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. 2020
  2. Published

    Biosphere reserves' management effectiveness-A systematic literature review and a research agenda

    Ferreira, A. F., Zimmermann, H., Santos, R. & von Wehrden, H., 01.07.2020, In: Sustainability. 12, 12, 31 p., 5497.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  3. Published

    Deconstructing a 2-year long transdisciplinary sustainability project in Northern universities: is rhetorical nobility obscuring procedural and political discords?

    Ghosh, A., 01.07.2020, In: Sustainability Science. 15, 4, p. 1111-1127 17 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Light availability and land-use history drive biodiversity and functional changes in forest herb layer communities

    Depauw, L., Perring, M. P., Landuyt, D., Maes, S. L., Blondeel, H., De Lombaerde, E., Brūmelis, G., Brunet, J., Closset-Kopp, D., Czerepko, J., Decocq, G., den Ouden, J., Gawryś, R., Härdtle, W., Hédl, R., Heinken, T., Heinrichs, S., Jaroszewicz, B., Kopecký, M., Liepiņa, I., Macek, M., Máliš, F., Schmidt, W., Smart, S. M., Ujházy, K., Wulf, M. & Verheyen, K., 01.07.2020, In: Journal of Ecology. 108, 4, p. 1411-1425 15 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Plural valuation of nature for equity and sustainability: Insights from the Global South

    Zafra-Calvo, N., Balvanera, P., Pascual, U., Merçon, J., Martín-López, B., van Noordwijk, M., Mwampamba, T. H., Lele, S., Ifejika Speranza, C., Arias-Arévalo, P., Cabrol, D., Cáceres, D. M., O'Farrell, P., Subramanian, S. M., Devy, S., Krishnan, S., Carmenta, R., Guibrunet, L., Kraus-Elsin, Y., Moersberger, H., Cariño, J. & Díaz, S., 01.07.2020, In: Global Environmental Change. 63, 12 p., 102115.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Simulations in Science Education - Status Quo

    Stinken-Rösner, L., 01.07.2020, In: Progress in science education (PriSE). 3, 1, p. 26-34 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Validierung des Adaptiven Tests des Emotionswissens für drei- bis neunjährige Kinder (ATEM 3 - 9)

    Voltmer, K., 01.07.2020, In: Diagnostica. 66, 3, p. 158-171 14 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    The Emerging Research Field of Experimentation for Circular Business Model Innovation

    Bocken, N. M. P., Weissbrod, I. & Antikainen, M., 02.07.2020, 5th International Online Conference on New Business Models: Sustainable. Circular. Inclusive. 1-2 July 2020. Conference Proceedings: Book of Abstracts. Jonker, J. & Faber, N. (eds.). Nijmegen: Radboud University Nijmegen, p. 106-110 5 p.

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

  9. Published

    “A Future to Believe in”: Introducing Varieties of Advocacy Journalism. The Examples Sustainability and the Sanders Campaign

    Laws, N. & Chojnicka, J., 03.07.2020, In: Journalism Studies. 21, 9, p. 1261-1283 23 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Designing a Transformative Epistemology of the Problematic: A Perspective for Transdisciplinary Sustainability Research

    Meyer, E. & Peukert, D., 03.07.2020, In: Social Epistemology. 34, 4, p. 346-356 11 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  11. Published

    Knowledge Decolonization à la Grounded Theory: Control Juggling in Research Situations

    Eguia Huerta, M., 03.07.2020, In: Social Epistemology. 34, 4, p. 370-381 12 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

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Publications

  1. Nature Writing. Zur Brauchbarkeit eines neuen Gattungsbegriffs für das Verständnis von Sebalds Prosa am Beispiel des Essays Die Alpen im Meer
  2. Der Wald als Ressource einer Bildung für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung in der Schule
  3. Sozialmedizin in der Sozialarbeit
  4. Lesen mithilfe von KI – Potentiale des Plastischen Readers im mehrsprachigen berufsschulischen Kontext
  5. Zugang zu humangenetischen Ressourcen indigener Völker Lateinamerikas
  6. The Education, Research, Society, and Policy Nexus of Sustainable Water Use in Semiarid Regions - A Case Study from Tunisia
  7. Gestion des Ressources en Eau dans le Bassin de la Sandougou-Sénégal: étude des dynamiques sociales pour un modèle d'organisation et de gestion durable des ressources en eau
  8. Schulpädagogik und schulpraktische Studien
  9. Förderung von Kernkompetenzen in der Lehramtsausbildung durch videobasiertes Microteaching und Peerfeedback
  10. Qualifizierung von Erzieherinnen und Erziehern zur frühkindlichen Medienbildung in Kindertagesstätten
  11. Selbstreflexion und familienkommunikation
  12. Low-carbon energy controversies
  13. Management in times of crisis
  14. Der modifizierte Körperleib als Ausdrucksraum in der Sozialen Arbeit
  15. The Emergence of Creative Sustainable Cities
  16. Socio-cultural valuation of ecosystem services
  17. Die Zügelführung aus dem Sitz heraus
  18. Konzeptuelles und prozedurales Wissen beim Längenverständnis – eine Schulbuchanalyse
  19. Wo Medienbildung draufsteht, steckt nicht unbedingt Medienbildung drin
  20. Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung in der zweiten Phase der Lehrerbildung
  21. Umgang mit Vielfalt – Neue Perspektiven im Chemieunterrich
  22. Diagnostik für Führungspositionen
  23. Zukunftslabor Produktion
  24. Protection of Colour Per Se: Or, #FreeThePink and the Battle over “Magenta”