Social-Ecological Systems Institute (SESI)
Organisational unit: Institute
Organisation profile
Vision & Mission
We envision a fair world where the benefits generated within social-ecological systems are shared sustainably with other species, both within and across generations. Solutions to sustainability challenges are developed collaboratively across diverse scientific disciplines, knowledge systems, and social interests. To realise our vision, we recognise the need for transformative change. In pursuit of such change we:
- use place-based social-ecological systems thinking to understand and resolve sustainability challenges such as biodiversity loss and environmental injustice;
- bring together insights and approaches from the natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities in genuinely collaborative endeavours;
- integrate experiences, practices, and understandings from diverse knowledge systems;
- embed tools for transformative change into the social-ecological systems thinking via a leverage points perspective;
- develop and apply methods to bridge multiple scales and governance levels; and
- provide spaces for people sharing our vision to meet and exchange ideas.
Main research areas
We primarily conduct integrative and transdisciplinary research. In particular, the following topics are central to the Institute's research work:
- Biodiversity conservation
- Biocultural diversity
- Cross-scale governance
- Leverage points & transformation
- Ecosystem services
- Relational values
- Environmental justice
CfN: Caring for natures? Geschlechterperspektiven auf (Vor)Sorge im Umgang mit ,Natur/en‘
Hofmeister, S. (Project manager, academic), Mölders, T. (Project manager, academic), Kapitza, K. (Project staff), Deininger, M. (Project staff) & Katz, C. (Partner)
Ministry of Science and Culture of the State of Lower Saxony
01.02.17 → 30.09.20
Project: Research
"Invasive" Arten im Prozessschutz
Kapitza, K. (Project manager, academic) & Hofmeister, S. (Project manager, academic)
01.05.17 → 30.04.20
Project: Dissertation project
EQUIVAL: Nurturing a Shift towards Equitable Valuation of Nature in the Anthropocene
Pascual, U. (Coordination), Balvanera, P. (Project manager, academic) & Martín-López, B. (Partner)
11.11.17 → …
Project: Research
A biodiversity hotspot faces intensification of viticulture: the role of Fynbos remnants for the conservation of plants and butterflies
Loos, J. (Project manager, academic), Topp, E. (Project staff), Burghardt, S. (Project staff), Talanow, K. (Project staff), Martín-López, B. (Partner), Underhill, L. (Partner) & Edge, D. (Partner, non-academic)
01.04.18 → 30.06.20
Project: Research
Language for Sustainability: Sustaining Biodiversity and Biocultures
Manuel-Navarrete, D. (Project manager, academic), Martín-López, B. (Project manager, academic), Lam, D. (Project staff), Dillon-Swanson, T. (Project manager, academic), Gerber, L. (Project staff), Mwampamba, T. H. (Project manager, academic), Escalante, A. E. (Project staff) & Camou Guerreroe, A. (Project staff)
01.07.18 → 30.06.19
Project: Research
Unraveling patterns of ecosystem services supply: a case study in Southern Chile
Benra, F. (Project manager, academic)
01.09.18 → 31.08.22
Project: Dissertation project
BioKultDiv: Biocultural Diversity in Farming Landscapes of the Global South
Hanspach, J. (Project manager, academic), Díaz Reviriego, I. (Project staff), Benavides Frias, C. (Project staff), Ortiz-Przychodzka, S. (Project staff) & Drews-Shambroom, A. (Project staff)
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
01.06.19 → 31.05.25
Project: Research
Raumkonflikte – Konflikträume: Wie beinflussen neue molekularbiologische Züchtungstechniken Diskurse und Praktiken in ländlichen Räumen in Großbritannien und Deutschland?
Friedrich, B. (Project manager, academic)
01.07.19 → 31.03.20
Project: Research
ETH-Coffee: Towards a Sustainable Bioeconomy: A Scenario Analysis for the Jimma Coffee Landscape in Ethiopia
Fischer, J. (Project manager, academic), Schultner, J. (Project manager, academic), Abson, D. (Project manager, academic), Duguma, D. W. (Project manager, academic), Jiren, T. S. (Project staff) & Brück, M. (Project staff)
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
01.11.19 → 31.08.23
Project: Research
Management von Gehölzen zur Verbesserung der Multifunktionalität in einer Kulturlandschaft Äthiopiens
Fischer, J. (Project manager, academic)
German Federal Environmental Foundation
15.04.20 → 14.04.23
Project: Research