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. 2011
  2. Published

    Wissenskommunikation als Möglichkeitsraum umweltpolitischer Verständigung – ein Blick auf die individuelle Handlungsebene

    Adomßent, M., 2011, In: Umweltpsychologie. 15, 2, p. 13-36 24 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Xenogeneic infection risk: limits to individual right restrictions

    Gonzalez, J. G., 2011, In: Xenotransplantation. 18, 1, p. 67-67 1 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsConference abstract in journalResearchpeer-review

  4. 2010
  5. Published
  6. Published

    The Collaborative Production of Meaningful Measure(ment)s: Preliminary insights into a work in progress

    Bormann, I. & Michelsen, G., 12.12.2010, In: European Educational Research Journal. 9, 4, p. 510-518 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Revealing the coastal event-history of the Andaman Islands (Bay of Bengal) during the Holocene using radiocarbon and OSL dating

    Frechen, M., Ramachandran, R., Urban, B. & Kunz, J.-A., 01.12.2010, In: International Journal of Earth Sciences. 99, 8, p. 1741-1761 21 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Bush encroachment control and risk management in semi-arid rangelands

    Lukomska, N., Baumgärtner, S. & Quaas, M. F., 12.2010, Lüneburg: Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Lüneburg, 33 p. (University of Lüneburg Working Papers Series in Economics; no. 191).

    Research output: Working paperWorking papers

  9. Published

    Imagining the unimaginable: Synthesis of essays on abrupt and extreme climate change

    Martens, P., Aerts, J. C. J. H., Amelung, B., Bouwer, L. M., Chang, C. T., Huynen, M., van Ierland, E. C., van Koppen, C. S. A. K., McEvoy, D., Mol, A. P. J. & van Tatenhove, J., 12.2010, In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 2, 5-6, p. 347-355 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  10. Published

    Methodische Behandlung interner Materialkreisläufe in der Materialflusskostenrechnung

    Viere, T., Möller, A. & Schmidt, M., 12.2010, In: Umweltwirtschaftsforum. 18, 3-4, p. 203-208 6 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Neuartige Spurenstoffe im Wasser

    Kümmerer, K., 12.2010, In: Hydrologie und Wasserbewirtschaftung. 54, 6, p. 349-359 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  12. Published

    Seasonal Contrasts in the Response of Coffee Ants to Agroforestry Shade-Tree Management

    Teodoro, A. V., Sousa-Souto, L., Klein, A.-M. & Tscharntke, T., 12.2010, In: Environmental Entomology. 39, 6, p. 1744-1750 7 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review