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. 2014
  2. Published

    The relation of flow-experience and physiological arousal under stress - can u shape it?

    Peifer, C., Schulz, A., Schächinger, H., Baumann, N. & Antoni, C. H., 07.2014, In: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 53, p. 62-69 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published
  4. Published

    What role for social-ecological systems research in governing global teleconnections?

    Challies, E., Newig, J. & Lenschow, A., 07.2014, In: Global Environmental Change : Human and Policy Dimensions. 27, 1, p. 32-40 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Monitoring of methotrexate chlorination in water

    Roig, B., Marquenet, B., Delpla, I., Bessonneau, V., Sellier, A., Leder, C., Thomas, O., Bolek, R. & Kummerer, K., 15.06.2014, In: Water Research. 57, p. 67-75 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    The Agrodiversity Experiment: three years of data from a multisite study in intensively managed grasslands Ecological Archives

    Kirwan, L., Connolly, J., Brophy, C., Baadshaug, O., Belanger, G., Black, A., Carnus, T., Collins, R., Cop, J., Delgado, I., de Vliegher, A., Elgersma, A., Frankow-Lindberg, B., Golinski, P., Grieu, P., Gustavsson, A.-M., Helgadottir, A., Höglind, M., Huguenin-Elie, O., Jorgensen, M., Kadziuliene, Z., Lunnan, T., Lüscher, A., Kurki, P., Porqueddu, C., Sebastia, M.-T., Thumm, U., Walmsley, D. & Finn, J., 11.06.2014, In: Ecology. 95, 9, p. 2680 1 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Numerical responses of saproxylic beetles to rapid increases in dead wood availability following geometrid moth outbreaks in sub-arctic mountain birch forest

    Vindstad, O. P. L., Schultze, S., Jepsen, J. U., Biuw, M., Kapari, L., Sverdrup-Thygeson, A. & Ims, R. A., 09.06.2014, In: PLoS ONE. 9, 6, 13 p., e99624.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    A Voxel-based technique to estimate the volume of trees from terrestrial laser scanner data

    Bienert, A., Hess, C., Maas, H. G. & Von Oheimb, G., 05.06.2014, In: International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences - ISPRS Archives. 40, 5, p. 101-106 6 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsConference article in journalResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Fate of phenothiazine pharmaceuticals during Fenton process: experimental design optimization, assessment of transformation products and ready biodegradability

    Wilde, M. L. & Kümmerer, K., 04.06.2014, Abstract book of the 2nd international conference on recycling and reuse: June 4-6, 2014-İstanbul/ Türkiye. Bekbölet, M., Selcuk, H., Kavurmaci, S. S., Aydin, I., Yüzer, B. & Yigit Hunce, S. (eds.). Boğaziçi University Press, p. 103-104 2 p.

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

  10. Published

    Qualitative environmental risk assessment of photolytic transformation products of iodinated X-ray contrast agent diatrizoic acid

    Rastogi, T., Leder, C. & Kümmerer, K., 01.06.2014, In: The Science of The Total Environment. 482-483, 1, p. 378-388 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Assessing tree dendrometrics in young regenerating plantations using terrestrial laser scanning

    Li, Y., Hess, C., von Wehrden, H., Härdtle, W. & Oheimb, G., 06.2014, In: Annals of Forest Science. 71, 4, p. 453-462 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review