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

    Wer wird denn nun bei den Noten benachteiligt - Mädchen oder Jungen?

    Schuster, C., 2019, In: The In-Mind. 1/2019

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearch

  2. Published

    Plant functional trait response to environmental drivers across European temperate forest understorey communities

    Maes, S. L., Perring, M. P., Depauw, L., Bernhardt-Römermann, M., Blondeel, H., Brūmelis, G., Brunet, J., Decocq, G., den Ouden, J., Govaert, S., Härdtle, W., Hédl, R., Heinken, T., Heinrichs, S., Hertzog, L., Jaroszewicz, B., Kirby, K., Kopecký, M., Landuyt, D., Máliš, F., Vanneste, T., Wulf, M. & Verheyen, K., 01.05.2020, In: Plant Biology. 22, 3, p. 410-424 15 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    A Fictional Risk Narrative and Its Potential for Social Resonance: Reception of Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior in Reviews and Reading Groups

    Fücker, S., Auguscik, A., Kirchhofer, A. & Schimank, U., 2021, Under the Literary Microscope: Science and Society in the Contemporary Novel . Farzin, S., Gaines, S. & Haynes, R. (eds.). University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, p. 218-248 31 p. 10. (AnthropoScene: The SLSA Book Series; vol. 7).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Reflecting trends in the academic landscape of sustainable energy using probabilistic topic modeling

    Bickel, M. W., 20.12.2019, In: Energy, Sustainability and Society. 9, 1, 23 p., 49.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Grazing effects on intraspecific trait variability vary with changing precipitation patterns in Mongolian rangelands

    Lang, B., Ahlborn, J., Oyunbileg, M., Geiger, A., von Wehrden, H., Wesche, K., Oyuntsetseg, B. & Roemermann, C., 01.01.2020, In: Ecology and Evolution. 10, 2, p. 678-691 14 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Skills and knowledge management in higher education: how service learning can contribute to social entrepreneurial competence development

    Halberstadt, J., Timm, J.-M., Kraus, S. & Gundolf, K., 11.12.2019, In: Journal of Knowledge Management. 23, 10, p. 1925-1948 24 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Discrete-Point Analysis of the Energy Demand of Primary versus Secondary Metal Production

    Schäfer, P. & Schmidt, M., 07.01.2020, In: Environmental Science and Technology. 54, 1, p. 507-516 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Integrating the underlying structure of stochasticity into community ecology

    Shoemaker, L. G., Sullivan, L. L., Donohue, I., Cabral, J. S., Williams, R. J., Mayfield, M. M., Chase, J. M., Chu, C., Harpole, W. S., Huth, A., HilleRisLambers, J., James, A. R. M., Kraft, N. J. B., May, F., Muthukrishnan, R., Satterlee, S., Taubert, F., Wang, X., Wiegand, T., Yang, Q. & Abbott, K. C., 01.02.2020, In: Ecology. 101, 2, 17 p., e02922.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Exploring acceptance of decentralised energy storage at household and neighbourhood scales: A UK survey

    Ambrosio-Albala, P., Upham, P., Bale, C. S. E. & Taylor, P. G., 01.03.2020, In: Energy Policy. 138, 13 p., 111194.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Promoting and prolonging the beneficial effects of a vacation with the help of a smartphone-based intervention

    Virtanen, A., de Bloom, J., Reins, J. A., Syrek, C., Lehr, D. & Kinnunen, U., 12.11.2019, In: Gedrag en Organisatie. 32, 4, p. 250-278 29 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review