Research

The University of Göttingen aims to strengthen sustainable research projects that address social, ecological, and economic challenges and develop solutions for a sustainable and future-oriented development. At the same time, the research process itself should be designed to be as sustainable as possible.

Sustainable Research:

There is need for action in science to implement climate protection as well as environmental and resource conservation in the research process. In order to drive the process towards sustainable research, sustainability aspects in the research process and possible reduction potentials as well as alternative approaches should be taken into account. According to the DFG's catalogue of guiding questions emission and ressource consumption of the following topics should be considered:

• Travel considerations
• Methodology and design
• Computing power
• Equipment procurement and operation of equipment

Selected Research Projects dealing with Sustainability:

ENOUGH - Sealing a sustainable and environmentally friendly food system

The EU Farm to Fork Strategy, at the heart of the European Green Deal, aims to develop a holistic strategy to transform the European food sector into a fair, healthy, environmentally friendly and resilient system. Systematic scientific, technological, economic and social support is required on the road to success. The EU-funded ENOUGH project will contribute to this goal by creating new knowledge, technologies, tools and methods that will enable the sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The project also aims to increase the sustainability of food systems and provide selected innovative technological, ready-to-use solutions for EU companies to ensure robust and sustainable food supply chains in the future.
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Contact: Prof. Dr. Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso

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RTG 2654 – Sustainable Food Systems

Agriculture and food play a central role in many of the global challenges such as poverty, hunger, obesity, climate change and loss of biodiversity. It is clear that the global sustainability goals cannot be achieved without serious changes in the production and consumption of food. Which changes are helpful and how these can be implemented politically and socially are open questions that are to be comprehensively researched in the new RTG, both in industrialized and in developing and emerging countries.
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Contact: Prof. Dr. Meike Wollni

WOOD LCC - Life cycle cost calculation (LCC) with innovative software for specifying the service life of timber components

WoodLCC enables a robust and precise life cycle cost calculation (LCC) based on novel models for the detailed determination of the service life of timber components and buildings. A holistic approach to the integration of life cycle data into LCC analysis tools will be used. The result will be the WoodLCC data platform.
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Contact: Philip Bester van Niekerk

TRUESOIL - True SOC sequestration: understanding trade-offs and dynamic interactions between SOC stocks and GHG emissions for climate-smart agrisoil management

The main objective is to assess interactions between management practices aimed at increasing organic carbon in agricultural soils and greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the future impact of a reduction in precipitation on the interactions between organic carbon storage and greenhouse gases will be investigated. In this context, the role of different abiotic and biotic factors in organic carbon storage and the extent to which these factors influence greenhouse gas emissions, in particular N₂O, in different soil types and climatic zones will be determined.
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Contact: Dr. Ana Meijide

BIOcean5D - Marine Biodiversity Assessment and Prediction across spatial, temporal and human scales

Marine biodiversity is of fundamental importance for the health of the planet and humans, yet we still know far too little about it. BIOcean5D seeks to explore marine life and its changes in 5 dimensions: 3-dimensional space, time and human impact. Ultimately, we hope that by measuring, monitoring and understanding marine biodiversity and involving citizens in our research, we will be able to provide information for the sustainable management and long-term conservation of our marine ecosystems.
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Contact: Prof. Dr. Christoph Bleidorn

ECOBOOST - Boosting functional biodiversity to maximize ecosystem services for Mediterranean crop production

The current agricultural methods used to cultivate crops are often unsustainable and lead to a loss of biodiversity. In particular, pest control in the Mediterranean region still relies heavily on the use of chemical pesticides. The ECOBOOST consortium, consisting of ten international partners in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Germany, is researching agricultural measures to increase functional biodiversity and promote ecosystem services for the cultivation of solanaceous crops.
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Contact: Prof. Dr. Michael Rostás

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PathFinder – Towards an Integrated Consistent European LULUCE Monitoring and Policy Pathway Assessment Framework

Forests are playing an increasingly important role in the sustainability debate, especially in the context of climate change, biodiversity conservation and the bioeconomy. In order to make evidence-based decisions in forest-related policy processes, reliable information is needed. At national level, national forest inventories cover this need for information. In its “European Forest Strategy”, the European Commission calls for their expansion in the direction of European forest monitoring. The EU Horizon project “Pathfinder”, led by the Norwegian bioeconomy institute NIBIO, is dedicated to this task.
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Contact: Prof. Dr. Christoph Kleinn

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INFORMA - Science-Based Integrated Forest Mitigation Management

Forests are the largest terrestrial carbon sink. This service is threatened by the increase in natural disturbances, which are becoming more frequent with climate change. At the same time, knowledge about the effects of forest management on biogeochemical and biophysical processes is limited. INFORMA aims to expand this knowledge and identify ways of managing and protecting forests more sustainably and preserving their biodiversity.
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Contact: Dr. Michael Kirchner

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ClimbForest - Climate Mitigation and Bioeconomy pathways for sustainable Forestry

This project uses the latest data from various forest research stations and satellites to support the planning and management of Europe's new and existing forests. New tools, interactive maps and best practice guidelines will be developed. By working closely with the forestry sector and policy makers, CLIMB-FOREST aims to ensure that Europe's forests are resilient to climate change.
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Contact: Prof. Dr. Alexander Knohl

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RECONNECT - Reconnecting fragmented and contested landscapes

RECONNECT focuses in particular on the decoupling of nature conservation from society's other socio-ecological demands on landscapes. This fragmentation, contestation and disconnection can be caused by institutional, ecological and social factors. The aim of the research project is to use four case studies to gain in-depth knowledge of how institutional, ecological and social limits to biodiversity conservation are dealt with.
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Contact: Prof. Dr. Tobias Plieninger und Dr. Marion Jay

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InterRest - Interactive effects of local and landscape scale restoration of semi-natural grasslands and agricultural fields on species interactions and ecosystem functions in different social-ecological system

Calcareous grasslands, created by traditional land use in Europe, are among the most species-rich habitats but are threatened by abandonment and eutrophication. Restoration efforts are urgently needed, but current regional approaches often focus solely on species richness, ignoring biotic interactions and ecosystem functions. InterRest will address this gap by analyzing multiple interaction networks (e.g., decomposition, pollination, predation) and their role in stabilizing ecosystems, integrating social-ecological interactions to improve restoration success across landscapes.
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Contact: Dr. Annika Haß

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FUNPOTENTIAL - Potential of functional diversity for increasing the disturbance resiliency of forests and forest-based socio-ecological systems

As a result of climate change, natural disturbances in Europe's forests are expected to increase. FunPotential investigates nature-based adaptation strategies with higher tree species and structural diversity to establish resilient forests and economically robust forestry operations. The focus is on management and policy strategies that simultaneously maintain sustainable wood supply, climate services and biodiversity.
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Contact: Prof. Dr. Carola Paul

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FOR 5000 - Biotic interactions, species communities and eco-evolutionary dynamics as drivers of long-term relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functionsn

The central aim of the research group is to find out which mechanisms influence the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functions in the short and long term. As these relationships strengthen over time, they are probably the key to a general understanding of the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functions.
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Contact: Prof. Dr. Stefan Scheu

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SPP 1374 - Exploratories for functional biodiversity research

As part of this large joint project on biodiversity research, three large-scale long-term study areas were established as examples. They are referred to as biodiversity exploratories, as opposed to mainly descriptive observatories. The exploratories provide a unique framework for assessing key questions about the impact of land use on biodiversity and the influence of these changes on ecosystem processes.
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Contact: Prof. Dr. Christian Ammer

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RTG 2300: Enrichment of European beech forests with conifers (EnriCo)

Researchers at the University of Göttingen are investigating how forest productivity and nature conservation can be combined. To this end, mixed stands of locally naturally occurring and non-native but highly productive tree species are to be studied specifically with regard to their ecosystem functions. The focus is on pure and mixed stands of copper beech mixed with spruce or Douglas fir.
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Kontakt: Prof. Dr. Christian Ammer

• Completed research projects can be found here