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

    Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a guided internet- and mobile-based depression intervention for individuals with chronic back pain: protocol of a multi-centre randomised controlled trial

    Lin, J., Sander, L., Paganini, S., Schlicker, S., Ebert, D., Berking, M., Bengel, J., Nobis, S., Lehr, D., Mittag, O., Riper, H. & Baumeister, H., 01.12.2017, In: BMJ Open. 7, 12, 11 p., e015226 .

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Environmental justice and care: critical emancipatory contributions to sustainability discourse

    Gottschlich, D. & Bellina, L., 01.12.2017, In: Agriculture and Human Values. 34, 4, p. 941-953 13 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Interconnected place-based social–ecological research can inform global sustainability

    Balvanera, P., Calderón-Contreras, R., Castro, A. J., Felipe-Lucia, M. R., Geijzendorffer, I. R., Jacobs, S., Martín-López, B., Arbieu, U., Speranza, C. I., Locatelli, B., Harguindeguy, N. P., Mercado, I. R., Spierenburg, M. J., Vallet, A., Lynes, L. & Gillson, L., 01.12.2017, In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 29, p. 1-7 7 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  5. Published

    Introduction to the symposium on feminist perspectives on human–nature relations

    Gottschlich, D., Mölders, T. & Padmanbhan, M., 01.12.2017, In: Agriculture and Human Values. 34, 4, p. 933-940 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Mapping a sustainable future: Community learning in dialogue at the science–society interface

    Barth, M., Lang, D. J., Luthardt, P. & Vilsmaier, U., 01.12.2017, In: International Review of Education. 63, 6, p. 811 - 828 18 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Nature-gender relations within a Social-Ecological Perspective on European Multifunctional Agriculture: The Case of Agrobiodiversity

    Burandt, A. & Mölders, T., 01.12.2017, In: Agriculture and Human Values. 34, 4, p. 955–967 13 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Photodegradation of micropollutants using V-UV/UV-C processes: Triclosan as a model compound

    Alfiya, Y., Friedler, E., Westphal, J., Olsson, O. & Dubowski, Y., 01.12.2017, In: The Science of The Total Environment. 601-602, p. 397-404 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Sustainable business model research and practice: Emerging field or passing fancy?

    Lüdeke-Freund, F. & Dembek, K., 01.12.2017, In: Journal of Cleaner Production. 168, p. 1668-1678 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Thinking beyond Western commercial honeybee hives: towards improved conservation of honey bee diversity

    Matias, D. M. S., Borgemeister, C. & von Wehrden, H., 01.12.2017, In: Biodiversity and Conservation. 26, 14, p. 3499 - 3504 6 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsComments / Debate / ReportsResearch

  11. Published

    Transnational collaboration for sustainability in higher education: Lessons from a systematic review

    Caniglia, G., Lüderitz, C., Groß, M., Muhr, M., John, B., Withycombe Keeler, L., von Wehrden, H., Laubichler, M., Wiek, A. & Lang, D., 01.12.2017, In: Journal of Cleaner Production. 168, p. 764-779 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch