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

    Recurring patterns and blueprints of industrial symbioses as structural units for an it tool

    Rohde-Lütje, A. & Wohlgemuth, V., 08.10.2020, In: Sustainability. 12, 19, 21 p., 8280.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  2. Published

    Recycling and reuse of food waste

    Pleißner, D., 10.2018, In: Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry. 13, October 2018, p. 39-43 5 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  3. Published

    Recycling of food waste as nutrients in Chlorella vulgaris cultivation

    Lau, K. Y., Pleissner, D. & Lin, C. S. K., 10.2014, In: Bioresource Technology. 170, p. 144-151 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Recycling of organic residues to produce insulation composites: A review

    Schritt, H. & Pleissner, D., 01.12.2022, In: Cleaner Waste Systems. 3, 12 p., 100023.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Red and green loops help uncover missing feedbacks in a coral reef social–ecological system

    Dajka, J. C., Woodhead, A. J., Norström, A. V., Graham, N. A. J., Riechers, M. & Nyström, M., 09.2020, In: People and Nature. 2, 3, p. 608-618 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Red List of marine macroalgae of the Wadden Sea

    Nielsen, R., Schories, D., Hardtle, W., Reise, K. H. & Wolff, W. J., 01.10.1996, In: Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen. 50, Suppl. 1, p. 39-42 4 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Red mason bees cannot compete with honey bees for floral resources in a cage experiment

    Hudewenz, A. & Klein, A. M., 11.2015, In: Ecology and Evolution. 5, 21, p. 5049-5056 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Reduced nitrate leaching from an Irish cropland soil under non-inversion tillage with cover cropping greatly outweighs increased dissolved organic nitrogen leaching

    Walmsley, D. C., Siemens, J., Kindler, R., Kaiser, K., Saunders, M., Fichtner, A., Kaupenjohann, M. & Osborne, B. A., 01.10.2018, In: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 265, p. 340-349 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Reducing aquatic micropollutants – Increasing the focus on input prevention and integrated emission management

    Kümmerer, K., Dionysiou, D. D., Olsson, O. & Fatta-Kassinos, D., 20.02.2019, In: Science of the Total Environment. 652, p. 836-850 15 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Reducing Energy by a Factor of 10: Promoting Energy Efficient Sustainable Housing in the Western World.

    Steinmüller, B., 2008, Lüneburg: Centre for Sustainability Management, 162 p.

    Research output: Working paperWorking papers