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. 2017
  2. Published

    Irreversibility and uncertainty cause an intergenerational equity-efficiency trade-off

    Hoberg, N. & Baumgärtner, S., 01.01.2017, In: Ecological Economics. 131, p. 75-86 12 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Key features for more successful place-based sustainability research on social-ecological systems: a Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) perspective

    Balvanera, P., Daw, T. M., Gardner, T. A., Martín-López, B., Norström, A. V., Ifejika Speranza, C., Spierenburg, M., Bennett, E. M., Farfan, M., Hamann, M., Kittinger, J. N., Luthe, T., Maass, M., Peterson, G. D. & Perez-Verdin, G., 01.01.2017, In: Ecology and Society. 22, 1, 45 p., 14.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Mandelic acid derived ionic liquids: Synthesis, toxicity and biodegradability

    Prydderch, H., Haiß, A., Spulak, M., Quilty, B., Kümmerer, K., Heise, A. & Gathergood, N., 01.01.2017, In: RSC Advances. 7, 4, p. 2115-2126 12 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Relational leadership for strategic sustainability: practices and capabilities to advance the design and assessment of sustainable business models

    Kurucz, E. C., Colbert, B. A., Lüdeke-Freund, F., Upward, A. & Willard, B., 01.01.2017, In: Journal of Cleaner Production. 140, p. 189-204 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Research in-between: The constitutive role of cultural differences in transdisciplinarity

    Vilsmaier, U., Brandner, V. & Engbers, M., 01.01.2017, In: Transdisciplinary Journal of Engineering & Science. 8, p. 169-179 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Sustainability and Education

    Michelsen, G. & Fischer, D., 01.01.2017, Sustainable Development Policy: A European Perspective. von Hauff, M. & Kuhnke, C. (eds.). London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 135-158 24 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

  8. Published

    The 6-month effectiveness of Internet-based guided self-help for depression in adults with Type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus

    Ebert, D. D., Nobis, S., Lehr, D., Baumeister, H., Riper, H., Auerbach, R. P., Snoek, F. J., Cuijpers, P. & Berking, M., 01.01.2017, In: Diabetic Medicine. 34, 1, p. 99–107 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Transformation products in the water cycle and the unsolved problem of their proactive assessment: A combined in vitro/in silico approach

    Menz, J., Toolaram, A. P., Rastogi, T., Leder, C., Olsson, O., Kümmerer, K. & Schneider, M., 01.01.2017, In: Environmental international. 98, p. 171-180 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    What influences environmental entrepreneurship? A multilevel analysis of the determinants of entrepreneurs’ environmental orientation

    Hörisch, J., Kollat, J. & Brieger, S. A., 01.01.2017, In: Small Business Economics. 48, 1, p. 47-69 23 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Preventing Depression in Adults With Subthreshold Depression: Health-Economic Evaluation Alongside a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial of a Web-Based Intervention

    Buntrock, C., Berking, M., Smit, F., Lehr, D., Nobis, S., Riper, H., Cuijpers, P. & Ebert, D. D., 04.01.2017, In: Journal of Medical Internet Research. 19, 1, 16 p., e5.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesTransferpeer-review