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

    Gaining deep leverage? Reflecting and shaping real-world lab impacts through leverage points

    Schäpke, N., Beecroft, R., Wanner, M., Wagner, F., Rhodius, R., Laborgne, P. & Parodi, O., 16.03.2024, In: GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society. 33, Supplement 1, p. 116-124 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  2. 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

  3. Published

    “First come, first served" or “the more, the merrier"? Organizational dynamics of citizen-led solar initiatives and the presence of photovoltaic installations in Germany

    Mueller, L., Marcroft, T. P., von Beck, C., Zeiss, J. P., Schwanitz, V. J., Wierling, A. & Holstenkamp, L., 10.04.2024, In: Journal of Cleaner Production. 449, 11 p., 141861.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published
  5. 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

  6. Published

    Mixed farmers' perception of the ecological-economic performance of diversified farming

    Rosa-Schleich, J., Loos, J., Ferrante, M., Mußhoff, O. & Tscharntke, T., 01.06.2024, In: Ecological Economics. 220, 11 p., 108174.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Who benefits from indirect prevention and treatment of depression using an online intervention for insomnia? Results from an individual-participant data meta-analysis

    Thielecke, J., Kuper, P., Lehr, D., Schuurmans, L., Harrer, M., Ebert, D. D., Cuijpers, P., Behrendt, D., Brückner, H. A., Horvath, H., Riper, H. & Buntrock, C., 07.2024, In: Psychological Medicine. 54, 10, p. 2389-2402 14 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Digital cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia reduces insomnia in nurses suffering from shift work disorder: A randomised-controlled pilot trial

    Ell, J., Brückner, H. A., Johann, A. F., Steinmetz, L., Güth, L. J., Feige, B., Järnefelt, H., Vallières, A., Frase, L., Domschke, K., Riemann, D., Lehr, D. & Spiegelhalder, K., 12.2024, In: Journal of Sleep Research. 33, 6, 14 p., e14193.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Institutional Proxy Representatives of Future Generations: A Comparative Analysis of Types and Design Features

    Rose, M., 08.03.2024, In: Politics and Governance. 12, p. 1-21 21 p., 7745.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. 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

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Evaluation and authorisation of plant protection products within the European Union
  2. Zur Evidenz regionaler Determinanten im Kontext individueller Gründungsaktivitäten
  3. Illusion Fortschritt - Wissen und Vergessen in der Pädagogik
  4. Internet und Ethik
  5. Microeconometrics of International Trade
  6. Reality TV Reloaded
  7. How much do others matter?
  8. Stakeholder engagement in Water Framework Directive planning in the United Kingdom: Two case studies from Northern Ireland and Scotland
  9. Vorhersage des Studienabbruchs in naturwissenschaftlich-technischen Studiengängen
  10. Energy transition calls for high investment
  11. Transformation gezielt kommunizieren
  12. The Life Cycle of Party Government across the New Europe
  13. Queering
  14. Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa
  15. Social theatre as a tool for environmental learning processes: a case study from Madrid, Spain
  16. Concentration of ciprofloxacin in Brazilian hospital effluent and preliminary risk assessment
  17. Cultural Leadership in Practice
  18. Members of the European Parliament on the Web
  19. Grassland management intensification weakens the associations among the diversities of multiple plant and animal taxa
  20. The Science and Practice of Landscape Stewardship, Claudia Bieling, Tobias Plieninger. Cambridge University Press (2017)
  21. § 291 Prozesszinsen
  22. ReClaiming Participation
  23. Future thought and the self-regulation of energization
  24. Ist ein Freund noch ein Freund?
  25. Mise-en-scène
  26. Children's literature and translation studies
  27. Biographische Kleinformen
  28. Mariology, Calvinism, Painting
  29. Attraktive Arbeitgeber im Mittelstand
  30. Die Konstruktion von Authentizität
  31. Accounting towards Sustainability in Production and Supply Chains
  32. Museum visitors and non-visitors in Germany: A representative survey
  33. On how business students’ personal values and sustainability conceptions impact their sustainability management orientation
  34. Modelling elephant corridors over two decades reveals opportunities for conserving connectivity across a large protected area network
  35. The environmental and economic effects of European emissions trading
  36. The Instrument as Medium
  37. Das Problem der Eignung in der Aus- und Fortbildung von Pädagogen
  38. Umweltrechnungslegung in Südostasien
  39. Art and the Economy of Attention: On the 1% - the 100 Most Expensive Works of Art