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

    Umwelt-Governance und Partizipation

    Rose, M. & Newig, J., 13.01.2024, Handbuch Umweltsoziologie. Sonnberger, M., Bleicher, A. & Groß, M. (eds.). 2 ed. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, p. 759-774 16 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapter

  2. Accepted/In press

    The tree growth–herbivory relationship depends on functional traits across forest biodiversity experiments

    Li, Y., Schuldt, A., Bauhus, J., Belluau, M., Berthelot, S., Burghardt, K. T., Bruelheide, H., Castagneyrol, B., Chu, C., Eisenhauer, N., Ferlian, O., Fründ, J., Gebauer, T., Gravel, D., Jactel, H., Li, S., Liang, Y., Parker, J. D., Parker, W. C., Scherer-Lorenzen, M., Staab, M., Verheyen, K., Schmid, B., Ma, K. & Liu, X., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Nature Ecology and Evolution.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Pathways to synergize reductive with relational logics in environmental policy

    Pérez-Hämmerle, K. V., Moon, K., Raymond, C. M., Lucas, P., Hakkarainen, V. & Wood, P., 2025, In: Ecosystems and People. 21, 1, 20 p., 2529585.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Design principles for social-ecological research at the landscape scale applied to western Rwanda

    Baumann, M., Duguma, D., Vögele, S., Wollni, M., Sun, P., Ndayizeye, G. & Fischer, J., 08.2025, In: PLoS ONE. 20, 8, 11 p., e0330704.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    More-than-human synchronizations expose the fractures of the agrarian commodity frontier in the Bolivian Chiquitanía

    Ortiz-Przychodzka, S., Keleman-Saxena, A., Benavides-Frías, C., Díaz-Reviriego, I. & Hanspach, J., 12.2025, In: Journal of Rural Studies. 120, 12 p., 103846.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Accepted/In press

    Scaling-Up Behavior Settings: An Ecological Approach to Cognitive Institutions

    Bammel, M. & Sanches de Oliveira, G., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Topoi.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Experimental reduction of land use increases invertebrate abundance in grasslands

    Staab, M., Keller, A., Achury, R., Hilpert, A., Hölzel, N., Prati, D., Weisser, W. W. & Blüthgen, N., 03.09.2025, In: Basic and Applied Ecology. 88, p. 62-71

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Climate-smart socially innovative tools and approaches for marine pollution science in support of sustainable development

    Lange, M., Cabana, D., Ebeling, A., Ebinghaus, R., Joerss, H., Rölfer, L. & Celliers, L., 22.03.2023, In: Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures. 1, 11 p., e23.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  9. Accepted/In press

    Biological invasions: a global assessment of geographic distributions, long-term trends, and data gaps

    Author collaboration of "Biological invasions: a global assessment of geographic distributions, long-term trends, and data gaps", 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Biological Reviews.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Investigation of the spray formation of solketal under diesel engine conditions and the influence on Diesel R33.

    Türck, J., Riess, S., Strauß, L., Schmitt, F., Türck, R., Ruck, W., Wensing, M. & Krahl, J., 01.11.2025, In: Fuel Processing Technology. 277, 11 p., 108308.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review