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. 2017
  2. Published

    Micro-scale Thermodynamic and Kinetic Analysis of a Calcium Chloride Methanol System for Process Cooling

    Korhammer, K., Neumann, K., Opel, O. & Ruck, W. K. L., 01.05.2017, In: Energy Procedia. 105, p. 4363-4369 7 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Subsistence, Substitutability and Sustainability in Consumption

    Baumgärtner, S., Drupp, M. A. & Quaas, M. F., 01.05.2017, In: Environmental and Resource Economics. 67, 1, p. 47-66 20 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Linking transitions to sustainability: A study of the societal effects of transition management

    Schäpke, N., Omann, I., Wittmayer, J. M., van Steenbergen, F. & Mock, M., 03.05.2017, In: Sustainability. 9, 5, 36 p., 737.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Mitigating the Impact of Climate Change by Reducing Evaporation Losses: Sediment Removal from the High Aswan Dam Reservoir

    Elba, E., Urban, B., Ettmer, B. & Farghaly, D., 04.05.2017, In: American Journal of Climate Change. 6, 2, p. 230-246 17 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Still some way to go: institutionalisation of sustainability in German local governments

    Heinrichs, H. & Schuster, F., 04.05.2017, In: Local Environment. 22, 5, p. 536-552 17 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Control versus Complexity: Approaches to the Carbon Dioxide Problem at IIASA

    Schrickel, I., 06.2017, In: Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte. 40, 2, p. 140-159 20 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Human–nature connection: a multidisciplinary review

    Ives, C. D., Giusti, M., Fischer, J., Abson, D. J., Klaniecki, K., Dorninger, C., Laudan, J., Barthel, S., Abernethy, P., Martín-López, B., Raymond, C. M., Kendal, D. & von Wehrden, H., 06.2017, In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 26–27, June 2017, p. 106-113 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  9. Published

    Predicting the Individual Mood Level based on Diary Data

    Bremer, V., Becker, D., Funk, B. & Lehr, D., 06.2017, Proceedings of the 25th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2017. AIS eLibrary, p. 1161-1177 17 p. (Proceedings of the 25th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2017).

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

  10. Published

    Scarification in sub-Saharan Africa: Social skin, remedy and medical import

    Garve, R., Garve, M., Türp, J. C., Fobil, J. N. & Meyer, C. G., 06.2017, In: Tropical Medicine and International Health. 22, 6, p. 708-715 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Theorising the dynamics of collaborative consumption practices: A comparison of peer-to-peer accommodation and cohousing

    Huber, A., 06.2017, In: Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions. 23, June, p. 53–69 17 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review