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. 2011
  2. Published

    Sustainability as a Driver for Corporate Economic Success: Consequences for the Development of Sustainability Management Control

    Schaltegger, S., 01.06.2011, In: Society and Economy. 33, 1, p. 15-28 14 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Functional complementarity and specialisation: The role of biodiversity in plant–pollinatorinteractions

    Blüthgen, N. & Klein, A.-M., 06.2011, In: Basic and Applied Ecology. 12, 4, p. 282-291 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Innovation Contests for Sustainability-Oriented Product Innovation: Findings from a Worldwide Shoe Innovation Contest

    Hansen, E. G., Bullinger, A. C. & Reichwald, R., 06.2011, Lüneburg: Centre for Sustainability Management, 33 p.

    Research output: Working paperWorking papers

  5. Published

    Institutionen für eine transformative Forschung: Zur Gründung der NaWis-Runde

    Schneidewind, U., Ernst, A. & Lang, D., 06.2011, In: GAIA. 20, 2, p. 133-135 3 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Plant–flower visitor interaction webs: Temporal stability and pollinator specialization increases along an experimental plant diversity gradient

    Ebeling, A., Klein, A.-M. & Tscharntke, T., 06.2011, In: Basic and Applied Ecology. 12, 4, p. 300-309 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Plant–pollinator interactions in changing environments

    Klein, A.-M., 06.2011, In: Basic and Applied Ecology. 12, 4, p. 279-281 3 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Similar performance in central and range-edge populations of a Eurasian steppe grass under different climate and soil pH regimes

    Wagner, V., von Wehrden, H., Wesche, K., Fedulin, A., Sidorova, T. & Hensen, I., 06.2011, In: Ecography. 34, 3, p. 498-506 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    The trade-off between phosphorus recycling and health protection during the BSE crisis in Switzerland: A "disposal dilemma"

    Lamprecht, H., Lang, D., Binder, C. R. & Scholz, R. W., 06.2011, In: GAIA. 20, 2, p. 112-121 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Belowground carabid beetle diversity in the western Palaearctic: Effects of history and climate on range-restricted taxa (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

    Schuldt, A. & Assmann, T., 20.05.2011, In: ZooKeys. 100, SPEC. ISSUE, p. 461-474 14 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Carabid Beetles as Bioindicators: Biogeographical, Ecological and Environmental Studies

    Kotze, J. (Editor), Aßmann, T. (Editor), Nordijk, J. (Editor), Turin, H. (Editor) & Vermeulen, R. (Editor), 20.05.2011, Sofia: Pensoft Publishers Ltd. 573 p. (Zoo Keys; no. 100)

    Research output: Books and anthologiesConference proceedingsResearch

  12. Published

    Eucamaragnathus desenderi, a new ground beetle species from Africa (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

    Aßmann, T., Drees, C., Matern, A. & Schuldt, A., 20.05.2011, In: ZooKeys. 100, SPEC. ISSUE, p. 37-46 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  13. Published
  14. Published

    Poleward range expansion without a southern contraction in the ground beetle Agonum viridicupreum (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

    Drees, C., Brandmayr, P., Buse, J., Dieker, P., Gürlich, S., Habel, J. C., Harry, I., Härdtle, W., Matern, A., Meyer, H., Pizzolotto, R., Quante, M., Schäfer, K., Schuldt, A., Taboada Palomares, A. & Aßmann, T., 20.05.2011, In: ZooKeys. 100, SPEC. ISSUE, p. 333-352 20 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  15. Published

    When to sample in an inaccessible landscape: A case study with carabids from the Allgäu (northern Alps) (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

    Harry, I., Drees, C., Hofer, H. & Aßmann, T., 20.05.2011, In: ZooKeys. 100, SPEC. ISSUE, p. 255-271 17 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  16. Published

    Prospective Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Nanosilver T-shirts

    Walser, T., Demou, E., Lang, D. & Hellweg, S., 15.05.2011, In: Environmental Science & Technology. 45, 10, p. 4570-4578 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  17. Published

    Contrasting temporal trends and relationships of total organic carbon, black carbon, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in rural low-altitude and remote high-altitude lakes

    Bogdal, C., Bucheli, T. D., Agarwal, T., Anselmetti, F. S., Blum, F., Hungerbühler, K., Kohler, M., Schmid, P., Scheringer, M. & Sobek, A., 01.05.2011, In: Journal of Environmental Monitoring. 13, 5, p. 1316-1326 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  18. Published

    Identification of perfluoroalkyl acid sources in Swiss surface waters with the help of the artificial sweetener acesulfame

    Müller, C. E., Gerecke, A. C., Alder, A. C., Scheringer, M. & Hungerbühler, K., 01.05.2011, In: Environmental Pollution. 159, 5, p. 1419-1426 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  19. Published

    Tracking the origin of invasive Rosa rubiginosa populations in Argentina

    Hirsch, H., Zimmermann, H., Ritz, C., Wissemann, V., von Wehrden, H., Renison, D., Wesche, K., Welk, E. & Hensen, I., 01.05.2011, In: International Journal of Plant Sciences. 172, 4, p. 530-540 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  20. Published

    Municipal wastewater treatment and biomass accumulation with a wastewater-born and settleable algal-bacterial culture

    Su, Y., Mennerich, A. & Urban, B., 05.2011, In: Water Research. 45, 11, p. 3351-3358 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  21. Published

    Predation risk indirectly enhances survival of seaweed recruits but not intraspecific competition in an intermediate herbivore species

    Molis, M., Preuss, I., Firmenich, A. & Ellrich, J., 05.2011, In: Journal of Ecology. 99, 3, p. 807-817 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review