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

    Lehreinheiten zu inklusiver Fachdidaktik evidenzbasiert entwickeln

    Süßenbach, J., Greve, S., Troll, B., Besser, M. & Abels, S., 08.2017, Innovation und Technologie im Sport : 23. dvs-Hochschultag, München, 13.-15. September 2017, Abstracts. Schwirtz, A., Mess, F., Demetriou, Y. & Senner, V. (eds.). 1. ed. Hamburg: Feldhaus, Ed. Czwalina, p. 53 1 p. (Schriften der Deutschen Vereinigung für Sportwissenschaft; vol. 265).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksPublished abstract in conference proceedingsResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Ökonomistische Diskurse der Nachhaltigkeit: Bestimmende Momente und die Frage nach Alternativen

    Meyer, E. M. & Vilsmaier, U., 08.2017, Nachhaltigkeitswissenschaften und die Suche nach neuen Wissensordnungen. Pfister, T. (ed.). 1 ed. Weimar: Metropolis Verlag, p. 147-168 22 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Resource availability determines the importance of niche-based versus stochastic community assembly in grasslands

    Conradi, T., Temperton, V. M. & Kollmann, J., 08.2017, In: Oikos. 126, 8, p. 1134-1141 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published
  6. Published

    Ecosystem services in global sustainability policies

    Geijzendorffer, I. R., Cohen-Shacham, E., Cord, A. F., Cramer, W., Guerra, C. & Martín-López, B., 01.08.2017, In: Environmental Science & Policy. 74, p. 40-48 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Growth and phycocyanin synthesis in the heterotrophic microalga Galdieria sulphuraria on substrates made of food waste from restaurants and bakeries

    Sloth, J., Jensen, H. C., Pleißner, D. & Eriksen, N. T., 01.08.2017, In: Bioresource Technology. 238, p. 296-305 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published
  9. Published

    New chronometric age estimates for the context of the Neanderthal from Wannen-Ochtendung (Germany) by TL and argon dating

    Richter, D., Klinger, P., Schmidt, C., van den Bogaard, P. & Zöller, L., 01.08.2017, In: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 14, p. 127-136 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Testing socio-cultural valuation methods of ecosystem services to explain land use preferences

    Schmidt, K., Walz, A., Martín-López, B. & Sachse, R., 01.08.2017, In: Ecosystem Services. 26, Part A, p. 270-288 19 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Herbivore and pathogen effects on tree growth are additive, but mediated by tree diversity and plant traits

    Schuldt, A., Hönig, L., Li, Y., Fichtner, A., Härdtle, W., von Oheimb, G., Welk, E. & Bruehlheide, H., 09.2017, In: Ecology and Evolution. 7, 18, p. 7462-7474 13 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review