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

    Green chemistry and the leisure industry: New business models for sustainability

    Pleissner, D., 12.2017, In: Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry. 8, p. 1-4 4 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  3. Published

    Nachhaltige Chemie - das künftige Leitbild

    Kümmerer, K., 12.2017, In: Angewandte Chemie. 129, 52, p. 16640-16641 2 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsOther (editorial matter etc.)Research

  4. Published

    Sustainability conflicts in Coastal India: Hazards, changing climate and development discourse in Indian Sundarbans

    Ghosh, A., 12.2017, 1 ed. Germany: Springer. 245 p. (Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research)

    Research output: Books and anthologiesMonographsResearch

  5. Published

    Toward a methodical framework for comprehensively assessing forest multifunctionality

    Trogisch, S., Schuldt, A., Bauhus, J., Blum, J. A., Both, S., Buscot, F., Castro-Izaguierre, N., Chesters, D., Durka, W., Eichenberg, D., Erfmeier, A., Fischer, M., Geißler, C., Germany, M., Goebes, P., Gutknecht, J., Hahn, C. Z., Haider, S., Härdtle, W., He, J.-S., Hector, A., Hönig, L., Huang, Y., Klein, A.-M., Kühn, P., Kunz, M., Leppert, K. N., Li, Y., Liu, X., Niklaus, P. A., Pei, Z., Pietsch, K., Prinz, R., Proß, T., Scherer-Lorenzen, M., Schmidt, K., Scholten, T., Seitz, S., Song, Z., Staab, M., von Oheimb, G., Weißbecker, C., Welk, E., Wirth, C., Wubet, T., Yang, B., Yang, X., Zhu, C.-D., Schmid, B., Ma, K. & Bruelheide, H., 12.2017, In: Ecology and Evolution. 7, 24, p. 10652-10674 23 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Upsides and downsides of the sharing economy: Collaborative consumption business models’ stakeholder value impacts and their relationship to context

    Dreyer, B., Lüdeke-Freund, F., Hamann, R. & Faccer, K., 12.2017, In: Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 125, p. 87-104 18 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published
  8. Published

    Antimicrobial activity of pharmaceutical cocktails in sewage treatment plant effluent: An experimental and predictive approach to mixture risk assessment

    Menz, J., Baginska, E., Arrhenius, Å., Haiß, A., Backhaus, T. & Kümmerer, K., 01.12.2017, In: Environmental Pollution. 231, 2, p. 1507-1517 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Autotrophic and heterotrophic microalgae and cyanobacteria cultivation for food and feed: life cycle assessment

    Smetana, S., Sandmann, M., Rohn, S., Pleißner, D. & Heinz, V., 01.12.2017, In: Bioresource Technology. 245, Part A, p. 162-170 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Belowground top-down and aboveground bottom-up effects structure multitrophic community relationships in a biodiverse forest

    Schuldt, A., Bruelheide, H., Buscot, F., Assmann, T., Erfmeier, A., Klein, A.-M., Ma, K., Scholten, T., Staab, M., Wirth, C., Zhang, J. & Wubet, T., 01.12.2017, In: Scientific Reports. 7, 1, 9 p., 4222.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Drought effects on root and needle terpenoid content of a coastal and an interior Douglas fir provenance

    Kleiber, A., Duan, Q., Jansen, K., Junker, L. V., Kammerer, B., Rennenberg, H., Ensminger, I., Gessler, A. & Kreuzwieser, J., 01.12.2017, In: Tree Physiology. 37, 12, p. 1648-1658 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review