat Continuity or Quality Drivers of Genetic Variability in a Flightless Ground Beetle?

    Marcus, T., Boch, S., Durka, W., Fischer, M., Gossner, M. M., Müller, J., Schöning, I., Weisser, W. W., Drees, C. & Assmann, T., 07.12.2015, In: PLoS ONE. 10, 12, 18 p., e0144217.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Multitrophic diversity in a biodiverse forest is highly nonlinear across spatial scales

    Schuldt, A., Wubet, T., Buscot, F., Staab, M., Aßmann, T., Böhnke-Kammerlander, M., Both, S., Erfmeier, A., Klein, A.-M., Ma, K., Pietsch, K., Schultze, S., Wirth, C., Zhang, J., Zumstein, P. & Bruelheide, H., 10.12.2015, In: Nature Communications. 6, 8 p., 10169.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Polychlorinated Biphenyls in a Temperate Alpine Glacier: 2. Model Results of Chemical Fate Processes

    Steinlin, C., Bogdal, C., Pavlova, P. A., Schwikowski, M., Lüthi, M. P., Scheringer, M., Schmid, P. & Hungerbühler, K., 15.12.2015, In: Environmental Science & Technology. 49, 24, p. 14092-14100 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Tree cover mediates the effect on rapeseed leaf damage of excluding predatory arthropods, but in an unexpected way

    Lemessa, D., Samnegård, U., Hambäck, P. A. & Hylander, K., 15.12.2015, In: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 211, p. 57-64 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review