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
  1. Published

    Naturschutz in Zeiten sozial-ökologischer Transformationen: Triebkraft oder Getriebener?

    Leibenath, M., Eser, U., Katz, C., Kurth, M., Ober, S., Poblocki, A. & Wessel, M. J. K., 22.10.2021, In: GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society. 30, 3, p. 144-149 6 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  2. Published

    “Plantas que toda la vida han estado”: una co-investigación alrededor de la cocina y las relaciones bioculturales asociadas a plantas alimenticias locales en la ruralidad de Bogotá

    Consuegra, C., Ortiz-Przychodzka, S., Cely-Santos, M., van der Hammen, M. C. & Pérez, D., 07.2021, In: Revista de Antropología y Sociología: Virajes. 23, 2, p. 163-185 23 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Planung naturbasierter Lösungen in Flusslandschaften: Ein Handbuch für die Praxis

    Schröter, B., Brillinger, M., Gottwald, S., Guerrero, P., Henze, J., Ott, E., Schmidt, S. & Albert, C., 01.07.2021, 1 ed. München: Oekom Verlag. 117 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesBook

  4. Published

    Limited knowledge flow among stakeholders of critically endangered renosterveld in South Africa

    Burghardt, S., Topp, E. N., Esler, K. J. & Loos, J., 10.2021, In: Ecology and Society. 26, 3, 17 p., 17.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    A feminist ethos for caring knowledge production in transdisciplinary sustainability science

    Staffa, R. K., Riechers, M. & Martín-López, B., 01.01.2022, In: Sustainability Science. 17, 1, p. 45-63 19 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Artificial intelligence, systemic risks, and sustainability

    Galaz, V., Centeno, M. A., Callahan, P. W., Causevic, A., Patterson, T., Brass, I., Baum, S., Farber, D., Fischer, J., Garcia, D., McPhearson, T., Jimenez, D., King, B., Larcey, P. & Levy, K., 01.11.2021, In: Technology in Society. 67, 10 p., 101741.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Discourses for deep transformation: perceptions of economic growth in two rural communities in Lower Saxony, Germany

    Lübker, H. M., Abson, D. J. & Riechers, M., 01.11.2021, In: Sustainability Science. 16, 6, p. 1827-1840 14 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Governance in the Face of Extreme Events: Lessons from Evolutionary Processes for Structuring Interventions, and the Need to Go Beyond

    Levin, S. A., Anderies, J. M., Adger, N., Barrett, S., Bennett, E. M., Cardenas, J. C., Carpenter, S. R., Crépin, A. S., Ehrlich, P., Fischer, J., Folke, C., Kautsky, N., Kling, C., Nyborg, K., Polasky, S., Scheffer, M., Segerson, K., Shogren, J., van den Bergh, J., Walker, B., Weber, E. U. & Wilen, J., 01.04.2022, In: Ecosystems. 25, 3, p. 697-711 15 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Crisis-induced disruptions in place-based social-ecological research - an opportunity for redirection

    Hermans, K., Berger, E., Biber-Freudenberger, L., Bossenbroek, L., Ebeler, L., Groth, J., Hack, J., Hanspach, J., Hintz, K. S., Kimengsi, J. N., Kwong, Y. M. C., Oakes, R., Pagogna, R., Plieninger, T., Sterly, H., van der Geest, K., van Vliet, J. & Wiederkehr, C., 15.07.2021, In: GAIA. 30, 2, p. 72-76 5 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  10. Published

    Six modes of co-production for sustainability

    Chambers, J. M., Wyborn, C., Ryan, M. E., Reid, R. S., Riechers, M., Serban, A., Bennett, N. J., Cvitanovic, C., Fernández-Giménez, M. E., Galvin, K. A., Goldstein, B. E., Klenk, N. L., Tengö, M., Brennan, R., Cockburn, J. J., Hill, R., Munera, C., Nel, J. L., Österblom, H., Bednarek, A. T., Bennett, E. M., Brandeis, A., Charli-Joseph, L., Chatterton, P., Curran, K., Dumrongrojwatthana, P., Durán, A. P., Fada, S. J., Gerber, J. D., Green, J. M. H., Guerrero, A. M., Haller, T., Horcea-Milcu, A. I., Leimona, B., Montana, J., Rondeau, R., Spierenburg, M., Steyaert, P., Zaehringer, J. G., Gruby, R., Hutton, J. & Pickering, T., 11.2021, In: Nature Sustainability. 4, 11, p. 983-996 14 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

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Publications

  1. Social Justice in European Contract Law
  2. Lernaufgaben - auch Kernstücke sprachbildenden Unterrichts
  3. Exploring Gender Stereotypes and Gender Role Expectations in Clothing Consumption
  4. Gelingende Ethik-Lehre in der Medizin. Erkenntnisse aus der Lehrforschung
  5. Jugendhilfe und Schule
  6. Kunst durch Kredit
  7. Klimaschutz durch Biokohle
  8. The Political Role of the Business Firm
  9. Ritualisierte Bewegungsexzesse
  10. Verwaltungsmodernisierung in Niedersachsen
  11. Investigations in the magnesium-tin system
  12. Drivers of ecosystem service specialization in a smallholder agricultural landscape of the Global South
  13. The effects of psychotherapy for adult depression on suicidality and hopelessness
  14. West Africa
  15. Brutareale und Brutbiologie der Greifvogelarten der Mongolei
  16. Lernen von älteren oder Lernen durch jüngere Geschwister? Effekte der Geschwisterkonstellation auf die Lesekompetenz und Hausaufgabenhilfe in PISA 2000-E
  17. Institutionelle Friedenssicherung
  18. Motiv-Tätigkeitskongruenzen in nachberuflicher Arbeitstätigkeit
  19. Abteilung orientierte Gesundheitsförderung für Mitarbeiter – was Führungskräfte tun können und sollten
  20. Machen Kinder doch glücklich?
  21. A new Parazuphium Jeannel, 1942 species (Coleoptera, Carabidae) from the Zagros Mountains in Iran
  22. Kaufpreiszahlung auf Notaranderkonto
  23. "Passwort Deutsch"
  24. Rezension zu Christoph Weischer: Sozialforschung. UVK Verlagsgesellschaft (Konstanz) 2007. 415 Seiten
  25. Integrating the German and US perspective on organizational practices for later-life work: The Later Life Work Index
  26. Strengthening Sensory Sustainability Science - Theoretical and Methodological Considerations