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

    Introduction to the challenges and chances regarding the utilization of nitrogen-rich by-products and waste streams

    Thielemann, A. K. & Pleissner, D., 01.06.2023, In: Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry. 41, 100813.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  2. Published

    Exploring the role of intentions and expectations in continuing professional development in sustainability education

    Casanova, C. R., King, J. A. & Fischer, D., 01.07.2023, In: Teaching and Teacher Education. 128, 104115.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Sustainability-oriented technology exploration: managerial values, ambidextrous design, and separation drift

    Hansen, E. G., Wicki, S. & Schaltegger, S., 31.03.2023, Radical Innovation Challenges: Corporate to Climate. Tidd, J. (ed.). World Scientific Europe, p. 351-377 27 p. (Technology Management; vol. 42).

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

  4. Published

    Future-proofing ecosystem restoration through enhancing adaptive capacity

    Frietsch, M., Loos, J., Löhr, K., Sieber, S. & Fischer, J., 12.2023, In: Communications Biology. 6, 1, 9 p., 377.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  5. Published

    Environmental heterogeneity modulates the effect of plant diversity on the spatial variability of grassland biomass

    Daleo, P., Alberti, J., Chaneton, E. J., Iribarne, O., Tognetti, P. M., Bakker, J. D., Borer, E. T., Bruschetti, M., MacDougall, A. S., Pascual, J., Sankaran, M., Seabloom, E. W., Wang, S., Bagchi, S., Brudvig, L. A., Catford, J. A., Dickman, C. R., Dickson, T. L., Donohue, I., Eisenhauer, N., Gruner, D. S., Haider, S., Jentsch, A., Knops, J. M. H., Lekberg, Y., McCulley, R. L., Moore, J. L., Mortensen, B., Ohlert, T., Pärtel, M., Peri, P. L., Power, S. A., Risch, A. C., Rocca, C., Smith, N. G., Stevens, C., Tamme, R., Veen, G. F. C., Wilfahrt, P. A. & Hautier, Y., 12.2023, In: Nature Communications. 14, 1, 11 p., 1809.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Stratification of stakeholders for participation in the governance of coastal social-ecological systems

    Celliers, L., Rölfer, L., Rivers, N., Rosendo, S., Fernandes, M., Snow, B. & Costa, M. M., 09.2023, In: Ambio. 52, 9, p. 1418-1430 13 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Modernizing persistence–bioaccumulation–toxicity (PBT) assessment with high throughput animal-free methods

    Escher, B. I., Altenburger, R., Blüher, M., Colbourne, J. K., Ebinghaus, R., Fantke, P., Hein, M., Köck, W., Kümmerer, K., Leipold, S., Li, X., Scheringer, M., Scholz, S., Schloter, M., Schweizer, P. J., Tal, T., Tetko, I., Traidl-Hoffmann, C., Wick, L. Y. & Fenner, K., 01.05.2023, In: Archives of Toxicology. 97, 5, p. 1267-1283 17 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Distinguishing between struggling and skilled readers based on their prosodic speech patterns in oral reading: An exploratory study in grades 2 and 4

    Karageorgos, P., Wallot, S., Müller, B., Schindler, J. & Richter, T., 01.05.2023, In: Acta Psychologica. 235, 11 p., 103892.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Science Communication as a Collective Intelligence Endeavor: A Manifesto and Examples for Implementation

    Holford, D., Fasce, A., Wulf, M., Kause, A., Tapper, K., Demko, M., Lewandowski, S., Hahn, U., Abels, C. M., Ahmed, A.-R., Sameer, A., Boender, S. T., Bruns, H., Fischer, H., Gilde, C., Hanel, P. H. P., Herzog, S. M., Lehmann, S., Nurse, M. S., Orr, C., Pescetelli, N., Petrescu, M., Sa, S., Schmid, P., Sirota, M. & Wulf, M., 08.2023, In: Science Communication. 45, 4, p. 539-554 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsComments / Debate / ReportsResearch

  10. Published

    Rebound-Effekte: Management und Vermeidung. Leitfaden für Unternehmen

    Wolff, F., Gensch, C.-O., Kampffmeyer, N., Schöpflin, P., Lautermann, C., Gebauer, J., Schaltegger, S., Norris, S., Wüst, S., Thiel, D. & Buda, F., 2023, Öko-Institut.

    Research output: Working paperProject reportsResearch

Recently viewed

Activities

  1. Advantages and challenges of in silico tools and their contribution to sustainable chemistry with the focus on (Q)SAR
  2. Meeting Halfway. John C. Lilly‘s Cybernetic Dolphin Experiments (Annual Meeting of the History of Science Society 2013)
  3. Zwischen elektronischer Musik und populärer Avantgarde. Das Studienkonzept des Lüneburger Schwerpunktbereichs ((audio))
  4. Personal care products as source for micropollutants in Greywater-Identification, quantification and on-site treatment
  5. How to get things done with words in Irish English and English English: Pragmatics and dialectology at the cross-road
  6. „Theorie und Praxis: Globales Lernen und Bildung für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung – Positionen, Potentiale, Perspektiven“
  7. Integrating Systems Thinking Approaches in Chemical Education for Sustainable Development - Exploring the Status Quo
  8. Sustainability and internal supply chain management – A conceptual approach to intra-organisational knowledge transfer
  9. Degradation of the emerging contaminant Atenolol by K2FeVIO4: assessment of biodegradability and degradation products
  10. Pessimism and Optimism of the Future: the Future of the World(s) in the Strategies of Feminism and Digital Technologies
  11. People incorrectly correcting other people“: (Re-)Correcting comments as a means of stancetaking in digital communication
  12. Exploring priority effects in a central European grassland field experiment in order to inform restoration (Symposium)
  13. Kreativ und frei?: Welche Rahmenbedingungen brauchen Kreativwirtschaft und Wissensgesellschaft in einer digitalen Welt?
  14. Das Leuphana-College: ein in Europaeinzigartiges Hochschulmodell: Innovative hochschuldidaktische Veranstaltungsformate
  15. Deciphering Sustainable Consumption: Understanding, Motives and Heuristic Cues in the Context of Personal Care Product.

Publications

  1. Plant diversity surpasses plant functional groups and plant productivity as driver of soil biota in the long term
  2. 'You are angels': understanding the entanglement of family and enterprise in an early-stage family-run coworking space
  3. Geißel, Brigitte: Kritische Bürger - Gefahr oder Ressource für die Demokratie? Frankfurt/New York: Campus Verlag 2011
  4. Can Geodesign Be Used to Facilitate Boundary Management for Planning and Implementation of Nature-based Solutions?
  5. Matching between oral inward–outward movements of object names and oral movements associated with denoted objects
  6. 25 Jahre Conservation Reserve Program der USA: Erfahrungen und Perspektiven für die europäische Agrarumweltpolitik
  7. Case study meta-analysis in the social sciences. Insights on data quality and reliability from a large-N case survey
  8. Hydration and dehydration of salt hydrates and hydroxides for thermal energy storage – kinetics and energy release
  9. Establishment success in a forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning experiment in subtropical China (BEF-China)
  10. Gerhard O. Forde: The Captivation of the Will. Luther vs. Erasmus on Freedom and Bondage, Grand Rapids / Cambridge 2005
  11. Menschliche Würde in der Lebensphase natürlicher Abhängigkeit - Jugendpsychiatrische und sozialpädaogische Aspekte
  12. Using heuristic worked examples to promote solving of reality‑based tasks in mathematics in lower secondary school
  13. The Shareholder Value Effect of System Overloads: An Analysis of Investor Responses to the 2003 Blackout in the US
  14. How do workers gain voice on digital work platforms? Hotspots and blind spots in research on platform worker voice
  15. Do we need livestock grazing to promote Polylepis australis tree recruitment in the Central Argentinean Mountains?
  16. Planungs- und Genehmigungsfragen bei der Finanzierung von Anlagen zur Erzeugung von Strom aus Erneuerbaren Energien
  17. Model-based estimation of pesticides and transformation products and their export pathways in a headwater catchment
  18. Reciprocal relations between emotional exhaustion and episode-specific emotional labour: An experience-sampling study
  19. Utilizing international networks for accelerating research and learning in transformational sustainability science
  20. Mathematical Modeling for Robot 3D Laser Scanning in Complete Darkness Environments to Advance Pipeline Inspection
  21. Einfluss elterlicher Mathematikkompetenz und familialer Prozesse auf den Kompetenzerwerb von Kindern in Mathematik
  22. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)-main concerns and regulatory developments in Europe from an environmental point of view
  23. Tree and mycorrhizal fungal diversity drive intraspecific and intraindividual trait variation in temperate forests
  24. Effects of anthropogenic disturbances on soil microbial communities in oak forests persist for more than 100 years
  25. Den eigenen Blick schärfen für das Potenzial und die Qualität von Aufgaben – Ergebnisse aus der aktuellen Forschung
  26. Social and ethical aspects in sustainability performance measurement and assessment. A systematic literature review
  27. What is intergovernmental about the EU’s ‘(new) intergovernmentalist’ turn? Evidence from the Eurozone and asylum crises
  28. Schulentwicklungsbegleitung auf Augenhöhe – die Besonderheiten des Beratungsansatzes der regionalen SchuMaS-Zentren
  29. Tobias Cheung: Organismen - Agenten zwischen Innen- und Außenwelt 1780-1860, (Science Studies) Bielefeld: transcript 2014
  30. Methane yield of biomass from extensive grassland is affected by compositional changes induced by order of arrival