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

    Latitudinal Gradient of Airborne Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances in the Marine Atmosphere between Germany and South Africa (53° N−33° S)

    Jahnke, A., Berger, U., Ebinghaus, R. & Temme, C., 01.05.2007, In: Environmental Science & Technology. 41, 9, p. 3055-3061 7 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  2. Published

    Late pliocene–pleistocene record of the garding-2 research drill core, Northwest Germany

    Proborukmi, M. S., Urban, B., Frechen, M., Grube, A. & Rolf, C., 03.2017, In: Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften. 168, 1, p. 141-167 27 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Late Pleistocene vegetation of the basin of Phlious, NE-Peloponnese, Greece

    Urban, B. & Fuchs, M., 01.11.2005, In: Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 137, 1-2, p. 15-29 15 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Late pleistocene vegetation of NE-Peleponnese (Basin of Phlious), Greece

    Urban, B., 2006, 150 years of Neanderthal discoveries: Early Europeans - Continuity & Discontinuity. von Koenigswald, W. (ed.). Bonn: GeoUnion Alfred-Wegener-Stiftung, Vol. 2. p. 137-138 2 p. (Terra nostra - Schriften der GeoUnion Alfred-Wegener-Stiftung; vol. 2/2006).

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

  5. Published

    Late developers and the inequity of "equitable utilization" and the harm of "do no harm"

    Wegerich, K. & Olsson, O., 11.2010, In: Water International. 35, 6, p. 707-717 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    La Sostenibilità si può fare

    Stoltenberg, U., 2005, La Sostenibilità si può fare: la "vetrina per uno sviluppo sostenibile": un progetto innovativo per la comunicazione e lo sviluppo della sostenibilità. Stoltenberg, U., Muraca, B. & Nora, E. (eds.). Frankfurt am Main: VAS Verlag für Akademische Schriften, p. 11-13 3 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearch

  7. Published

    La sostenibilità come processo di sviluppo e apprendimento

    Stoltenberg, U., 2005, La Sostenibilità si può fare: la "vetrina per uno sviluppo sostenibile": un progetto innovativo per la comunicazione e lo sviluppo della sostenibilità. Stoltenberg, U., Muraca, B. & Nora, E. (eds.). Frankfurt am Main: VAS Verlag für Akademische Schriften, p. 22-29 8 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearch

  8. Published

    Lasioglossum (Evylaeus) cleome, nouvelle espèce d‘abeille de l’Afrique du Nord (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Halictidae)

    Pauly, A., Ebmer, A. W. & Grabener, S., 2017, In: Belgian Journal of Entomology. 48, p. 1-9 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Large trees are keystone structures in urban parks

    Stagoll, K., Lindenmayer, D. B., Knight, E., Fischer, J. & Manning, A. D., 04.2012, In: Conservation Letters. 5, 2, p. 115-122 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Large, particular bovids may require localised conservation effort to prevent extinction

    Traill, L. W., Wanger, T. C. & Kidd, D., 2012, In: Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Supplement 25, p. 111-116 6 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review