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

    Bioconversion of agri-food residues into lactic acid

    Venus, J. & Pleißner, D., 29.09.2016, The 15th International Symposium Prospects for me: Book of Abstracts. Vondnar, D. C. (ed.). Cluj-Napoca, Rumänien: University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, p. 125 1 p. (University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca; no. 3/2016).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksPublished abstract in conference proceedingsResearch

  2. Published

    Bioconversion of renewable feedstocks and agri-food residues into lactic acid

    Venus, J. & Pleißner, D., 2015, RAMIRAN 2015 - 16th International Conference Rural-Urban-Symbiosis: abstract book : 8th-10th September 2015, Hamburg University of Technology, Germany. TuTech Verlag, p. 131 1 p.

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

  3. Published

    Biocultural approaches to pollinator conservation

    Hill, R., Nates-Parra, G., Quezada-Euán, J. J. G., Buchori, D., LeBuhn, G., Maués, M. M., Pert, P. L., Kwapong, P. K., Saeed, S., Breslow, S. J., Carneiro da Cunha, M., Dicks, L. V., Galetto, L., Gikungu, M., Howlett, B. G., Imperatriz-Fonseca, V. L., O’B. Lyver, P., Martín-López, B., Oteros-Roza, E., Potts, S. G. & Roué, M., 01.03.2019, In: Nature Sustainability. 2, 3, p. 214-222 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Biocultural approaches to sustainability: A systematic review of the scientific literature

    Hanspach, J., Jamila Haider, L., Oteros-Rozas, E., Stahl Olafsson, A., Gulsrud, N. M., Raymond, C. M., Torralba, M., Martín-López, B., Bieling, C., García-Martín, M., Albert, C., Beery, T. H., Fagerholm, N., Díaz-Reviriego, I., Drews-Shambroom, A. & Plieninger, T., 09.2020, In: People and Nature. 2, 3, p. 643-659 17 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  5. Published

    Bio-cultural diversity in south America: Overcoming agro-extractivism linked to unhealthy diets

    Tribaldos, T., Jacobi, J., Llanque, A. & Nogales, M. T., 30.12.2022, Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Diets. Kevany, K. & Prosperi, P. (eds.). London: Taylor and Francis Inc., p. 636-647 12 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

  6. Published
  7. Published

    Biodegradability and genotoxicity of surface functionalized colloidal silica (SiO2) particles in the aquatic environment

    Schneider, M., Meder, F., Daberkow, T., Haiß, A., Treccani, L., Rezwan, K. & Kümmerer, K., 02.2013, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Experimentelle und Klinische Pharmakologie und Toxikologie e.V. : Abstracts of the 7 th Annual Meeting March 5 – 7, 2013 Halle/Saale, Germany. 1 ed. Springer, Vol. 386. p. 73 - 73 1 p. (Naunyn-Schmiedeberg´s Archives of Pharamcology; vol. 386, no. 1, Supplement).

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

  8. Published

    Biodegradability of organic nanoparticles in the aqueous environment

    Kümmerer, K., Menz, J., Schubert, T. & Thielemans, W., 03.2011, In: Chemosphere. 82, 10, p. 1387-1392 6 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Biodegradable green composites: It's never too late to mend

    Rafiee, K., Schritt, H., Pleissner, D., Kaur, G. & Brar, S. K., 01.08.2021, In: Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry. 30, 100482.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  10. Published

    Biodegradation of Flavonoids – Influences of structural features

    Schnarr, L., Olsson, O. & Kümmerer, K., 01.07.2024, In: Chemosphere. 359, 11 p., 142234.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review