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. 2014
  2. Published

    Wood-pasture management in southern Transylvania (Romania): From communal to where?

    Sutcliffe, L. M. E., Öllerer, K. & Röllig, M., 01.01.2014, European Wood-pastures in Transition: A social-ecological approach. Hartel, T. & Plieninger, T. (eds.). London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 219-234 16 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

  3. Published

    Wood-pasture management in southern Transylvania (Romania): From communal to where?

    Sutcliffe, L., Öllerer, K., Roellig, M. & Hartel, T., 01.01.2014, European Wood-pastures in Transition: A Social-ecological Approach. Hartel, T. & Plieninger, T. (eds.). Taylor and Francis Inc., p. 219-234 16 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

  4. Published

    Designing forest biodiversity experiments: General considerations illustrated by a new large experiment in subtropical China

    Bruelheide, H., Nadrowski, K., Aßmann, T., Bauhus, J., Both, S., Buscot, F., Chen, X.-Y., Ding, B.-Y., Durka, W., Erfmeier, A., Gutknecht, J., Guo, D., Guo, L.-D., Härdtle, W., He, J.-S., Klein, A.-M., Kühn, P., Liang, Y., Liu, X., Michalski, S. G., Niklaus, P. A., Pei, K., Scherer-Lorenzen, M., Scholten, T., Schuldt, A., Seidler, G., Trogisch, S., Oheimb, G., Welk, E., Wirth, C., Wubet, T., Yang, X., Yu, M., Zhang, S., Zhou, H., Fischer, M., Ma, K. & Schmid, B., 01.2014, In: Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 5, 1, p. 74-89 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Geochemical Assessment of Sediment Quality Using Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Ennore Creek, North of Chennai, SE Coast of India.

    Muthumanickam, J., Nagarajan, R., Velmurugan, P. M., Giridharan, L., Neetha, V. & Urban, B., 01.2014, In: Journal of Science and Technology. 22, 1, p. 315-328 14 p., JST-0407-2012.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Multifunctionality and biodiversity: Ecosystem services in temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, USA

    Brandt, P., Abson, D., DellaSala, D. A., Feller, R. & von Wehrden, H., 01.2014, In: Biological Conservation. 169, p. 362-371 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Online-Trainings zur Stressbewältigung - eine neue Chance zur Gesundheitsförderung im Lehrerberuf?

    Lehr, D., Eckert, M., Baum, K., Thiart, H., Heber, E., Berking, M., Sieland, B. & Ebert, D. D., 01.2014, In: Lehrerbildung auf dem Prüfstand. 7, 2, p. 190-212 23 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Space and habitat use by wild Bactrian camels in the Transaltai Gobi of southern Mongolia

    Kaczensky, P., Adiya, Y. A., von Wehrden, H., Mijiddorj, B., Walzer, C., Güthlin, D., Ebkhbileg, D. & Reading, R. P., 01.2014, In: Biological Conservation. 169, p. 311-318 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Uncertainty in the river export modelling of pesticides and transformation products

    Gassmann, M., Khodorkovsky, M., Friedler, E., Dubowski, Y. & Olsson, O., 01.2014, In: Environmental Modelling & Software. 51, p. 35-44 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    § 43 Erlaubnisfreie Benutzungen von Küstengewässern

    Sanden, J., 2014, Beck'scher Online-Kommentar Umweltrecht. Giesberts, L. & Reinhardt, M. (eds.). Ed. 34 ed. München: C.H. Beck Verlag

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions in collection of commentariesResearch

  11. Published

    § 45 Reinhaltung von Küstengewässern

    Sanden, J., 2014, Beck'scher Online-Kommentar Umweltrecht. Giesberts, L. & Reinhardt, M. (eds.). Ed. 34 ed. München: C.H. Beck Verlag

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions in collection of commentariesResearch

  12. Published

    § 62a Nationales Aktionsprogramm zum Schutz von Gewässern vor Nitrateinträgen aus Anlagen

    Sanden, J., 2014, Beck'scher Online-Kommentar Umweltrecht. Giesberts, L. & Reinhardt, M. (eds.). Ed. 34 ed. München: C.H. Beck Verlag

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions in collection of commentariesResearch

  13. Published

    § 62 Anforderungen an den Umgang mit wassergefährdenden Stoffen

    Sanden, J., 2014, Beck'scher Online-Kommentar Umweltrecht. Giesberts, L. & Reinhardt, M. (eds.). Ed. 34 ed. München: C.H. Beck Verlag

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions in collection of commentariesResearch

  14. Published

    § 63 Eignungsfeststellung

    Sanden, J., 2014, Beck'scher Online-Kommentar Umweltrecht. Giesberts, L. & Reinhardt, M. (eds.). Ed. 34 ed. München: C.H. Beck Verlag

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions in collection of commentariesResearch

  15. Published

    A caring and sustainable economy: A concept note from a feminist perspective

    Biesecker, A., Darooka, P., Gottschlich, D., Lanuza, M., Röhr, U., Schildberg, C., Tovar-Restrepo, M. & Ventura Dias, V., 2014, Berlin: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 18 p. (International policy analysis).

    Research output: Working paperWorking papers

  16. Published

    Accounting and Modeling as Design Metaphors for CEMIS

    Möller, A., 2014, Information Technology in Environmental Engineering: Selected Contributions to the 6th International Conference on Information Technologies in Environmental Engineering (ITEE 2013). Funk, B., Niemeyer, P. & Marx Gomez, J. (eds.). 1 ed. Springer, p. 119-130 11 p. (Environmental Engineering).

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

  17. Published

    Accounting for Sustainability in Production and Supply Chains: The British Accounting Review

    Burritt, R. (Editor) & Schaltegger, S. (Editor), 2014, Amsterdam: Elsevier B.V. 93 p. (The British Accounting Review ; vol. 46, no. 4)

    Research output: Books and anthologiesSpecial Journal issueResearch

  18. Published

    A chaque profil de population son modèle d’économies d’énergie.

    Huber, A., Girard, S. & le Marre, P., 2014, L’énergie au coeur du projet urbain. Masboungi, A. (ed.). Paris: Editions du Moniteur, p. 136-139 4 p.

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

  19. Published

    A comparison of students' (mis)understanding of female entrepreneurship: A German South African exploratory study

    Halberstadt, J., Scholtz, B. & Haak, L., 2014, 8th International Business Conference 2014: Proceedings. Bisschoff, C. (ed.). North-West University , p. 42-51 10 p.

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

  20. Published

    Agricultural residues as feedstocks for lactic acid fermentation

    Pleissner, D. & Venus, J., 2014, Green Technologies for the Environment. O. Obare, S. & Luque, R. (eds.). American Chemical Society, Vol. 1186. p. 247-263 17 p. (ACS Symposium Series; vol. 1186).

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

  21. Published

    A Kalman Filter for sensorless control of a piezo actuator for camless internal combustion engines

    Hodzic, K., Mercorelli, P. & Werner, N., 2014, 2014 International Symposium on Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion, SPEEDAM 2014. IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., p. 1225-1230 6 p. 6871957. (2014 International Symposium on Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion, SPEEDAM 2014).

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