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

    Connecting consumers to producers to foster sustainable consumption in international coffee supply – a marketing intervention study

    Weber, H., Loschelder, D. D., Lang, D. J. & Wiek, A., 24.07.2021, In: Journal of Marketing Management. 37, 11-12, p. 1148-1168 21 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  2. Published

    Contextualising urban experimentation: Analysing the utopiastadt campus case with the theory of strategic action fields

    Wanner, M., Bachmann, B. & Von Wirth, T., 26.03.2021, In: Urban Planning. 6, 1, p. 235-248 14 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. 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

  4. Published

    The significance of tree-tree interactions for forest ecosystem functioning

    Trogisch, S., Liu, X., Rutten, G., Xue, K., Bauhus, J., Brose, U., Bu, W., Cesarz, S., Chesters, D., Connolly, J., Cui, X., Eisenhauer, N., Guo, L., Haider, S., Härdtle, W., Kunz, M., Liu, L., Ma, Z., Neumann, S., Sang, W., Schuldt, A., Tang, Z., van Dam, N. M., von Oheimb, G., Wang, M. Q., Wang, S., Weinhold, A., Wirth, C., Wubet, T., Xu, X., Yang, B., Zhang, N., Zhu, C. D., Ma, K., Wang, Y. & Bruelheide, H., 01.09.2021, In: Basic and Applied Ecology. 55, p. 33-52 20 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. 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

  6. Published

    Seasonal and Spatial Detection of Pesticide Residues Under Various Weather Conditions of Agricultural Areas of the Kilombero Valley Ramsar Site, Tanzania

    Materu, S. F., Heise, S. & Urban, B., 09.03.2021, In: Frontiers in Environmental Science. 9, 16 p., 599814.

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

  7. Published

    Negotiation complexity: a review and an integrative model

    Zhang, H., Zhang, K., Warsitzka, M. & Trötschel, R., 27.07.2021, In: International Journal of Conflict Management. 32, 4, p. 554-573 20 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published
  9. Published

    Materials and Energy Accounting

    Burritt, R., Christ, K. & Schaltegger, S., 31.03.2021, Routledge Handbook of Environmental Accounting. Bebbington, J., Larrinaga, C., O'Dwyer, B. & Thomson, I. (eds.). London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 207-223 17 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Nachhaltiges Wirtschaften in globalen Lieferketten: Gesetzliche Sorgfaltspflichten von Unternehmen im Lichte des WTO-Rechts

    Bäumler, J., 2020, In: Archiv des Völkerrechts. 58, 4, p. 464-501 38 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesTransferpeer-review