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. Published

    Landbesitz, Raumaneignung und (Re)Produktivität im Ökotourismus

    Dannenberg, J., 2018, Zum Selbstverständnis der Gender-Studies II: Technik - Raum - Bildung. Onnen, C. & Rode-Breymann, S. (eds.). 1 ed. Berlin: Verlag Babara Budrich, Vol. 2. p. 119-134 16 p. (L'AGENda; vol. 2).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearch

  2. Published

    Landcover dynamics in relation to western tragopan occurrence in Pakistan: A regional assessment

    Saqib, Z., Malik, R. N. & Von Wehrden, H., 01.01.2013, In: Pakistan Journal of Botany. 45, S 1 (Special Issue), p. 551-559 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Landfills as sources of polyfluorinated compounds, polybrominated diphenyl ethers and musk fragrances to ambient air

    Weinberg, I., Dreyer, A. & Ebinghaus, R., 02.2011, In: Atmospheric Environment. 45, 4, p. 935-941 7 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    LAND: Klimaangepasste Kulturlandschaft - Leistungsfähiger Naturhaushalt und umweltschonende Landbewirtschaftung.

    Urban, B., Rechid, D. & Mersch, I., 2014, Kursbuch Klimaanpassung: Handlungsoptionen für die Metropolregion Hamburg. K.-N. V. (ed.). Hamburg: TuTech Verlag, p. 52-55 4 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to scientific reportsResearch

  5. Published

    Landscape context influences chytrid fungus distribution in an endangered European amphibian

    Scheele, B. C., Driscoll, D. A., Fischer, J., Fletcher, A. W., Hanspach, J., Vörös, J. & Hartel, T., 01.10.2015, In: Animal Conservation. 18, 5, p. 480-488 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Landscape diversity and the resilience of agricultural returns: a portfolio analysis of land-use patterns and economic returns from lowland agriculture

    Abson, D., Fraser, E. & Benton, T., 07.01.2013, In: Agriculture and Food Security. 2, 1, 15 p., 2.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Landscape dynamics and chronological refinement of the Middle Pleistocene Reinsdorf Sequence of Schöningen, NW Germany

    Urban, B., Kasper, T., Krahn, K. J., van Kolfschoten, T., Rech, B., Holzheu, M., Tucci, M. & Schwalb, A., 01.06.2023, In: Quaternary Research. 114, p. 148-177 30 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearch

  8. Published

    Landscape effects on bird and rodent communities and seed predation to agriculture in Israel.

    Schäckermann, J., Mandelik, Y., von Wehrden, H. & Klein, A.-M., 2012, In: Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Ökologie. 42, p. 147 1 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsConference abstract in journalResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Landscape factors affecting Parakeet damage to sunflower fields in Israel

    Schäckermann, J., Mandelik, Y. & Klein, A.-M., 2011, Book of abstracts: 41st annual meeting "Ecololgical Functions, Patters, Processes", University of Oldenburg, 5- 9 September 2011. Minden, V. (ed.). Oldenburg: Gesellschaft für Ökologie, p. 111 1 p. (Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Ökologie; no. 41).

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

  10. Published

    Landscape heterogenity affects the functional diversity of grassland Lepidoptera

    Perovic´, D., Virue´s, S. G., Börschig, C., Klein, A.-M., Krauss, J., Tscharntke, T. & Westphal, C., 2013, Building Bridges in Ecology – Linking Systems, Scales and Disciplines: Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Ökologie. Gesellschaft für Ökologie, p. 281 1 p. (Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Ökologie; no. 43).

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