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. 2024
  2. Published

    Non-material contributions of nature expressed by former tourists of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

    Pearson, J., Gross, M. & Hofmann, J., 02.2024, In: People and Nature. 6, 1, p. 220-229 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Plural valuation in southwestern Ethiopia: Disaggregating values associated with ecosystems in a smallholder landscape

    Brück, M., Schultner, J., Negash, B. B., Damu, D. F. & Abson, D. J., 02.2024, In: People and Nature. 6, 1, p. 91-106 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Socioeconomic and biophysical factors affect tree diversity in farms producing specialty coffee in Caranavi, Bolivia

    Torrico, G. G., Antezana Alvarado, N., Pacheco, L. F., Benavides‑Frias, C. & Jacobi, J., 02.2024, In: Agroforestry Systems. 98, 2, p. 427-439 13 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Valorization of landscape management grass

    Krenz, L. M. M. & Pleissner, D., 02.2024, In: Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery. 14, 3, p. 2889-2905 17 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  6. E-pub ahead of print

    Did Descriptive and Prescriptive Norms About Gender Equality at Home Change During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Cross-National Investigation

    Saxler, F. M., Dorrough, A. R., Froehlich, L., Block, K., Croft, A., Meeussen, L., Olsson, M., Schmader, T., Schuster, C., van Grootel, S., Van Laar, C., Atkinson, C., Benson-Greenwald, T., Birneanu, A., Cavojova, V., Cheryan, S., Lee Kai Chung, A., Danyliuk, I., Dar-Nimrod, I., de Lemus, S., Diekman, A., Eisner, L., Estevan-Reina, L., Fedáková, D., Gavreliuc, A., Gavreliuc, D., Germano, A., Hässler, T., Henningsen, L., Ishii, K., Kundtová Klocová, E., Kozytska, I., Kulich, C., Lapytskaia Aidy, C., López López, W., Morandini, J., Ramis, T. S., Scheifele, C., Steele, J., Steffens, M. C., Velásquez Díaz, L. M., Venegas, M. & Martiny, S. E., 29.01.2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 15 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. E-pub ahead of print

    Resilience and the Sustainable Development Goals: a scrutiny of urban strategies in the 100 Resilient Cities initiative

    Kochskämper, E., Glass, L.-M., Haupt, W., Malekpour, S. & Grainger-Brown, J., 24.01.2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. 27 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Sensorische Umweltsoziologie

    Heinrichs, H., 13.01.2024, Handbuch Umweltsoziologie. Sonnberger, M., Bleicher, A. & Groß, M. (eds.). 2 ed. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, p. 687-698 12 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

  9. Published

    Umwelt-Governance und Partizipation

    Rose, M. & Newig, J., 13.01.2024, Handbuch Umweltsoziologie. Sonnberger, M., Bleicher, A. & Groß, M. (eds.). 2 ed. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, p. 759-774 16 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapter

  10. Published

    The Problem of Institutional Fit: Uncovering Patterns with Boosted Decision Trees

    Epstein, G., Apetrei, C. I., Baggio, J., Chawla, S., Cumming, G., Gurney, G., Morrison, T., Unnikrishnan, H. & Tomas, S. V., 10.01.2024, In: International Journal of the Commons. 18, 1, p. 1-16 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Africa’s mountainous islands: archipelagos of fire, water, and problem species

    Clark, V. R., Ah-Peng, C., Arévalo, J. R., Backes, A. R., Rouget, M., Martin, G. & Haider, S., 01.01.2024, Safeguarding Mountain Social-Ecological Systems, Vol 2: Building Transformative Resilience in Mountain Regions Worldwide. Schneiderbauer, S., Schroder, J. F., Pisa, P. F. & Szarzynski, J. (eds.). Elsevier, Vol. 2. p. 129-149 21 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

  12. Published

    Designing greener active pharmaceutical ingredients: Insights from pharmaceutical industry into drug discovery and development

    Puhlmann, N., Vidaurre, R. & Kümmerer, K., 01.01.2024, In: European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 192, 13 p., 106614.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  13. Published

    Forest Restoration

    Resende, A. F., Krainovic, P. M., Brancalion, P. H. S., Weidlich, E. W. A., Rodrigues, R. R., Strassburg, B. & Loyola, R., 01.01.2024, Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Third Edition: Volume 1-7. Scheiner, S. M. (ed.). Third Edition ed. Oxford: Academic Press Inc., Vol. 4. p. 799-813 15 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

  14. Published

    How to identify published articles originating from paper presentations at academic conferences of the Earth System Governance Research Community: Screening and matching guideline

    Newig, J., Rose, M. & Melchior, I. C., 01.01.2024, SSRN Social Science Research Network, 8 p. (SSRN).

    Research output: Working paperWorking papers

  15. Published

    Learning from Safe-by-Design for Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design: Mapping the Current Landscape of Safe-by-Design Reviews, Case Studies, and Frameworks

    Sudheshwar, A., Apel, C., Kümmerer, K., Wang, Z., Soeteman-Hernández, L. G., Valsami-Jones, E., Som, C. & Nowack, B., 01.01.2024, In: Environment international. 183, 13 p., 108305.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  16. Published

    Spatial trends and ecotoxic risk assessment of selected pharmaceuticals in sediments from Lake Victoria, Uganda, East Africa

    Nantaba, F., Wasswa, J., Kylin, H., Bouwman, H., Palm, W.-U. & Kümmerer, K., 01.01.2024, In: Science of the Total Environment. 906, 10 p., 167348.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  17. Published

    Unternehmerisches Pandemiecontrolling: Damit “nach der Krise” nicht “vor der Krise” wird

    Schaltegger, S., 01.01.2024, In: Controlling. 36, 1, p. 30-36 7 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesTransferpeer-review

  18. Published

    Combining multiple investigative approaches to unravel functional responses to global change in the understorey of temperate forests

    Landuyt, D., Perring, M. P., Blondeel, H., De Lombaerde, E., Depauw, L., Lorer, E., Maes, S. L., Baeten, L., Bergès, L., Bernhardt-Römermann, M., Brūmelis, G., Brunet, J., Chudomelová, M., Czerepko, J., Decocq, G., den Ouden, J., De Frenne, P., Dirnböck, T., Durak, T., Fichtner, A., Gawryś, R., Härdtle, W., Hédl, R., Heinrichs, S., Heinken, T., Jaroszewicz, B., Kirby, K., Kopecký, M., Máliš, F., Macek, M., Mitchell, F. J. G., Naaf, T., Petřík, P., Reczynska, K., Schmidt, W., Standovár, T., Swierkosz, K., Smart, S. M., Van Calster, H., Vild, O., Waller, D. M., Wulf, M. & Verheyen, K., 01.2024, In: Global Change Biology. 30, 1, 14 p., e17086.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  19. Published

    Hill–Chao numbers allow decomposing gamma multifunctionality into alpha and beta components

    Chao, A., Chiu, C.-H., Hu, K.-H., van der Plas, F., Cadotte, M. W., Mitesser, O., Thorn, S., Mori, A. S., Scherer-Lorenzen, M., Eisenhauer, N., Bässler, C., Delory, B., Feldhaar, H., Fichtner, A., Hothorn, T., Peters, M. K., Pierick, K., von Oheimb, G. & Müller, J., 01.2024, In: Ecology Letters. 27, 1, 14 p., e14336.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  20. Published

    I share because of who I am: values, identities, norms, and attitudes explain sharing intentions

    Schuster, C., Goseberg, T., Arnold, J. & Sundermann, A., 01.2024, In: Journal of Social Psychology. 164, 2, p. 199-217 19 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  21. Published

    Promoting Subjective Well-Being and a Sustainable Lifestyle in Children and Youth by Strengthening Their Personal Psychological Resources

    Voltmer, K. & von Salisch, M., 01.2024, In: Sustainability. 16, 1, 16 p., 134.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch