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
  2. Published

    Socioecological Interactions amid Global Change

    Almekinders, C. J. M., Stone, G. D., Baranski, M., Carney, J. A., Hanspach, J., Krishna, V. V., Ramirez-Villegas, J., Etten, J. V. & Zimmerer, K. S., 30.04.2019, Agrobiodiversity: Integrating knowledge for a sustainable future. Zimmerer, K. S. & Haan, S. D. (eds.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, p. 117-143 27 p. (Strüngmann Forum Reports).

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

  3. Published

    Aktuelle Ansätze zur Modellierung der Auswirkungen von Klimaveränderungen auf die biologische Vielfalt

    Kühn, I., Vohland, K., Badeck, F., Hanspach, J., Pompe, S. & Klotz, S., 2009, In: Natur und Landschaft. 84, 1, p. 8-12 5 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Schutzgebiete im Klimawandel – Risiken für Schutzgüter

    Vohland, K., Badeck, F., Böhning-Gaese, K., Hanspach, J., Klotz, S., Kühn, I., Laube, I., Schwager, M., Trautmann, S. & Cramer, W., 05.2011, In: Natur und Landschaft. 86, 5, p. 204-213 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Effects of elevated growth temperature and enhanced atmospheric vapour pressure deficit on needle and root terpenoid contents of two Douglas fir provenances

    Duan, Q., Kleiber, A., Jansen, K., Junker, L. V., Kammerer, B., Han, G., Zimmer, I., Rennenberg, H., Schnitzler, J. P., Ensminger, I., Gessler, A. & Kreuzwieser, J. F., 01.10.2019, In: Environmental and Experimental Botany. 166, 103819.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Capital asset substitution as a coping strategy: Practices and implications for food security and resilience in southwestern Ethiopia

    Manlosa, A. O., Schultner, J., Dorresteijn, I. & Fischer, J., 01.11.2019, In: Geoforum. 106, p. 13-23 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Transferring biodiversity-ecosystem function research to the management of ‘real-world’ ecosystems

    Manning, P., Loos, J., Barnes, A. D., Batáry, P., Bianchi, F. J. J. A., Buchmann, N., De Deyn, G. B., Ebeling, A., Eisenhauer, N., Fischer, M., Fründ, J., Grass, I., Isselstein, J., Jochum, M., Klein, A. M., Klingenberg, E. O. F., Landis, D. A., Lepš, J., Lindborg, R., Meyer, S. T., Temperton, V. M., Westphal, C. & Tscharntke, T., 01.01.2019, Mechanisms underlying the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function. Eisenhauer, N., Bohan, D. A. & Dumbrell, A. J. (eds.). London: Academic Press Inc., p. 323-356 34 p. (Advances in Ecological Research; vol. 61).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

  8. Published

    Unlocking knowledge-policy action gaps in disaster-recovery-risk governance cycle: A governmentality approach

    Ghosh, A. & Boyd, E., 01.10.2019, In: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 39, 101236.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Vom Luftballon zum Van-de-Graaff-Generator: Experimente zur Elektrostatik mit Augmented-RealityErweiterung

    Stinken-Rösner, L., 01.08.2019, In: Unterricht Physik. 30, 171/172, p. 25-29 5 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesEducationpeer-review

  10. Published

    Human-carnivore relations: A systematic review

    Lozano, J., Olszańska, A., Morales-Reyes, Z., Castro, A. A., Malo, A. F., Moleón, M., Sánchez-Zapata, J. A., Cortés-Avizanda, A., von Wehrden, H., Dorresteijn, I., Kansky, R., Fischer, J. & Martín-López, B., 09.2019, In: Biological Conservation. 237, p. 480-492 13 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch