Sustainability Education and Transdisciplinary Research Institute

Organisational unit: Institute

Organisation profile

At SETRI, the Sustainability Education and Transdisciplinary Research Institute, we embrace sustainability as a positive vision for a world that is both safe and just. We investigate how these concepts need to be applied within our local contexts to become tangible. We believe that in order to achieve this vision, we require spaces where we can collectively unlearn unsustainability in processes and mechanisms of inner and outer transformations. 

SETRI provides such spaces. It is home to transdisciplinary research and learning that transcends boundaries — be they between different schools of thought, geographies, disciplines and cultures, as well asor between science and society. Our mission is to facilitate transformative and transgressive approaches that enable individuals and collectives to challenge and change norms and structures perpetuating unsustainability in their daily lives. 

Main research areas

Solution-orientated: We embrace exploration, experimentation, and action-oriented research inquiry to focus on integrated solutions rather than singular problems.

Emergent: Based on a critical perspective we integrate diverse forms of knowledge to establish enduring partnerships that extend beyond short-term funding cycles, ensuring long-term impact and community engagement.

Transformative: Through place-based approaches such as real-world labs, we drive and investigate real-world transformation by tackling concrete challenges in distinct settings to learn to scale transformations long term.

Radical: By stimulating novel and unconventional approaches, we seek to inspire innovative perspectives and try to push beyond established knowledge and non-normal sciences.

Inclusive: We empower a diversity of individuals and communities to engage in deliberative processes aimed at values clarification, goal-setting, dialogue, and meaning-making to foster a shared sense of purpose and direction.

  1. 2024
  2. Published

    A systematic review of peer-reviewed gender literature in sustainability science

    Frank, E., Mühlhaus, R., Mustelin, K. M., Trilken, E. L., Kreuz, N. K., Bowes, L. C., Backer, L. M. & von Wehrden, H., 07.2024, In: Sustainability Science. 19, 4, p. 1459-1480 22 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  3. Published

    Transformative research for sustainability: characteristics, tensions, and moving forward

    Horcea-Milcu, A. I., Dorresteijn, I., Leventon, J., Stojanovic, M., Lam, D. P. M., Lang, D. J., Moriggi, A., Raymond, C. M., Stålhammar, S., Weiser, A. & Zimmermann, S., 07.2024, In: Global Sustainability. 7, 16 p., e14.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  4. Published

    Five priorities to advance transformative transdisciplinary research

    Augenstein, K., Lam, D. P., Horcea-Milcu, A. I., Bernert, P., Charli-Joseph, L., Cockburn, J., Kampfmann, T., Pereira, L. M. & Sellberg, M. M., 01.06.2024, In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 68, 11 p., 101438.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  5. Published
  6. Published

    Mapping ecosystem services in Colombia: Analysis of synergies, trade-offs and bundles in environmental management

    Burgos-Ayala, A., Jiménez-Aceituno, A., Meacham, M., Rozas-Vásquez, D., Mancilla García, M., Rocha, J. & Rincón-Ruíz, A., 01.04.2024, In: Ecosystem Services. 66, 13 p., 101608.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Long-term drought triggers severe declines in carabid beetles in a temperate forest

    Weiss, F., von Wehrden, H. & Linde, A., 04.2024, In: Ecography. 2024, 4, 17 p., e07020.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Impacts beyond experimentation - Conceptualising emergent impacts from long-term real-world laboratory processes

    Bernert, P., Weiser, A., Kampfmann, T. & Lang, D. J., 16.03.2024, In: GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society. 33, Supplement 1, p. 18-25 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Impacts of urban real-world labs: Insights from a co-evaluation process informed by structuration theory in Wuppertal-Mirke

    Wanner, M., Augenstein, K., von Wirth, T. & Lang, D. J., 16.03.2024, In: GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society. 33, Supplement 1, p. 102-109 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Submitted

    Relational Transdisciplinarity: Inner Shifts for embracing Onto-epistemological Diversity

    Manuel-Navarrete, D., Grauer, C., Brundiers, K., Chilisa, B., Bin Zanusi, Z. A., Seidel, T., Tolksdorf, F. & Lang, D. J., 2024, (Submitted) In: Ecology and Society.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Student agency in a sustainability-oriented assessment process: exploring expansive learning in student-led rubric co-design

    King, J., Brundiers, K. & Fischer, D., 2024, In: Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education. 49, 6, p. 851-863 13 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review