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

    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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. Published
  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. 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

  11. 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