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

    Labelling Sustainable Software Products and Websites: Ideas , Approaches , and Challenges

    Kern, E., Dick, M., Naumann, S. & Filler, A., 01.01.2015, 29th International Conference on Informatics for Environmental Protection. Atlantis Press, p. 82-91 10 p. (Advances in Computer Science Research).

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

  2. Published

    Impacts of software and its engineering on the carbon footprint of ICT

    Kern, E., Dick, M., Naumann, S. & Hiller, T., 01.04.2015, In: Environmental Impact Assessment Review. 52, p. 53-61 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Arthropod but not bird predation in Ethiopian homegardens is higher in tree-poor than in tree-rich landscapes

    Lemessa, D., Hambäck, P. A. & Hylander, K., 11.05.2015, In: PLoS ONE. 10, 5, 12 p., e0126639.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Elementary school children contribute to environmental research as citizen scientists

    Miczajka, V. L., Klein, A. M. & Pufal, G., 18.11.2015, In: PLoS ONE. 10, 11, 10 p., e0143229.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Early subtropical forest growth is driven by community mean trait values and functional diversity rather than the abiotic environment

    Kröber, W., Li, Y., Härdtle, W., Ma, K., Schmid, B., Schmidt, K., Scholten, T., Seidler, G., von Oheimb, G., Welk, E., Wirth, C. & Bruehlheide, H., 01.09.2015, In: Ecology and Evolution. 5, 17, p. 3541-3556 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Bad Practices in deutschen Unternehmen: Mechanismen im Umgang mit fragwürdiger Moral

    Martin, A., Hollborn, M., Jochims, T., Rogée, A., Saggau, C. & Wüst, S., 2015, Lüneburg: Institut für Mittelstandsforschung der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, 101 p. (Schriften aus dem Institut für Mittelstandsforschung; vol. 45).

    Research output: Working paperWorking papers

  7. Published

    Fazit zum Politikfeld Agro-Gentechnik: Umkämpfte Naturgestaltung, umkämpfte Politikgestaltung

    Gottschlich, D., Sulmowski, J. A. & Friedrich, B., 02.2017, Politiken der Naturgestaltung : Ländliche Entwicklung und Agro-Gentechnik zwischen Kritik und Vision. Gottschlich, D. & Mölders, T. (eds.). Wiesbaden: Springer VS, p. 217-224 8 p.

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

  8. Published

    Wirksamkeit eines internet- und smartphone-basierten Dankbarkeitstrainings zur Förderung der gedanklichen Distanzierung von arbeitsbezogenen Problemen –Sekundäranalyse einer randomisiert - kontrollierten Studie

    Heckendorf, H., Lehr, D., Freund, H., Ebert, D. D. & Sieland, B., 2016, State of the Art : Zum Stand der positiv - psycho - logischen Forschung im deutschsprachigen Raum. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Positiv-Psychologische Forschung, p. 23-24 2 p.

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

  9. Published

    Forgetting fire: Traditional fire knowledge in two chestnut forest ecosystems of the Iberian Peninsula and its implications for European fire management policy

    Seijo, F., Millington, J. D. A., Gray, R., Sanz, V., Lozano Mendoza, J., García-Serrano, F., Sangüesa-Barreda, G. & Julio Camarero, J., 01.09.2015, In: Land Use Policy. 47, p. 130-144 15 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Effectiveness of a Web-Based Cognitive Behavioural Intervention for Subthreshold Depression: Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial

    Buntrock, C., Ebert, D. D., Lehr, D., Riper, H., Smit, F., Cuijpers, P. & Berking, M., 14.10.2015, In: Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. 84, 6, p. 348-358 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review