School of Sustainability
Organisational unit: Research School
- Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM)
- Institute of Ecology
- Institute of Ethics and Transdisciplinary Sustainability Research
- Institute of Sustainability Governance
- Institute of Sustainability Material Flows and Circularity
- Institute of Sustainability Psychology
- Institute of Sustainable Chemistry
- Social-Ecological Systems Institute (SESI)
- Sustainability Education and Transdisciplinary Research Institute
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.
- 2024
- Published
Participatory co-learning for human–wildlife coexistence: Reflections on a novel program applying systems thinking, nonviolent communication, and learning-based approaches
Kansky, R., Maassarani, T. & Fischer, J., 10.2024, In: Ambio. 53, 10, p. 1479-1491 13 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Published
Reviewing the science on 50 years of conservation: Knowledge production biases and lessons for practice
Dawson, N. M., Coolsaet, B., Bhardwaj, A., Brown, D., Lliso, B., Loos, J., Mannocci, L., Martin, A., Oliva, M., Pascual, U., Sherpa, P. & Worsdell, T., 10.2024, In: Ambio. 53, 10, p. 1395-1413 19 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Summer temperatures from the Middle Pleistocene site Schöningen 13 II, northern Germany, determined from subfossil chironomid assemblages
Rigterink, S., Krahn, K. J., Kotrys, B., Urban, B., Heiri, O., Turner, F., Pannes, A. & Schwalb, A., 10.2024, In: Boreas. 53, 4, p. 525-542 18 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Published
Temperature and palaeolake evolution during a Middle Pleistocene interglacial–glacial transition at the Palaeolithic locality of Schöningen, Germany
Krahn, K. J., Urban, B., Pinkerneil, S., Horne, D. J., Tucci, M., Koutsodendris, A. & Schwalb, A., 10.2024, In: Boreas. 53, 4, p. 504-524 21 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Published
Waste-to-nutrition: Sustainable strategies for use of organic biomass in complex food systems
Pleissner, D. & Smetana, S., 10.2024, In: Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry. 49, 2 p., 100949.Research output: Journal contributions › Other (editorial matter etc.) › Research
- Published
Widening global variability in grassland biomass since the 1980s
MacDougall, A. S., Esch, E., Chen, Q., Carroll, O., Bonner, C., Ohlert, T., Siewert, M., Sulik, J., Schweiger, A., Borer, E. T., Naidu, D., Bagchi, S., Hautier, Y., Wilfahrt, P., Larson, K., Olofsson, J., Cleland, E., Muthukrishnan, R., O’Halloran, L., Alberti, J., Anderson, T. M., Arnillas, C. A., Bakker, J. D., Barrio, I. C., Biederman, L., Boughton, E. H., Brudvig, L. A., Bruschetti, M., Buckley, Y., Bugalho, M. N., Cadotte, M. W., Caldeira, M. C., Catford, J. A., D’Antonio, C., Davies, K., Daleo, P., Dickman, C. R., Donohue, I., DuPre, M. E., Elgersma, K., Eisenhauer, N., Eskelinen, A., Estrada, C., Fay, P. A., Feng, Y., Gruner, D. S., Hagenah, N., Haider, S., Harpole, W. S. & Hersch-Green, E., 10.2024, In: Nature Ecology and Evolution. 8, 10, p. 1877-1888 12 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Published
The safe-and-sustainable-by-design concept: innovating towards a more sustainable future
Soeteman-Hernández, L. G., Apel, C., Nowack, B., Sudheshwar, A., Som, C., Huttunen-Saarivirta, E., Tenhunen-Lunkka, A., Scheper, J., Falk, A., Valsami-Jones, E., Rocca, C., Brennan, M., Igartua, A., Mendoza, G., Midander, K., Strömberg, E. & Kümmerer, K., 24.09.2024, In: Environmental Sustainability. 7, 3, p. 363-368 6 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Published
Citizen Science-Based Monitoring of Cavity-Nesting Wild Bees and Wasps – Benefits for Volunteers, Insects, and Ecological Science
Lindermann, L., Grabener, S., Hellwig, N., Stahl, J. & Dieker, P., 04.09.2024, In: Citizen Science: Theory and Practice. 9, 1, 12 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Published
Ivano Alogna, Christine Bakker, Jean-Pierre Gauci (eds). Climate Change Litigation: Global Perspectives. Leiden: Brill Nijhoff, 2021. Pp. 543. ISBN: 9789004447608.
Bäumler, J., 04.09.2024, In: European Journal of International Law. 35, 3, p. 763-771 9 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Critical reviews › Transfer
- Published
Biological measures to recover nitrogen compounds from liquid and solid streams
Thielemann, A. K., Händel, N., Siddiqui, S. A., Aganovic, K., Kießling, M., Terjung, N., Smetana, S. & Pleißner, D., 01.09.2024, In: Sustainable Chemistry for the Environment. 7, 6 p., 100136.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review