Sustainable development – in research

The United Nations (UN) have defined 17 sustainability goals. Researchers at the University of Konstanz contribute to reaching these goals through their research as well as their teaching and transfer activities. They provide impetus for sustainable action, give support for addressing crises and develop cutting-edge technologies. Read about 17 of our research projects with a focus on sustainability from different disciplines in the magazine uni'kon #72 “Mit Wissenstransfer in eine nachhaltige Zukunft” (in German). The articles showcase the diversity of how research can contribute to sustainability as well as the many different scientific approaches used.

No poverty

Research on inequality

The Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” receives funding in the context of the Excellence Strategy. It links a wide range of disciplines (political science, sociology, economics, linguistics, psychology and empirical educational research) and strives to open up new perspectives on the connections between inequality and different political processes. The researchers involved also approach the goal of reducing inequalities across its entire bandwidth.

Current projects:

Zero hunger

Professor Britta Renner, Department of Psychology

Current project:

  • MiLife, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), part of the project RISKDYNAMICS, a study analyzing the interplay between physical activity and psychological factors

Good health and well-being

1) Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”

Current project:

2) Research on the coronavirus

Researchers at the University of Konstanz actively contribute to the effort of managing the coronavirus situation using their research. Research projects support politicians, society and healthcare institutions at many levels to handle the current crisis. On-going research projects related to the coronavirus

3) Professor Markus Gruber/Human Performance Research Centre (HPRC), sport science programme

Current project:

  • Human Performance Research Centre (HPRC), The HPRC enables detailed research into the athletic performance of humans and works closely with regional collaboration partners (sports clubs and associations).

4) Professor Britta Renner, Department of Psychology

Current projects:

  • Konstanzer Life-Studie (Konstanz life survey), a long-term study (six survey waves from 2012 to 2019), interdisciplinary analysis of the health of Konstanz residents (last survey wave from 9 March to 20 April 2020)
  • EUCLID study on the public’s perception of the coronavirus situation
  • SMARTACT The interdisciplinary research project SMARTACT aims to use mobile technologies (e.g. smartphones) to improve health-related behaviour over the long term.
  • Individual and collective appetite – how is eating shaped by social influence?. This project’s objective is to identify the influence of social contexts on eating in human and animal collectives.

5) Professor Petra H. Wirtz, Department of Psychology

Current projects:

6) Professor Alexander Bürkle, Department of Biology

Current project:

  • Biomarkers of Ageing/Mark-AGE, EU project examining age-related changes in bodily functions (biological age) and their influence on the emergence of age-related diseases.

7) Professor Marcus Groettrup, Department of Biology

Current project:

8) Departments of Biology and Chemistry: Professor Christof Hauck, Professor Thomas Mayer, Professor Marcus Groettrup, Professor Andreas Marx, Dr Thomas Böttcher in collaboration with Klinikum Konstanz (Professor Marcus Schuchmann) and Labor Brunner (Dr Simone Brunner, Dr Marcel Kremer)

Current project:

9) Chemical biology research centres on the interface of biology, chemistry and computer science. The macromolecular basic building blocks of the cell can be characterized in terms of their functional and structural interaction. The research focuses lie in the fields of synthetic chemistry, cellular biochemistry, biophysics, biomedicine and bio- and chemoinformatics.

10) Professor Daniel Keim, Department of Computer and Information Science, data analysis and visualization

Current project:

Quality education

1) The Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”

Current project:

2) Professor Marius Busemeyer, Department of Politics and Public Administration

Current projects:

3) Professor Guido Schwerdt, Department of Economics

Current project:

4) Professor Axinja Hachfeld, empirical educational research, currently studying the teaching situation during the current pandemic-related school closure

Current project:

5)  The Binational School of Education is a central academic institution of the University of Konstanz. It controls, coordinates and develops all areas of teacher education at the university. As a cross-university teaching and research network, it connects university facilities with external partners.

At the heart of the discussion is the question of how the respective education systems make it possible for children with different pre-requisites – social, linguistic, health, etc. – to have equal access to the important resource of education.
Professor Claudia Diehl, professor of microsociology at the University of Konstanz and co-speaker of the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”

Gender equality

1) Professor Susanne Strauß, sociology

Current project:

2) Professor Claudia Diehl, sociology

Current projects:

3) Professor Dorothea Debus, Department of Philosophy, as Vice Rector for International Affairs, Equal Opportunity and Diversity responsible for all topics and projects related to international affairs, equal opportunity and diversity at the University of Konstanz

Clean water and sanitization

Affordable and clean energy

1) Professor Stefan Volkwein, Department of Mathematics

Current project:

2) Professor Giso Hahn, Department of Physics

Current projects:

  • More than 10 publicly funded projects for example on the following topics: Developing new solar cell concepts for the cost-efficient use of regenerative energies, investigating the long-term stability of solar cells, improving the physical understanding of processes in the solar cell, technology transfer of laboratory results into mass production
  •  Course”Halbleitertechnologie und Physik der Solarzelle“, in which the foundations of crystal production and processing steps for electronic components of solar cells are discussed.

3) Professor Lukas Schmidt-Mende, Department of Physics
The research team "Hybrid Nanostructures" investigates new materials for solar cells by studying perovskite semiconductors that are significantly cheaper and need less energy than silicon solar cells, for example.

Current projects:

4)Professor Peter Baum, Department of Physics

Current project:

Photovoltaic system on a University of Konstanz rooftop

Decent work and economic growth

1) Professor Nick Zubanov (PhD), Department of Economics

Current project:

2) Professor Florian Kunze, Department of Politics and Public Administration

Current projects:

3) Professor Ines Mergel, Department of Politics and Public Administration

Current project:

4) Professor Sabine Boerner, Department of Politics and Public Administration

Current project:

Industry, innovation and infrastructure

1) Professor Helmut Cölfen, Department of Chemistry, researches in the field of nano and materials science. His work focuses on the processes of crystalization and biomineralization.

Current project:

  • From biominerals to novel bio-inspired materials, one research aim is to use controlled crystal growth to make fracture-resistant concrete, another aim is to establish mineral plastics as a sustainable, biodegradable plastic with exceptional characteristics

2) Professor Stefan Mecking, Department of Chemistry, researches in the field of nano and materials science (one of the university’s research priorities). His work focuses on sustainable catalysis mechanisms and processes in addition to eco-friendly plastics.

Current projects:

  • ERC Advanced Grant DEEPCAT, funded by the European Research Council (ERC), research on degradable plastics that can degrade at the molecular level at designed break points without harming the environment
  • Joint research with Professor Cölfen and Professor Schleheck, funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation, on intelligent materials that are non-persistent in ocean water

Reduced inequalities

1) Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality“

Current projects:

2) Professor Friedrich Breyer, Department of Economics, researches in the areas of economic and social policy, on (among others) the topics of climate policy, housing policy, demographic change and health policy. Friedrich Breyer is a member of the Board of Academic Advisors at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

Current projects:

3) Professor Marius Busemeyer, Department of Politics and Public Administration

Current project:

Sustainable cities and communities

Responsible consumption and production

1) Professor Tanja Gaich, Department of Chemistry

Current project:

2) Professor Marcel Leist, Department of Biology, researches, together with is his team, rapid high-throughput test methods that make green chemistry and the development of less toxic chemicals possible. Another research focus is on developing replacement methods for animal experiments to avoid batch testing. He is also active in the Steinbeis Transfer Center CAAT-Europe.

Current projects:

Climate action

1) Scientists for Future at the University of Konstanz

Contact: Professor Christine Peter, Department of Chemistry

2) Junior Professor Sebastian Koos, Department of Politics and Public Administration

Current project:

  • The development and future of the “Fridays for Future” movement: results from two surveys conducted during the “Fridays for Future” demonstrations in Konstanz on 24 May and 20 September 2019: research report

Life below water

1) Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour

The Cluster of Excellence “Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour” focuses its research on collective behaviour while including a wide variety of categories. The aim of the interdisciplinary research network (involving biology, physics, psychology, sociology, economics, computer science and mathematics) is to uncover the basic principles behind collective behaviour in a range of organisms and at different organizational levels in order to use this knowledge to implement real-world solutions with a positive global impact.

Contacts: Professor Oliver Deussen, Professor Urs Fischbacher, Professor Iain Couzin, speakers of the Cluster of Excellence

2) Professor Christian Voolstra, Department of Biology

Current projects:

3) Peter Kroth, Department of Biology

Current projects:

Saving coral reefs is a touchstone for dealing with climate change. If we succeed in saving the coral reefs, I am confident that we will also be able to save other ecosystems on our planet.
Professor Christian Voolstra, professor of genetics of adaptation in aquatic systems at the University of Konstanz

Life on land

1) Cluster of Excellence Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour

Contacts: Professor Oliver Deussen, Professor Urs Fischbacher, Professor Iain Couzin, speakers of the Cluster of Excellence

Current research:

2) Professor Martin Wikelski, Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, Department of biology

Current projects:

Peace, justice and strong institutions

1) The Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”

2) Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC)

Contact: Professor Daniel Thym, Christopher Möllmann

3) Professor Anke Hoeffler, Department of Politics and Public Administration

Current project:

4) Professor Katharina Holzinger, Department of Politics and Public Administration

Current projects:

  • “Framing Inequalities“, Professor Miriam Butt, Professor Regine Eckardt, Professor Katharina Holzinger
  • Identifying, understanding and modeling perceived structural inequalities between political groups

5) Professor Gerald Schneider, Department of Politics and Public Administration

Current project:

6) Professor Nils Weidmann, Department of Politics and Public Administration

Current project:

7) Professor Daniel Thym, Department of Law

Current projects:

8) Professor Aleida Assmann, Professor Jan Assmann, Junior professor Christiane Bertram began research in March of 2020 with the support of the Dr Karl Helmut Eberle Prize for the project “Civic strength. Political challenges and cultural practices”. Individual projects investigate questions of civic society at the national, municipal and school levels. An associated project “Gemeinsinn im Sport” (civic society in sport) focuses especially on sport organizations.

Current project:

9) Junior Professor Christiane Bertram, Department of history

Current project:

Partnerships for the goals

Currently, the University of Konstanz is not explicitly researching on this UN sustainability goal.