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

    Investigation of the utilization of oat pomace and acid whey in technical scale succinic acid fermentation including downstream processing

    Kleps, C., Schneider, R., Venus, J. & Pleißner, D., 01.12.2024, In: Sustainable Chemistry One World. 4, 7 p., 100028.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  2. Published

    Temperate alley-cropping agroforestry improves pest control potential by promoting spider abundance and functional diversity

    Matevski, D., Sagolla, V., Beule, L. & Schuldt, A., 12.2024, In: Journal of Applied Ecology. 61, 12, p. 3079-3091 13 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Exploring Management Control Systems for Biodiversity: Insights from Three Food Companies

    Hübel, C. & Wenzig, J., 04.2025, In: Social and Environmental Accountability Journal. 45, 1, p. 42-72 31 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Grassroots relational approaches to agricultural transformation in Latin America

    Allen, K. E., Ortiz-Przychodzka, S., Coelho-Junior, M. G., Herrmann, T., Atchley, M., Benra, F., Chavez, V., Darvin, E., McCabe, J., Nahuelhual, L., Rodrigues, C. H. & Muraca, B., 2024, In: Ecosystems and People. 20, 1, 16 p., 2390470.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    The impact of biodiversity information on willingness to pay

    Hörisch, J., Petersen, L. & Jacobs, K., 12.2024, In: Journal of Industrial Ecology. 28, 6, p. 1641-1656 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Using cross-recurrence quantification analysis to compute similarity measures for time series of unequal length with applications to sleep stage analysis

    Drews, H. J., Felletti, F., Kallestad, H., Drews, A., Scott, J., Sand, T., Engstrøm, M., Heglum, H. S. A., Vethe, D., Salvesen, Ø., Langsrud, K., Morken, G. & Wallot, S., 12.2024, In: Scientific Reports. 14, 1, 14 p., 23142.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Analyzing the political impact of Real-world laboratories for urban transformation in eight German ‘Cities of the Future’

    Kampfmann, T., Lang, D. J. & Weiser, A., 12.2024, In: Environmental Science and Policy. 162, 12 p., 103923.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    The pace of life for forest trees

    Author Collaboration of "The pace of life for forest trees.", Bialic-Murphy, L., McElderry, R. M., Esquivel-Muelbert, A., van den Hoogen, J., Zuidema, P. A., Phillips, O. L., de Oliveira, E. A. & Klipel, J., 04.10.2024, In: Science (New York, N.Y.). 386, 6717, p. 92-98 7 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Life Cycle Assessment of Consumption Patterns – Understanding the links between changing social practices and environmental impacts

    Suski, P., Augenstein, K. & Greiff, K., 20.10.2024, In: Journal of Cleaner Production. 477, 13 p., 143813.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Promoting neighbourhood sharing: infrastructures of convenience and community

    Huber, A., Heinrichs, H. & Jäger-Erben, M., 22.08.2024, In: Buildings and Cities. 5, 1, p. 349-367 19 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesTransferpeer-review

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Impressions from a conference: sustainable land management
  2. Wider die kursorische Strafrechtsprüfung im Rahmen des Kündigungsrechts - der Pfandbondiebstahl durch Barbara Emme
  3. Umweltschutz und Tierschutz
  4. Qualität der Sachunterrichtsreflexion im Vorbereitungsdienst.
  5. Die günstigste Variante
  6. Moralische Einsicht
  7. Soziale Herkunft und Kompetenzerwerb
  8. Pro&Contra: Kosten der Energiewende zu hoch?
  9. Keep angry and carry on: Geschlechterverhältnisse in Bildungsprozessen
  10. Banal militarism and the culture of war
  11. Praxis des Erziehenden Sportunterrichts: Fahren, Rollen, Gleiten
  12. Customer Value: Persönliche Effekte von Urlaubsreisen
  13. Finanzierungsstrukturen junger Unternehmen
  14. Review: Maris Köpcke, A Short History of Legal Validity and Invalidity – Foundations of Private and Public Law, Cambridge 2019, Zeitschrift
  15. Fahrten & Fährten: Zur Kamera in Eric Hattans Videoräumen
  16. Deliberative Diversity for News Recommendations
  17. Wie nutzen große Unternehmen das Internet, um über Nachhaltigkeit zu kommunizieren?
  18. In Krisen aus Krisen lernen
  19. Polizei und Rassismus: Konsolidierung eines neuen Forschungsbereiches?
  20. „Etwas Begehrenswertes“
  21. „Ich erkenne also Fraktionsdisziplin grundsätzlich auch an …“ – Innerfraktioneller Dissens in der SPD-Fraktion der Großen Koalition 2005 bis 2009
  22. Innerfamiliale Transmission von Geschlechterrollenorientierungen bei Jugendlichen
  23. Demokratie bedarf der Empathie der Erzieher
  24. Family involvement in Chinese and German Small Business
  25. Fragmentierung und lineare Lebensraumstrukturen - eine entomologische Perspektive
  26. Dieter Henrich and contemporary philosophy: the return to subjectivity
  27. Lernen und Geographie - Geographien des Lernens