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. Published

    Combination of experimental and in silico methods for the assessment of the phototransformation products of the antipsychotic drug/metabolite Mesoridazine

    Wilde, M. L., Menz, J., Leder, C. & Kümmerer, K., 15.03.2018, In: The Science of The Total Environment. 618, p. 697-711 15 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  2. Published

    Combining charcoal sediment and molecular markers to infer a Holocene fire history in the Maya Lowlands of Petén, Guatemala

    Schüpbach, S., Kirchgeorg, T., Colombaroli, D., Beffa, G., Radaelli, M., Kehrwald, N. & Barbante, C., 01.05.2015, In: Quaternary Science Reviews. 115, p. 123-131 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Combining mechanics and electrostatics: Quantitative measurement of a balloons electrical charge

    Stinken-Rösner, L., 03.2019, In: Physics Education. 54, 2, 023004.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesEducationpeer-review

  4. Published

    Combining multiple investigative approaches to unravel functional responses to global change in the understorey of temperate forests

    Landuyt, D., Perring, M. P., Blondeel, H., De Lombaerde, E., Depauw, L., Lorer, E., Maes, S. L., Baeten, L., Bergès, L., Bernhardt-Römermann, M., Brūmelis, G., Brunet, J., Chudomelová, M., Czerepko, J., Decocq, G., den Ouden, J., De Frenne, P., Dirnböck, T., Durak, T., Fichtner, A., Gawryś, R., Härdtle, W., Hédl, R., Heinrichs, S., Heinken, T., Jaroszewicz, B., Kirby, K., Kopecký, M., Máliš, F., Macek, M., Mitchell, F. J. G., Naaf, T., Petřík, P., Reczynska, K., Schmidt, W., Standovár, T., Swierkosz, K., Smart, S. M., Van Calster, H., Vild, O., Waller, D. M., Wulf, M. & Verheyen, K., 01.2024, In: Global Change Biology. 30, 1, 14 p., e17086.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Combustion at the late Early Pleistocene site of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Murcia, Spain)

    Walker, M. J., Anesin, D., Angelucci, D. E., Avilés-Fernández, A., Berna, F., Buitrago-López, A. T., Fernández-Jalvo, Y., Haber-Uriarte, M., López-Jiménez, A., López-Martínez, M., Martín-Lerma, I., Ortega-Rodrigáñez, J., Polo-Camacho, J. L., Rhodes, S. E., Richter, D., Rodríguez-Estrella, T., Schwenninger, J. L. & Skinner, A. R., 01.06.2016, In: Antiquity. 90, 351, p. 571-589 19 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Coming late for dinner: Localized digestate depot fertilization for extensive cultivation of marginal soil with Sida hermaphrodita

    Nabel, M., Schrey, S., Poorter, H., Koller, R., Nagel, K. A., Temperton, V. M., Dietrich, C. C., Briese, C. & Jablonowski, N. D., 30.07.2018, In: Frontiers in Plant Science. 9, 14 p., 1095.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published
  8. Published

    Comment on “fluorotechnology is critical to modern life: The FluoroCouncil counterpoint to the madrid statement”

    Cousins, I. T., Balan, S. A., Scheringer, M., Weber, R., Wang, Z., Blum, A., Diamond, M., Fletcher, T., Goldenman, G., Higgins, C., Lindeman, A. E., Peaslee, G., Trier, X. & De Voogt, P., 01.07.2015, In: Environmental Health Perspectives. 123, 7, p. A170 - A171 2 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published
  10. Published

    Comment on "The environmental photolysis of perfluorooctanesulfonate, perfluorooctanoate, and related fluorochemicals"

    Wang, Z., Cousins, I. T. & Scheringer, M., 01.03.2015, In: Chemosphere. 122, p. 301-303 3 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsComments / Debate / ReportsResearch