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. 2021
  2. Published

    Environmental Accounting and the Management Challenge

    Burritt, R., Schaltegger, S. & Christ, K. L., 26.05.2021, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science. Shugart, H. H. (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 19 p. (Oxford Research Encyclopedias).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksArticles for encyclopediaResearch

  3. Published

    Exploring the influence of testimonial source on attitudes towards e-mental health interventions among university students: Four-group randomized controlled trial

    Apolinário-Hagen, J., Harrer, M., Dederichs, M., Fritsche, L., Wopperer, J., Wals, F., Loerbroks, A., Lehr, D., Salewski, C., Angerer, P. & Ebert, D. D., 26.05.2021, In: PLoS ONE. 16, 5, 24 p., e0252012.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Guided internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: Health-economic evaluation from the societal and public health care perspective alongside a randomized controlled trial

    Buntrock, C., Lehr, D., Smit, F., Horvath, H., Berking, M., Spiegelhalder, K., Riper, H. & Ebert, D. D., 24.05.2021, In: Journal of Medical Internet Research. 23, 5, e25609.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Assessing nature-based solutions for transformative change

    Palomo, I., Locatelli, B., Otero, I., Colloff, M. J., Crouzat, E., Cuni-Sanchez, A., Gómez-Baggethun, E., González-García, A., Grêt-Regamey, A., Jiménez-Aceituno, A., Martín-López, B., Pascual, U., Zafra-Calvo, N., Bruley, E., Fischborn, M., Metz, R. & Lavorel, S., 21.05.2021, In: One Earth. 4, 5, p. 730-741 12 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Happy just because. A cross-cultural study on subjective wellbeing in three Indigenous societies

    Reyes-Garcia, V., Gallois, S., Pyhala, A., Diaz-Reviriego, I., Fernandez-Llamazares, A., Galbraith, E., Miñarro, S. & Napitupulu, L., 13.05.2021, In: PLoS ONE. 16, 5, 16 p., e0251551.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Human-nature connectedness as leverage point

    Riechers, M., Balázsi, Á., García-Llorente, M. & Loos, J., 13.05.2021, In: Ecosystems and People. 17, 1, p. 215-221 7 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsOther (editorial matter etc.)Research

  8. Published

    Energy conservation attitudes and intentions: investigating place attachment in Eastern Transylvania, Romania

    Klaniecki, K., Duse, I. A., Engler, J. O., Leventon, J. & Abson, D. J., 05.05.2021, In: Psyecology. 12, 2, p. 177-201 25 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Teaching the Teachers about Language Support Strategies: Effects on Young Children’s Language Development

    Voltmer, K., Hormann, O., Pietsch, M., Mähler, C. & Salisch, M., 04.05.2021, In: Frontiers in Psychology. 12, 11 p., 660750.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Evidence for the age and timing of environmental change associated with a Lower Palaeolithic site within the Middle Pleistocene Reinsdorf sequence of the Schöningen coal mine, Germany

    Tucci, M., Krahn, K. J., Richter, D., van Kolfschoten, T., Álvarez, B. R., Verheijen, I., Serangeli, J., Lehmann, J., Degering, D., Schwalb, A. & Urban, B., 01.05.2021, In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 569, 110309.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Just another buzzword? A systematic literature review of knowledge-related concepts in sustainability science

    Apetrei, C. I., Caniglia, G., von Wehrden, H. & Lang, D. J., 01.05.2021, In: Global Environmental Change. 68, 33 p., 102222.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch