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

    Spillover systems in a telecoupled Anthropocene: typology, methods, and governance for global sustainability

    Liu, J., Dou, Y., Batistella, M., Challies, E., Connor, T., Friis, C., Millington, J. D. A., Parish, E., Romulo, C. L., Silva, R. F. B., Triezenberg, H., Yang, H., Zhao, Z., Zimmerer, K. S., Huettmann, F., Treglia, M. L., Basher, Z., Chung, M. G., Herzberger, A., Lenschow, A., Mechiche-Alami, A., Newig, J., Roche, J. & Sun, J., 08.2018, In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 33, p. 58-69 12 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  2. Published

    sPlot – A new tool for global vegetation analyses

    Bruelheide, H., Dengler, J., Jiménez-Alfaro, B., Purschke, O., Hennekens, S. M., Chytrý, M., Pillar, V. D., Jansen, F., Kattge, J., Sandel, B., Aubin, I., Biurrun, I., Field, R., Haider, S., Jandt, U., Lenoir, J., Peet, R. K., Peyre, G., Sabatini, F. M., Schmidt, M., Schrodt, F., Winter, M., Aćić, S., Agrillo, E., Alvarez, M., Ambarlı, D., Angelini, P., Apostolova, I., Arfin Khan, M. A. S., Arnst, E., Attorre, F., Baraloto, C., Beckmann, M., Berg, C., Bergeron, Y., Bergmeier, E., Bjorkman, A. D., Bondareva, V., Borchardt, P., Botta-Dukát, Z., Boyle, B., Breen, A., Brisse, H., Byun, C., Cabido, M. R., Casella, L., Cayuela, L., Černý, T., Chepinoga, V., Csiky, J., Curran, M., Ćušterevska, R., Dajić Stevanović, Z., De Bie, E., de Ruffray, P., De Sanctis, M., Dimopoulos, P., Dressler, S., Ejrnæs, R., El-Sheikh, M. A. E. R. M., Enquist, B., Ewald, J., Fagúndez, J., Finckh, M., Font, X., Forey, E., Fotiadis, G., García-Mijangos, I., de Gasper, A. L., Golub, V., Gutierrez, A. G., Hatim, M. Z., He, T., Higuchi, P., Holubová, D., Hölzel, N., Homeier, J., Indreica, A., Işık Gürsoy, D., Jansen, S., Janssen, J., Jedrzejek, B., Jiroušek, M., Jürgens, N., Kącki, Z., Kavgacı, A., Kearsley, E., Kessler, M., Knollová, I., Kolomiychuk, V., Korolyuk, A., Kozhevnikova, M., Kozub, Ł., Krstonošić, D., Kühl, H., Kühn, I., Kuzemko, A., Küzmič, F., Landucci, F., Lee, M. T., Levesley, A., Li, C. F., Liu, H., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Lysenko, T., Macanović, A., Mahdavi, P., Manning, P., Marcenò, C., Martynenko, V., Mencuccini, M., Minden, V., Moeslund, J. E., Moretti, M., Müller, J. V., Munzinger, J., Niinemets, Ü., Nobis, M., Noroozi, J., Nowak, A., Onyshchenko, V., Overbeck, G. E., Ozinga, W. A., Pauchard, A., Pedashenko, H., Peñuelas, J., Pérez-Haase, A., Peterka, T., Petřík, P., Phillips, O. L., Prokhorov, V., Rašomavičius, V., Revermann, R., Rodwell, J., Ruprecht, E., Rūsiņa, S., Samimi, C., Schaminée, J. H. J., Schmiedel, U., Šibík, J., Šilc, U., Škvorc, Ž., Smyth, A., Sop, T., Sopotlieva, D., Sparrow, B., Stančić, Z., Svenning, J. C., Swacha, G., Tang, Z., Tsiripidis, I., Turtureanu, P. D., Uğurlu, E., Uogintas, D., Valachovič, M., Vanselow, K. A., Vashenyak, Y., Vassilev, K., Vélez-Martin, E., Venanzoni, R., Vibrans, A. C., Violle, C., Virtanen, R., von Wehrden, H., Wagner, V., Walker, D. A., Wana, D., Weiher, E., Wesche, K., Whitfeld, T., Willner, W., Wiser, S., Wohlgemuth, T., Yamalov, S., Zizka, G. & Zverev, A., 01.03.2019, In: Journal of Vegetation Science. 30, 2, p. 161-186 26 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    sPlotOpen – An environmentally balanced, open-access, global dataset of vegetation plots

    Sabatini, F. M., Lenoir, J., Hattab, T., Arnst, E. A., Chytrý, M., Dengler, J., De Ruffray, P., Hennekens, S. M., Jandt, U., Jansen, F., Jiménez-Alfaro, B., Kattge, J., Levesley, A., Pillar, V. D., Purschke, O., Sandel, B., Sultana, F., Aavik, T., Aćić, S., Acosta, A. T. R., Agrillo, E., Alvarez, M., Apostolova, I., Arfin Khan, M. A. S., Arroyo, L., Attorre, F., Aubin, I., Banerjee, A., Bauters, M., Bergeron, Y., Bergmeier, E., Biurrun, I., Bjorkman, A. D., Bonari, G., Bondareva, V., Brunet, J., Čarni, A., Casella, L., Cayuela, L., Černý, T., Chepinoga, V., Csiky, J., Ćušterevska, R., De Bie, E., de Gasper, A. L., De Sanctis, M., Dimopoulos, P., Dolezal, J., Dziuba, T., El-Sheikh, M. A. E. R. M., Enquist, B., Ewald, J., Fazayeli, F., Field, R., Finckh, M., Gachet, S., Galán-de-Mera, A., Garbolino, E., Gholizadeh, H., Giorgis, M., Golub, V., Alsos, I. G., Grytnes, J. A., Guerin, G. R., Gutiérrez, A. G., Haider, S., Hatim, M. Z., Hérault, B., Hinojos Mendoza, G., Hölzel, N., Homeier, J., Hubau, W., Indreica, A., Janssen, J. A. M., Jedrzejek, B., Jentsch, A., Jürgens, N., Kącki, Z., Kapfer, J., Karger, D. N., Kavgacı, A., Kearsley, E., Kessler, M., Khanina, L., Killeen, T., Korolyuk, A., Kreft, H., Kühl, H. S., Kuzemko, A., Landucci, F., Lengyel, A., Lens, F., Lingner, D. V., Liu, H., Lysenko, T., Mahecha, M. D., Marcenò, C., Martynenko, V., Moeslund, J. E., Monteagudo Mendoza, A., Mucina, L., Müller, J. V., Munzinger, J., Naqinezhad, A., Noroozi, J., Nowak, A., Onyshchenko, V., Overbeck, G. E., Pärtel, M., Pauchard, A., Peet, R. K., Peñuelas, J., Pérez-Haase, A., Peterka, T., Petřík, P., Peyre, G., Phillips, O. L., Prokhorov, V., Rašomavičius, V., Revermann, R., Rivas-Torres, G., Rodwell, J. S., Ruprecht, E., Rūsiņa, S., Samimi, C., Schmidt, M., Schrodt, F., Shan, H., Shirokikh, P., Šibík, J., Šilc, U., Sklenář, P., Škvorc, Ž., Sparrow, B., Sperandii, M. G., Stančić, Z., Svenning, J. C., Tang, Z., Tang, C. Q., Tsiripidis, I., Vanselow, K. A., Vásquez Martínez, R., Vassilev, K., Vélez-Martin, E., Venanzoni, R., Vibrans, A. C., Violle, C., Virtanen, R., von Wehrden, H., Wagner, V., Walker, D. A., Waller, D. M., Wang, H. F., Wesche, K., Whitfeld, T. J. S., Willner, W., Wiser, S. K., Wohlgemuth, T., Yamalov, S., Zobel, M. & Bruelheide, H., 09.2021, In: Global Ecology and Biogeography. 30, 9, p. 1740-1764 25 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Sports and Nature Conservation: Ten Theses on the Optimisation of Shared Communication

    Adomßent, M., 01.01.2015, In: Journal of Biodiversity, Bioprospecting and Development . 2, 3, 5 p., 153.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Sport und Naturschutz - 10 Thesen zur Optimierung der gemeinsamen Kommunikation

    Adomßent, M., 2010, In: Natur und Landschaft. 85, 9-10, p. 425-429 5 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Sprache schafft Wirklichkeiten: Metaphernreflexion in der umweltwissenschaftlichen Bildung

    Bösch, N., 10.05.2006, In: Journal of Social Science Education. 2, p. 1-9 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearch

  7. Published

    Sprache und Emotionswissen

    Salisch, M. & Wübker, M., 01.03.2021, Fühlen Denken Sprechen: Alltagsintegrierte Sprachbildung in Kindertageseinrichtungen. von Salisch, M., Hormann, O., Cloos, P., Koch, K. & Mähler, C. (eds.). Münster: Waxmann Verlag, p. 33-40 8 p. (Sprachliche Bildung; vol. 7).

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

  8. Published

    Spray-dried chitosan-metal microparticles for ciprofloxacin adsorption: Kinetic and equilibrium studies

    Reynaud, F., Tsapis, N., Deyme, M., Vasconcelos, T. G., Gueutin, C., Guterres, S. S., Pohlmann, A. R. & Fattal , E., 21.08.2011, In: Soft Matter. 7, 16, p. 7304-7312 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Spring barley performance benefits from simultaneous shallow straw incorporation and top dressing as revealed by rhizotrons with resealable sampling ports

    Reichel, R., Kamau, C. W., Kumar, A., Li, Z., Radl, V., Temperton, V. M., Schloter, M. & Brüggemann, N., 01.05.2022, In: Biology and Fertility of Soils. 58, 4, p. 375-388 14 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Stabilisierung des ph-Werts bei wässrigen Suspensionen von Metallpartikeln

    Klaas, N., Steiert, S., Boer, C. D. & Ruck, W., 30.09.2010, IPC No. C02F 9/04, Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt, Patent No. DE102009012834A1, 02.03.2009

    Research output: PatentsPatent