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. 2025
  2. Published

    Mostly harmless econometrics? Statistical paradigms in the ‘top five’ from 2000 to 2018

    Engler, J. O., Beeck, J. J. & von Wehrden, H., 2025, In: Journal of Economic Methodology. 32, 1, p. 14-32 19 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Accepted/In press

    Negotiating With Yourself and Winning: The Dual Commitment Model for Intrapersonal Sustainability Goal Conflicts

    Sevincer, A. T., Majer, J. M. & Trötschel, R., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Motivation Science.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    On-farm compost and parsley residues extract use on organic fennel crop to improve agronomic performance and environmental sustainability

    Diacono, M., Fiore, A., Di Bene, C., Farina, R., Trinchera, A., Li, J., Geelen, D., Pleissner, D., Almendinger, M., Montemurro, F. & Persiani, A., 2025, In: Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. 49, 5, p. 615-640 26 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Accepted/In press

    Participatory mapping of local people's values in restoration landscapes in Western Rwanda

    Ndayizeye, G., Kmoch, L., Baumann, M., Nsengimana, V., Fischer, J. & Plieninger, T., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Restoration Ecology. 13 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Pathways to synergize reductive with relational logics in environmental policy

    Pérez-Hämmerle, K. V., Moon, K., Raymond, C. M., Lucas, P., Hakkarainen, V. & Wood, P., 2025, In: Ecosystems and People. 21, 1, 20 p., 2529585.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Planting futures: School-based food forests and their contribution to holistic education for sustainable development

    Gobs, J., 2025, In: GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society. 34, 2, p. 97-105 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Accepted/In press

    Psychological intervention in individuals with subthreshold depression: individual participant data meta-analysis of treatment effects and moderators

    Author Collaboration of "Psychological intervention in individuals with subthreshold depression: individual participant data meta-analysis of treatment effects and moderators", Harrer, M., Sprenger, A. A., Illing, S., Adriaanse, M. C., Albert, S. M., Allart, E. & Lehr, D., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: British Journal of Psychiatry. 14 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  9. Published
  10. Published
  11. Accepted/In press

    Sampling and processing of climate change information and disinformation across three diverse countries

    Rahmani Azad, Z., Spampatti, T., Gluth, S., Tam, K. P. & Hahnel, U. J. J., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: British Journal of Psychology.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. Nicolas Mendoza

Publications

  1. Ein "altliberaler" Denker? Helmut Schelsky zwischen Sachlichkeit und Demokratie
  2. Nach Bali
  3. Ökologieorientierte Entscheidungen in Unternehmen
  4. Engaging Teacher Educators with the Sustainability Agenda
  5. Zeit. Von der Urzeit zur Computerzeit / Klaus Mainzer. - 1995
  6. Quo vadis Maßgeblichkeit?
  7. Geschlechtergerecht studieren können
  8. Ein unmöglicher Blick von außen
  9. Herausfordernde Einmaleinsaufgaben - schon im zweiten Schuljahr
  10. Ausspracheprobleme weißrussischer Deutschlernender und Schritte zur korrekten Aussprache
  11. Upsides and downsides of the sharing economy
  12. Organisational aspects of public engagement in European energy infrastructure planning
  13. Hafenzugang für Kreuzfahrtschiffe in der COVID-19 Pandemie: Eine völkerrechtliche Perspektive
  14. Entrepreneurial orientation
  15. Rezension zu Rechter, Yvonne: Bedeutung individueller Lernförderung als Unterstützung schulischen Lernens
  16. Gesundheitsmonitoring und Gesundheitsmanagement an Hochschulen
  17. Bilanzielle Kapitalerhaltung in der EU vor einer Neuausrichtung?
  18. Lingua musica? Zur Erfassung musiksprachlicher Kompetenzen Jugendlicher in textbasierten Testinstrumenten.
  19. Geschichten und Geschichte
  20. Anthropologie und Kritik. Kant, Foucault und die philosophische Anthropologie
  21. Hot tearing susceptibility of Mg-5Nd-xZn alloys
  22. Qualitätssteigerung durch duale Beratung in der Schule?
  23. Langeweile Aushalten
  24. Schule - der Zukunft voraus
  25. § 3 Grundlagen des Internationalen Wirtschaftsrechts
  26. The tattooings of cities
  27. Friend and Foe: The image of Germany and the Germans in British children's fiction from 1870 to the present
  28. Internationalization as Strategic Change: The Case of Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft
  29. Ecological sustainability - a customer requirement ? Evidence from the automotive industry
  30. Zwecke von betrieblichen Umweltinformationssystemen im Rahmen einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung
  31. § 328 Beschränkung der Rechte
  32. Orientierung
  33. Entrepreneurs and Freelancers: Are They Time and Income Multidimensional Poor? - The German Case
  34. Geschäftsführung ohne Auftrag (§ 686)
  35. Degradation of cyclophosphamide and 5-fluorouracil by UV and simulated sunlight treatments
  36. Pflanzengesellschaft des Jahres 2019