School of Sustainability
Organisational unit: Research School
- Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM)
- Institute of Ecology
- Institute of Ethics and Transdisciplinary Sustainability Research
- Institute of Sustainability Governance
- Institute of Sustainability Material Flows and Circularity
- Institute of Sustainability Psychology
- Institute of Sustainable Chemistry
- Social-Ecological Systems Institute (SESI)
- Sustainability Education and Transdisciplinary Research Institute
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.
- 2026
- Published
Reconceptualizing the role of socioeconomic material stocks in the leverage points framework to enable transformative change
Haas, W., Abson, D. J., Haberl, H., Spittler, N., Wiedenhofer, D. & Dorninger, C., 01.2026, In: Ecological Economics. 239, 9 p., 108759.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- 2025
- Published
A critical analysis of the policy potential for sustainable agriculture in India
Chauhan, N. & von Wehrden, H., 12.2025, In: Discover Sustainability. 6, 1, 13 p., 233.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Environmental justice gaps in human-wildlife conflict research from a social-ecological systems perspective
Alba-Patiño, D., Martín-López, B., Delibes-Mateos, M., Requena-Mullor, J. M. & Castro, A. J., 12.2025, In: Biological Conservation. 312, 11 p., 111515.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Forb diversity globally is harmed by nutrient enrichment but can be rescued by large mammalian herbivory
Nelson, R. A., Sullivan, L. L., Hersch-Green, E. I., Seabloom, E. W., Borer, E. T., Tognetti, P. M., Adler, P. B., Biederman, L., Bugalho, M. N., Caldeira, M. C., Cancela, J. P., Carvalheiro, L. G., Catford, J. A., Dickman, C. R., Dolezal, A. J., Donohue, I., Ebeling, A., Eisenhauer, N., Elgersma, K. J., Eskelinen, A., Estrada, C., Garbowski, M., Graff, P., Gruner, D. S., Hagenah, N., Haider, S., Harpole, W. S., Hautier, Y., Jentsch, A., Johanson, N., Koerner, S. E., Lannes, L. S., MacDougall, A. S., Martinson, H., Morgan, J. W., Olde Venterink, H., Orr, D., Osborne, B. B., Peri, P. L., Power, S. A., Raynaud, X., Risch, A. C., Shrestha, M., Smith, N. G., Stevens, C. J., Veen, G. F. C., Virtanen, R., Wardle, G. M., Wolf, A. A., Young, A. L. & Harrison, S. P., 12.2025, In: Communications Biology. 8, 1, 10 p., 444.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Published
From consumers to pioneers: insights from thermal energy communities in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands
Herreras Martínez, S., Mesman, J., Sneum, D. M., Holstenkamp, L., Harmsen, R., Menkveld, M., Akerboom, S. & Faaij, A., 12.2025, In: Energy, Sustainability and Society. 15, 1, 31 p., 5.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- 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 contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Published
Local nutrient addition drives plant diversity losses but not biotic homogenization in global grasslands
Chen, Q., Blowes, S. A., Harpole, W. S., Ladouceur, E., Borer, E. T., MacDougall, A., Martina, J. P., Bakker, J. D., Tognetti, P. M., Seabloom, E. W., Daleo, P., Power, S., Roscher, C., Adler, P. B., Donohue, I., Wheeler, G., Stevens, C., Veen, G. F. C., Risch, A. C., Wardle, G. M., Hautier, Y., Estrada, C., Hersch-Green, E., Niu, Y., Peri, P. L., Eskelinen, A., Gruner, D. S., Olde Venterink, H., D’Antonio, C., Cadotte, M. W., Haider, S., Eisenhauer, N., Catford, J., Virtanen, R., Morgan, J. W., Tedder, M., Bagchi, S., Caldeira, M. C., Bugalho, M. N., Knops, J. M. H., Dickman, C. R., Hagenah, N., Jentsch, A., Macek, P., Osborne, B. B., Laanisto, L. & Chase, J. M., 12.2025, In: Nature Communications. 16, 1, 8 p., 4903.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Published
Long-term heterotrophic cultivation of Galdieria sulphuraria at technical scale under non-sterile conditions
Pleissner, D., Händel, N., Schönfelder, S., Petrusan, J. I., Queiroz Silva, B., Schröder, J., Müller, J., Cowan, K. & Smetana, S., 12.2025, In: Sustainable Chemistry One World. 8, 8 p., 100116.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Published
Marine biodiversity change impacts relational values: expert survey shows policy mismatch
Dajka, J. C., Levi, S., Verstraeten, A. M., Menendez, V. A., Smith, M., Snow, B., Vargas-Fonseca, O. A. & Hillebrand, H., 12.2025, In: NPJ Ocean Sustainability. 4, 1, 8 p., 42.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Published
More-than-human synchronizations expose the fractures of the agrarian commodity frontier in the Bolivian Chiquitanía
Ortiz-Przychodzka, S., Keleman-Saxena, A., Benavides-Frías, C., Díaz-Reviriego, I. & Hanspach, J., 12.2025, In: Journal of Rural Studies. 120, 12 p., 103846.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review