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. E-pub ahead of print

    Does the relationship between sustainable human resource management and organizational identification vary by culture? Evidence from 35 countries based on GLOBE framework

    Author Collaboration of "Does the relationship between sustainable human resource management and organizational identification vary by culture? Evidence from 35 countries based on GLOBE framework", 29.05.2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Central European Management Journal.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  2. Accepted/In press

    Thinking Beyond the Bargaining Table: Negotiators’ Perceptions, Behaviours and Outcomes in Negotiations Affecting External Parties

    Zhang, K., Zhang, H., Aaldering, H., Majer, J. M. & Trötschel, R., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: European Journal of Social Psychology. 19 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. E-pub ahead of print

    Does participatory governance help address long-term environmental problems? Conceptualization and evidence from 23 democracies

    Rose, M., Newig, J. & Jager, N. W., 21.07.2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Policy Studies. p. 1-25 25 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    How methods influence nature's values we find – A comparison of three elicitation methods

    Kuhn, L., Cebrián-Piqueras, M. Á., Riechers, M., Loos, J. & Martín-López, B., 12.2025, In: Ecological Economics. 238, 11 p., 108721.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Soil carbon sequestration: Facilitated effect of extrafloral nectary trees in a diverse subtropical forest

    Pan, Y., Liu, X., Staab, M. & Zhang, N., 08.2025, In: Journal of Ecology. 113, 8, p. 2199-2219 21 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Promoting diversity of thought: bridging knowledge systems for a pluriverse approach to research

    Bülow, F., 25.02.2025, In: Earth Science, Systems and Society. 2025, 5

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Communicating change, transition, and transformation for adaptation in agriculture: a comparative analysis of climate change communication in Aotearoa New Zealand.

    Bülow, F., Liao, A., Cradock-Henry, N. & Brower, A., 09.2025, In: Regional Environmental Change. 25, 3, 16 p., 97.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Implementation of Vocational Education and Training for Sustainable Development Through Cooperation Between Research and Practice

    Hantsch, R. & Hantke, H., 2025, Education for Sustainable Development: The Contribution of Universities. Leal Filho, W., Trevisan, L. V., Pace, P. J. & Mifsud, M. (eds.). Cham: Springer Nature, p. 161-175

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Socio-demographic influences on environmental entrepreneurship: a systematic review

    Hörisch, J., Fokuhl, M., Behrens, I., Hörnstein, M. C. & Lehmann, U., 24.06.2025, In: International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing. 17, 1, p. 88-116 29 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  10. Published

    Using causal loop diagrams to see the “big picture” and embrace complexity in human-wildlife coexistence governance

    Kansky, R., Riechers, M. & Fischer, J., 08.2025, In: Biological Conservation. 308, 13 p., 111198.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. Almut Beringer

Publications

  1. Grassland management intensification weakens the associations among the diversities of multiple plant and animal taxa
  2. The Science and Practice of Landscape Stewardship, Claudia Bieling, Tobias Plieninger. Cambridge University Press (2017)
  3. § 291 Prozesszinsen
  4. ReClaiming Participation
  5. Future thought and the self-regulation of energization
  6. Ist ein Freund noch ein Freund?
  7. Mise-en-scène
  8. Children's literature and translation studies
  9. Biographische Kleinformen
  10. Mariology, Calvinism, Painting
  11. Attraktive Arbeitgeber im Mittelstand
  12. Die Konstruktion von Authentizität
  13. Accounting towards Sustainability in Production and Supply Chains
  14. Museum visitors and non-visitors in Germany: A representative survey
  15. On how business students’ personal values and sustainability conceptions impact their sustainability management orientation
  16. Modelling elephant corridors over two decades reveals opportunities for conserving connectivity across a large protected area network
  17. The environmental and economic effects of European emissions trading
  18. The Instrument as Medium
  19. Das Problem der Eignung in der Aus- und Fortbildung von Pädagogen
  20. Umweltrechnungslegung in Südostasien
  21. Art and the Economy of Attention: On the 1% - the 100 Most Expensive Works of Art
  22. Fit für einen umweltverträglichen Urlaub?
  23. Attraktive Arbeitgeber in der Pflege
  24. Theorielose Empirie?
  25. ENGINEERING OUTREACH
  26. The effects of habitat changes on the endangered ground beetle Carabus nitens (Coleoptera Carabidae)
  27. Cameras in the classroom
  28. Criminal Enforcement
  29. Klimaschutz durch Moorrenaturierung
  30. Sensomotorik – Integration von Koordination und Kraft
  31. Der deutsche Föderalismus zwischen zwei Konventen
  32. Effects of physical activity on cognition and academic achievement in children and adolescents
  33. THE CULTURAL PRE-REQUISITES OF DEMOCRACY
  34. Political culture
  35. Unabhängigkeit des Abschlussprüfers