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. 2021
  2. Published
  3. Published

    Aquatic and terrestrial proxy evidence for Middle Pleistocene palaeolake and lake-shore development at two Lower Palaeolithic sites of Schöningen, Germany

    Krahn, K. J., Tucci, M., Urban, B., Pilgrim, J., Frenzel, P., Soulié-Märsche, I. & Schwalb, A., 07.2021, In: Boreas. 50, 3, p. 723-745 23 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Local and landscape responses of biodiversity in calcareous grasslands

    Loos, J., Krauss, J., Lyons, A., Föst, S., Ohlendorf, C., Racky, S., Röder, M., Hudel, L., Herfert, V. & Tscharntke, T., 07.2021, In: Biodiversity and Conservation. 30, 8-9, p. 2415-2432 18 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    “Plantas que toda la vida han estado”: una co-investigación alrededor de la cocina y las relaciones bioculturales asociadas a plantas alimenticias locales en la ruralidad de Bogotá

    Consuegra, C., Ortiz-Przychodzka, S., Cely-Santos, M., van der Hammen, M. C. & Pérez, D., 07.2021, In: Revista de Antropología y Sociología: Virajes. 23, 2, p. 163-185 23 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published
  7. Published

    Planung naturbasierter Lösungen in Flusslandschaften: Ein Handbuch für die Praxis

    Schröter, B., Brillinger, M., Gottwald, S., Guerrero, P., Henze, J., Ott, E., Schmidt, S. & Albert, C., 01.07.2021, 1 ed. München: oekom verlag GmbH. 117 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesBook

  8. Published

    The effect of industrialization and globalization on domestic land-use: A global resource footprint perspective

    Dorninger, C., von Wehrden, H., Krausmann, F., Bruckner, M., Feng, K., Hubacek, K., Erb, K. H. & Abson, D. J., 01.07.2021, In: Global Environmental Change. 69, 21 p., 102311.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Influence of altitude and longitude on vegetation in the dzungarian gobi and the south-western mongolian altai

    Chuluunkhuyag, O., Chaoyan, L., Treiber, J., Batlai, O., von Wehrden, H., Feller, R. & Wesche, K., 08.07.2021, In: Phytocoenologia. 50, 4, p. 339-369 31 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Food forests: Their services and sustainability

    Albrecht, S. & Wiek, A., 10.07.2021, In: Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development . 10, 3, p. 91-105 15 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Cooperating With “Open Cards”—The Role of Small Intermediary Businesses in Realizing Sustainable International Coffee Supply

    Weber, H. & Wiek, A., 15.07.2021, In: Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 5, 14 p., 663716.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review