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. 2024
  2. Published

    Processes of sustainability transformation across systems scales: leveraging systemic change in the textile sector

    Leventon, J., Buhr, M., Keßler, L., Rodriguez Aboytes, J. G. & Beyers, F., 03.2024, In: Sustainability Science. 19, 2, p. 469-488 20 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    The relevance of international restoration principles for ecosystem restoration practice in Rwanda

    Frietsch, M., Fischer, J., Kaplin, B. A. & Martín-López, B., 03.2024, In: Restoration Ecology. 32, 3, 11 p., e14085.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Tree diversity and mycorrhizal type co-determine multitrophic ecosystem functions

    Yi, H., Eisenhauer, N., Austen, J. C., Rebollo, R., Ray, T., Bönisch, E., von Oheimb, G., Fichtner, A., Schuldt, A., Patoine, G. & Ferlian, O., 03.2024, In: Journal of Ecology. 112, 3, p. 528-546 19 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Analysis of environmental biodegradability of cellulose-based pharmaceutical excipients in aqueous media

    Bading, M., Olsson, O. & Kümmerer, K., 01.03.2024, In: Chemosphere. 352, 8 p., 141298.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    An archetype analysis of sustainability innovations in Biosphere Reserves: Insights for assessing transformative potential

    Dabard, C. H., Mann, C. & Martín-López, B., 01.03.2024, In: Environmental Science & Policy. 153, 25 p., 103674.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Assessing collaboration, knowledge exchange, and stakeholder agency in coastal governance to enhance climate resilience

    Rölfer, L., Celliers, L., Fernandes, M., Rivers, N., Snow, B. & Abson, D. J., 01.03.2024, In: Regional Environmental Change. 24, 1, 15 p., 6.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    A trainable object finder, selector and identifier for pollen, spores and other things: A step towards automated pollen recognition in lake sediments

    Theuerkauf, M., Siradze, N. & Gillert, A., 01.03.2024, In: Holocene. 34, 3, p. 297-305 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Canopy structure influences arthropod communities within and beyond tree identity effects: Insights from combining LiDAR data, insecticidal fogging and machine learning regression modelling

    Wildermuth, B., Penanhoat, A., Sennhenn-Reulen, H., Matevski, D., Drescher, J., Aubry-Kientz, M., Seidel, D. & Schuldt, A., 01.03.2024, In: Ecological Indicators. 160, 12 p., 111901.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Improving the representation of smallholder farmers’ adaptive behaviour in agent-based models: Learning-by-doing and social learning

    Apetrei, C. I., Strelkovskii, N., Khabarov, N. & Javalera Rincón, V., 01.03.2024, In: Ecological Modelling. 489, 18 p., 110609.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    ReSurveyEurope: A database of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe

    ReSurveyEurope, Knollová, I., Chytrý, M., Bruelheide, H., Dullinger, S., Haider, S. & Härdtle, W., 01.03.2024, In: Journal of Vegetation Science. 35, 2, 18 p., e13235.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Medienkultur im Wandel
  2. Veränderungspotenziale und Veränderungshindernisse am Beispiel der Gesundheitsförderung im Schulkollegium
  3. Zielfindung und Konzeptionsentwicklung in der Kooperation von Schule und Jugendhilfe
  4. Seidl I. & Zahrnt A.: Postwachstumsgesellschaft. Konzepte für die Zukunft
  5. Beteiligung und Beschwerdeverfahren in der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe
  6. Chemical profiles of body surfaces and nests from six Bornean stingless bee species
  7. Corporate Volunteering in Germany
  8. Symbolische Bedeutungsansprüche der Kulturen
  9. Medienmanagement als Personal- und Organisationsmanagement
  10. Neue Perspektiven für die waldbezogene Bildungsarbeit
  11. Funktionsbedingungen der neuen Beschäftigungsverhältnisse - eine verhaltenswissenschaftliche Analyse?
  12. Die Musikkultur der siebziger Jahre
  13. China in Africa
  14. »Lutherus gibt gut Teutsch« – der Streit um Renatus Kortums Hiob-Kommentar von 1708 als Modell für die dynamische Relationalität von Pietismus, Orthodoxie und Aufklärung
  15. „… und er würfelt doch!“ Bemerkungen zum Zufall in Gottes Handeln und Sein
  16. Kaufrecht und Werkvertragsrecht – ein systematischer Vergleich (Teil 1)
  17. Politikdidaktische Hermeneutik als Instrument der qualitativen Unterrichtsforschung
  18. Kaufrecht und Werkvertragsrecht – ein systematischer Vergleich
  19. Atomfonds: Bad Bank ist Bad Deal
  20. "Wissenschaft, Forschung, Ausbildung, Fortbildung"
  21. Kein Startschuss für Abschiebungen nach Syrien
  22. Recht auf Ineffizienz - Eine Untersuchung des Verhältnisses von Grundrechten zur Effizienz
  23. Medienreflexe, Technologie und Medienkritik in den Arbeiten Tilman Küntzels
  24. Geschäftsführung ohne Auftrag (§ 679)
  25. §14 Prinzipienordnung der Europäischen Union
  26. Partizipation von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Stadtplanung und Dorfentwicklung
  27. Das Steuerungskonzept der "regulierten Selbstregulierung" am Beispiel des Risikomanagements von Aktiengesellschaften
  28. Recht und Kultur
  29. Basel II und die Bankkreditfinanzierung von kleinen Unternehmen
  30. Internationaler Personaleinsatz
  31. Zukunft der europäischen Abschlussprüfung nach dem EU-Verordnungsentwurf vom 30.11.2011
  32. Bürgerbeteiligungsmodelle für erneuerbare Energien