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

    Principles for the application of life cycle sustainability assessment

    Valdivia, S., Backes, J. G., Traverso, M., Sonnemann, G., Cucurachi, S., Guinée, J. B., Schaubroeck, T., Finkbeiner, M., Leroy-Parmentier, N., Ugaya, C., Peña, C., Zamagni, A., Inaba, A., Amaral, M., Berger, M., Dvarioniene, J., Vakhitova, T., Benoit-Norris, C., Prox, M., Foolmaun, R. & Goedkoop, M., 09.2021, In: International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. 26, 9, p. 1900-1905 6 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  2. Published

    Prioritize grassland restoration to bend the curve of biodiversity loss

    Staude, I. R., Segar, J., Temperton, V. M., Andrade, B. O., de Sá Dechoum, M., Weidlich, E. W. A. & Overbeck, G. E., 07.2023, In: Restoration Ecology. 31, 5, 7 p., e13931.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Priority effects and ecological restoration

    Weidlich, E. W. A., Nelson, C., Maron, J. L., Callaway, R. M., Delory, B. & Temperton, V. M., 01.2021, In: Restoration Ecology. 29, 1, 11 p., e13317.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  4. Published

    Priority effects caused by plant order of arrival affect below-ground productivity

    Weidlich, E. W. A., Von Gillhaussen, P., Max, J., Delory, B., Jablonowski, N. D., Rascher, U. & Temperton, V. M., 01.03.2018, In: Journal of Ecology. 106, 2, p. 774-780 7 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Priority effects influence plant traits and biomass in a grassland field experiment

    Weidlich, E. W. A. & Temperton, V. M., 25.08.2016, Best practice in restoration: The 10th European Conference on Ecological Restoration Abstract Volume, August 22–26, 2016, Freising, Germany. Technische Universität München, p. 259 1 p.

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

  6. Published

    Priority effects transcend scales and disciplines in biology

    Stroud, J. T., Delory, B. M., Barnes, E. M., Chase, J. M., De Meester, L., Dieskau, J., Grainger, T. N., Halliday, F. W., Kardol, P., Knight, T. M., Ladouceur, E., Little, C. J., Roscher, C., Sarneel, J. M., Temperton, V., van Steijn, T. L. H., Werner, C. M., Wood, C. W. & Fukami, T., 07.2024, In: Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 39, 7, p. 677-688 12 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  7. Published
  8. Published

    Private Kommunen: Funktionsweise und Entwicklung in der Praxis

    Schaltegger, S. & Gmünder, M., 1999, In: Aussenwirtschaft. 54, 2, p. 209-224

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Private Städte: Eine Utopie?

    Schaltegger, S., 1996, In: UNI NOVA (DE). 77/96, November, p. 35-38 4 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesTransfer

  10. Published

    Privatizing the commons: New approaches need broader evaluative criteria for sustainability

    Partelow, S., Abson, D. J., Schlueter, A., Fernandez-Gimenez, M., von Wehrden, H. & Collier, N., 03.05.2019, In: International Journal of the Commons. 13, 1, p. 747-776 30 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review