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

    New evidence for vegetation development and timing of Upper Middle Pleistocene interglacials in Northern Germany and tentative correlations

    Urban, B., Sierralta, M. & Frechen, M., 15.08.2011, In: Quaternary International. 241, 1-2, p. 125-142 18 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  2. Published

    New ideas for modern phytosociological monographs

    Dengler, J., Berg, C. & Jansen, F., 2005, In: Annali di Botanica. 5, p. 193-210 18 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    New Public Environmental Management

    Schaltegger, S., 2002, In: Die Schweizer Baustoff-Industrie. 4, p. 19-20 2 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearch

  4. Published

    New Sediment Cores Reveal Environmental Changes Driven by Tectonic Processes at Ancient Helike, Greece

    Engel, M., Jacobson, K., Boldt, K., Frenzel, P., Katsonopoulou, D., Soter, S., Alvarez Zarikian, C. A. & Brückner, H., 01.03.2016, In: Geoarchaeology. 31, 2, p. 140-155 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    NGOs: Promoters of Sustainable Entrepreneurship?

    Petersen, H. & Schaltegger, S., 01.01.2001, Proceddings of the International Transdisciplinarity 2000 Conference: 'Transdisciplinarity: joint problem-solving among science, technology and society', Zurich, February 27 - March 1, 2000: Workbook 1: Dialogue sessions and idea market. Häberli, R. (ed.). Basel: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, p. 523-527 5 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksArticle in conference proceedingsResearch

  6. Published

    NH4+ ad-/desorption in sequencing batch reactors: simulation, laboratory and full-scale studies

    Schwitalla, P., Mennerich, A., Austermann-Haun, U., Müller, A., Gruber-Dorninger, C., Daims, H., Holm, N. C. & Rönner-Holm, S. G. E., 01.08.2008, In: Water Science and Technology. 58, 2, p. 345-350 6 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Niche segregation in microhabitat use of three sympatric Cyrtodactylus in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Central Vietnam

    Loos, J., von Wehrden, H., Dang, K. N. & Ziegler, T., 06.05.2012, In: Herpetological Conservation and Biology. 7, 1, p. 101-108 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Nichtwissen und Resilienz in der lokalen Klimaanpassung: Widersprüche zwischen theoriegeleiteten Handlungsempfehlungen und empirischen Befunden am Beispiel des Sommerhochwassers 2002

    Kuhlicke, C. & Kruse, S., 09.2009, In: GAIA. 18, 3, p. 247-254 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Nicolai Hartmanns Neue Ontologie und die Philosophische Anthropologie: Menschliches Leben in Natur und Geist

    von Kalckreuth, M. (Editor), Schmieg, G. (Editor) & Hausen, F. (Editor), 04.2019, Walter de Gruyter GmbH. 284 p. (Philosophische Anthropologie; vol. 11)

    Research output: Books and anthologiesCollected editions and anthologiesResearch

  10. Published

    Niemand hat die Absicht die Seenotrettung zu kriminalisieren… Einige Überlegungen zum „Rückführungsverbesserungsgesetz“ und seinen Folgen

    Epik, A. & Schatz, V. J., 2024, In: Neue Kriminalpolitik. 36, 1, p. 83-103 21 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review