The Institute

Our Vision

We explore transformations towards sustainability, in which people participate with all their diversity, in which conflicts are negotiated constructively and in which society and nature can flourish together.

Our Mission

We investigate the complex interactions between people, society and nature to understand how transformation processes unfold, are enabled or blocked, and how they can be shaped towards sustainability.

We combine approaches and understandings developed by the natural and social sciences, engineering, and humanities as well as between science and society in order to jointly gain new, critically reflected insights and unfold innovative sustainability pathways.

We develop systemic solutions that address the complexity of current challenges. In doing so, we consider societal, economic, political, technological and ecological aspects, as well as potential risks, trade-offs and synergies between sustainability goals.

We contribute our scientific expertise to current societal and political debates and work closely with actors from civil society, administration and business. We also teach at Universities to help build younger generations’ knowledge and enhance their competencies for change agency in science and society.

We create and shape spaces for fundamental change in society and science where transformations towards sustainability can be explored and reflected upon, and where social learning becomes possible.

ISOE Strategy

With our institute strategy 2024–2030, we want to work together with our partners from science, civil society, administration and business in the coming years to develop critically reviewed, effective knowledge and help shape changes towards sustainability. In doing so, we want to raise ISOE's profile as a regionally, nationally and internationally recognized location for knowledge production, reflection and shaping transformations towards sustainability.

To this end, we regularly review our actions and processes, evaluate our research performance and organizational structure, and assess external developments for their relevance to our further development. Our quality assurance tools form the foundation for all strategic issues and processes. To gain an independent perspective, we regularly seek the advice of our Scientific Advisory Board. This enables us to engage in forward-looking organizational development, actively involving our employees through discursive and participatory formats.

Our organizational structure

The scientific work of the Institute is organized into five research units and three cross-cutting hubs. In the research units, our scientists work on empirical questions related to topical sustainability challenges on a project-by-project basis. They develop pathways for addressing them together with practitioners. In the hubs, we develop and scrutinize concepts and theories of social ecology. The systematic exchange between empirical research and theoretical work guarantees that our research is both scientifically sound and relevant to practise. 

In close collaboration with universities, the ISOE is actively involved in teaching and training the next generation of scientists. Our scientists receive support from their colleagues in the areas of science coordination, knowledge communication, and internal services. 

The ISOE is an employee-led institute. The shareholders see themselves as fiduciary owners. They take responsibility for the long-term sustainability of the institute and make decisions regarding its strategic development directions.

Executive Board

The Institute’s Executive Board comprises six members. It is jointly led by the Scientific Director, Prof. Dr. Flurina Schneider, and the Administrative Director, Frank Schindelmann, in collaboration with four additional board members.

The institute traces it origins back to the Social Ecology Research Group, which in 1986 prepared a report for the Hessian state government titled “Report on the Promotion of Social-Ecological Research in Hesse”. The institute was established in 1989 by Prof. Dr. Egon Becker, Dr. Thomas Jahn, PD Dr. Thomas Kluge, Dr. Engelbert Schramm and Dr. Irmgard Schultz. In 1992, ISOE became part of the institutional funding of the State of Hesse.

In 1999, the institute prepared an expert opinion on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for the establishment of the funding priority “Social-Ecological Research” (SÖF). This work resulted in a framework concept of the same name, which is still being pursued today as part of the BMBF funding program “Research for Sustainability” (FONA). 

Since 2009, ISOE has contributed to academic teaching in the master's program “Environmental Sciences” at Goethe University, focusing on social ecology. Close cooperation with the Senckenberg Nature Research Society began through the joint work in the LOEWE Biodiversity and Climate Research Center (SBiK-F).

In May 2014, the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture commissioned the German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat) to evaluate ISOE. In its positive evaluation report published in 2016, the Council described ISOE's research program of Frankfurt Social Ecology as ambitious It acknowledged the institute’s significant contribution to the concept of transdisciplinarity, emphasizing its importance and the convincing manner of its implementation in research practice. 

In April 2021, Flurina Schneider assumed the scientific leadership of ISOE. She succeeded Thomas Jahn, who co-founded in 1989 and was scientific director and spokesperson of the institute’s executive board until March 2021. In 2021, Flurina Schneider also assumed the cooperative professorship for Social Ecology and Transdisciplinarity in the Department of Biosciences at Goethe University Frankfurt. This professorship is the first in Germany specifically dedicated to Social Ecology.

To ensure the institute's future viability in terms of its research focus, working structures and processes, as well as its cultural development, the institute undertook a comprehensive organizational development process, which was successfully completed in April 2023.