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

    The impact of climate change on aquatic risk from agricultural pesticides in the US

    Koleva, N. G. & Schneider, U. A., 2010, In: International Journal of Environmental Studies. 67, 5, p. 677-704 28 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearch

  2. Published

    The impact of biodiversity information on willingness to pay

    Hörisch, J., Petersen, L. & Jacobs, K., 12.2024, In: Journal of Industrial Ecology. 28, 6, p. 1641-1656 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    The impact of an insecticide on insect flower visitation and pollination in an agricultural landscape

    Brittain, C., Bommarco, R., Vighi, M., Barmaz, S., Settele, J. & Potts, S. G., 08.2010, In: Agricultural and Forest Entomology. 12, 3, p. 259-266 8 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    The Immunisation against COVID-19 as a Global Public Good

    Bäumler, J. & Sarno, J., 01.01.2022, In: Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht . 82, 1, p. 159-193 35 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    ‘The human shield effect’: Human-wildlife co-occurrence patterns in the coffee forests of southwestern Ethiopia

    Rodrigues, P., Dorresteijn, I. & Gimenez, O., 01.09.2023, In: Food Webs. 36, 8 p., e00288.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearch

  6. Published
  7. Published

    The hidden power of language: How “value creation accounting” influences decisions on expenditures, cost reductions and staff costs

    Hummel, P. & Hörisch, J., 06.01.2020, In: Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal. 11, 1, p. 187-206 20 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    The hidden hand that shapes conceptual understanding: Choosing effective representations for teaching cell division and climate change

    Niebert, K., Riemeier, T. & Gropengießer, H., 2013, Multiple representations in biological education. Tsui, C. Y. & Treagust, D. (eds.). Dordrecht: Springer Verlag, p. 293-310 18 p. (Models and Modeling in Science Education; vol. 7).

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

  9. Published

    The growth-welfare dialectic: What might hegel say?

    Fischer, M., 2016, In: GAIA. 25, 2, p. 80-83 4 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    The ground beetle tribe Trechini in Israel and adjacent regions

    Aßmann, T., Buse, J., Chikatunov, V., Drees, C., Friedmann, A.-L.-L., Härdtle, W., Levanovy, T., Renan, I., Seyfferth, A. & Wrase, D. W., 08.2012, In: Spixiana - Zeitschrift für Zoologie. 35, 2, p. 193-208 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearch