Doctoral Research Group Sustainability Science

Combating poverty, hunger and climate change, sustainable energy supply and cities, education and clean drinking water – these are all examples of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Such goals address societal challenges that need to be tackled through innovative strategies that include science and other relevant actors within society until 2030.

More than 30 professors and their research teams at the faculty of sustainability conduct solution-oriented research on transformation and development processes towards a sustainable society. Among others the inherent complexity of sustainability problems must lead to solutions that require the cooperation of different disciplines as well as the creation of inter- and transdisciplinary approaches that go beyond universities. Hence, sustainability research is been carried out e.g. in collaboration with political decision-makers, farmers, local entrepreneurs and many other actors. All are faced with specific challenges that can only be met successfully on the basis of innovative, theoretically and methodically based sustainability research.

Research projects are conducted on: socio-ecological systems, sustainable chemistry and material resources, energy systems, sustainable cities, sustainable management and learning processes for sustainable development. Within those areas the specific research foci can be on individuals, organizations and systems in order to shape and enable sustainable development on different spatial (regional, national, global) and temporal (short-, mid-, long-term) scales towards sustainability.

Doctoral Degrees

Depending on the subject and method of the dissertation, the respective faculty confers the following doctoral degrees:

Dr. phil.
Dr. rer. pol.
Dr. rer. nat.

Doctoral Supervisors

Activities

Recently completed doctoral dissertations

Cristina Ioana Apetrei: The Role of Knowledge and Learning in Sustainability Transformations
Mila Francesca Bading: Life Cycle and Aquatic Biodegradation Assessments of Pharmaceutical Excipients: Development of a Selection Guide for Drug Formulations
Aline Bauer: Rebirth of Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) to Achieve Efficiency Increases, Greenhouse Gas Reductions, and Economic Improvements. An Innovative Approach for Manufacturing Companies Based on MFCA 2.0
Camila Benavides Frias: Food Comes from Agroecosystems: The Role of Agriculture for the Reproduction of Life
Philip Bernert: Advancing Transformative Sustainability Science through Research in Real-world Laboratories
Jodie Birdman: Educating Future Change Agents: Building Curricula for Key Sustainability Competencies
Estève Boutaud: Contribution of semi-open areas to the long-term conservation of insects: a perspective on ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae and Cicindelidae)
Neha Chauhan:Agricultural Policies and Perceptions to Climate Change: Insights from Western Himalayas, India
Birte Freudenreich: Business Model Transformation for Sustainability: A Stakeholder Theory Perspective
Gino Garcia: Designing a Sustainability Assessment approach for the provision of Forest Ecosystem Services
Lea Gathen: Transition and Transformation in Electric Mobility - Exploring Narratives, Institutional Contexts, Governance, and Agency through a Regional EV Case Study and Conceptual Expert Interviews
Swantje Grabener: Insects‘ conservation in agricultural landscapes: trends, assessment, and management implications
Konrad Sylvester Gray: Exploring the Role of Values, Landscapes and Relationships for Social-Ecological Restoration:Insights from a Real-World Laboratory for Grassland Restoration in Germany
Janne Milena Groß:Adressierung von Mädchen an außerschulischen MINT-Lernorten
Andreas Huber: Neighbourhood Sharing: On the Prospects of an Alternative Housing Model
Jorrit Darius Holst: Sustainability in Education: An Empirical Assessment of Systemic Integration and Organisational Practice
Kiril Ivanov: Developing Sustainability-oriented Innovation Cultures: A Cultivation Approach
John Sanya Julius: Plurality within: Understanding the pluriverse of smallholders’ relationships with nature on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Ev Kirst: State in transition. Navigating through sustainability processes in organizations of the public sector
Lukas Kuhn: Interlinking value-articulating institutions for plural values in restoration
Janosch Pfeffer: Do Minipublics Enhance Effective Democratic Decision-Making? Evidence from Climate Assemblies
Marco Schauer: Embracing Multi-Dimensionality: On the Necessity to Understand Sustainability Negotiations as Multi-Dimensional
Anja Singer: Alterung von Motoröl/Kraftstoff -Gemischen und Wechselwirkung von Additiven
Ronja Sowinski: Alles anders, alle gleich? - Vorstellungen zu biologischen Phänomenen und Metaphernverwendung von Schüler*innen unterschiedlicher Erstsprachen
Julian Türck: Untersuchung der physikalisch - und verbrennungs-chemischen Wechselwirkungen von Solketal in Dieselkraftstoff
Konstantin Warneke: Measurement errors in empirical data collections and how to deal with them - An interdisciplinary perspective on test-retest reporting standards
Eric Jan Richard Hartmann: The Sufficiency Perspective on Climate Change Mitigation - Policy Measures towards Transformation in Germany

Doctoral Courses

As a doctoral candidate at Leuphana, you not only write your dissertation, but also participate in the interdisciplinary doctoral courses to the extent of 30 credit points, which include (inter)disciplinary colloquia (Research Forum I and Research Forum II) and furthermore comprises four interdisciplinary modules on research ethics, research methods, scientific practice and current perspectives on science. Please find more information about Leuphana's doctoral courses here.

Admission

If you wish to pursue your doctorate at Leuphana, you must be enrolled as doctoral student. Information about admission to the doctorate at Leuphana and the application procedure can be found here.

Leuphana Graduate School offers advice and coaching to academics in the qualification phase. The Graduate School's advisor will be happy to support you in questions of decision-making, challenges in the course of your doctorate, and career planning and development. You can find more information about the counselling and coaching services here.