30 years of research for sustainable development
ISOE – Institute for Social Ecological Research was founded in Frankfurt in 1989. We can now look back on 30 years’ experience of transdisciplinary sustainability research. It all began with the ‘Social Ecology Research Group’ commissioned by the Hesse State government to draw up an expertise on social ecological research in Hesse.
1986
A research group is commissioned by the Hesse State government to compile an expertise on social ecology
1989
The Institute gets to work: first projects for the City of Frankfurt and Greenpeace
1992
Launch of institutional funding by the State of Hesse
Model project ‘Water Culture’: development of an integrated concept for decentralised recycling and differentiated water usage
1994
Positive assessment from the German Science Council
Project on Sustainable Urban Mobility/CITY:mobil: a trandisciplinary approach for linking up lifestyle research, traffic planning and urban development
1995
The first international project and a milestone in the sustainability debate: Sustainability as a Concept in the Social Sciences, conducted on behalf of UNESCO
1997
Consumption Patterns in Germany: A Pilot Study on Sustainable Consumption, conducted on behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA)
1998
Practical implementation of an integrated renovation concept based on the Sustainable Renovation of Existing Housing Stock (NASA) project, for housing developments built in the 1960s
1999
The conceptual framework for the new funding priority ‘Social Ecological Research’ of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is drawn up
2000
ISOE receives the Swiss Transdisciplinarity Award for excellent transdisciplinary research projects
Analysis of the EU’s 5th Framework Programme for Research under gender-specific aspects (Gender Impact Assessment), conducted on behalf of the European Commission
2002
The first ISOE junior research group dedicated to population dynamics and supply systems, demons, funded by the BMBF
2003
Founding of the research association ‘Modelling Nature-Society Systems – MOMUS’ in collaboration with the Goethe University Frankfurt/Main
2005
First publication of quality criteria for transdisciplinary research as a result of Evalunet, a project funded under the Social-Ecological Research programme of the BMBF
Development of an integrated prognosis model for the water requirements of Greater Hamburg up until 2030 on behalf of the Hamburg Waterworks
2006
Publication of the seminal book: Social Ecology: Outline of a Science of Societal Relations to Nature
Launch of the CuveWaters project in Namibia: entry into transdisciplinary development research and co-operation
2008
ISOE becomes a partner in the new ‘LOEWE Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F)’, along with the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (SGN) and the Goethe University Frankfurt/Main
2009
Social ecology becomes a subject area within the master’s programme “Environmental Sciences” at the Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main
2011
ISOE further develops the social-ecological approach to climate research: Start of the projects „KlimaAlltag“ and “micle – migration, climate & environment in the sahel”
2012
ISOE is co-initiator of the memorandum on the development of social-ecological research in Germany “Understanding – Evaluating – Shaping. Transdisciplinary Knowledge for a Sustainable Society”
Book Publication “Methods for Transdisciplinary Research”
2014
ISOE celebrates its 25th anniversary
2015
Completion of the CuveWaters research and development project after almost ten years with events in Namibia
2016
Start of the junior research group „PlastX – Plastics as a systemic risk for social-ecological supply systems“
Evaluation on ISOE by the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat)
2019
ISOE celebrates its 30th anniversary
2020
Start of the junior research group “regulate – Sustainable Groundwater Management in Europe”
2021
First professorship for social ecology and transdisciplinarity in Germany
2023
Founding of the Society for Transdisciplinary and Participatory Research (GTPF)