(Number of projects = 41)
The junior research group ‘regulate’, led by ISOE, investigates current challenges to Europe’s groundwater management against the background of acute drought conditions, ongoing pollution, increasing conflicts and complex institutional settings. The team of researchers from natural and social sciences develops strategies for sustainable management of groundwater on different governance levels.
Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Currently, most of the phosphorus fertilizers used in agriculture are imported. However, wastewater remains unused as an important source of phosphorus, although the potential for the recovery of phosphorus from wastewater is great and the necessary technology is available. The BMBF project P-Net is investigating possibilities for establishing regional networks to process precipitated phosphorus with the aim to produce phosphorus fertilizers such as struvite. This process is a sustainable method of phosphorus recycling which also makes an important contribution to the regionalization of resource cycles.
The transfer project AquaticPollutantsTransNet accompanies 18 projects funded by the European Union that address risks to human health and the environment from pollutants and pathogens in water resources. The aim is to promote the transfer of knowledge from research results to the public and administrative sectors, politics, industry and business.
We are currently observing a dramatic decline of biodiversity. The common focus on maintaining the status quo poses the risk of protecting landscape areas that are too small in the medium term. Superordinate ecosystem functions, which represent the natural basis of life for humans, animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms, meadows, waters, and forests, are thereby lost from sight. Using an interdisciplinary approach, RobustNature identifies the characteristics that determine the robustness of ecosystems and guarantee their functionality in the event of disturbances by means of dynamic compensation.
The joint project CapTain Rain aims to develop appropriate climate services for assessing and forecasting flash floods and to identify measures for the adaption to climate change and the mitigation of disaster damages. This includes measures to collect and drain water during heavy rainfall events.
The SynVer*Z synthesis and networking project accompanies almost 50 research projects dealing with the transformation of cities towards sustainability. ISOE examines their effectiveness and supports them in the development of impact potentials.
Regional competitions over the resource water are not uncommon. Due to climate change, urbanization and pollution of water resources, these conflicts of use could intensify in the coming decades. Even in Germany that is rich in water, conflicts of use are becoming more frequent. This is why new concepts and processes for water reuse are needed.
The volume of commuter traffic has increased steadily in recent years – bringing with it the known consequences for ecology, health and quality of life. The CommuterLab research project examines how to bring about a more agreeable and environment friendly form of commuting between the city and the surrounding region, taking into consideration the strong changes currently affecting the basic social and technological parameters.
The design of water infrastructures plays a central role in the transformation of urban spaces. This current follow-up project of netWORKS 4 is concerned with the consolidation of research results and knowledge transfer. The aim is to initiate dialogue processes dealing with future-oriented designs of urban infrastructures. The focus is on synergies between different infrastructures, as these make an important contribution to resource conservation and adaptation to the consequences of climate change, such as heavy precipitation or heat waves. This includes the question to what extent the adaptation of infrastructures can improve the “climate justice” for inhabitants.
Although the principle of transdisciplinary research has been successfully applied for several decades, especially in sustainability research, there are so far only a few structures or expert organisations that could ensure the consolidation of its scientific standards. And, it is precisely because of the complex methodological, conceptual, and communicative challenges, that there is a special need for structures and places for the bundling and further development of knowledge about transdisciplinarity and for strengthening the community of those who explore and teach transdisciplinarily and fund such research. The platform tdAcademy closes this gap.
As a result of anthropogenic climate change, Bangladesh is regularly affected by extreme weather events such as storms and floods. The frequency and severity of these events is increasing and they have serious impacts on the life, health and quality of life of the local population. The sub-project “Gender Aspects of Flood Events in Bangladesh” at ISOE is part of the joint project “FlutNetz” and aims to analyze gender-specific issues of flood disasters and emergency measures in Bangladesh.
In this EU-funded, interdisciplinary project, the project team investigates how end users and stakeholders perceive the innovative TRI-HP technology. The aim of this project is to determine which social needs have to be taken into consideration in order for these systems to be used successfully.
Das Forschungsprojekt NamTip untersucht, wie ökologische und soziale Faktoren die Desertifikation – oder Wüstenbildung – in Trockengebieten beeinflussen. Ziel ist es, sogenannte Kipppunkte und die damit zusammenhängenden Folgen für Mensch und Umwelt frühzeitig zu erkennen. Am Beispiel der namibischen Savanne werden Desertifikationsprozesse, die zu einem Umkippen des Savannenökosystems führen können, erforscht und geeignete Maßnahmen identifiziert, um einer Wüstenbildung wirkungsvoll zu begegnen.
The research project MORE STEP investigates processes of change in the ecosystem of the Mongolian steppe and their socio-economic and ecological causes and consequences. The mobility of wild as well as domesticated herd animals plays a central role in the survival of the ecosystem. The project therefore aims to identify societal development paths that will continue to enable the mobility of wild animals and nomadic pastoralists and their herds.
The contributions of the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da) to future-oriented urban and regional development are the focus of the transfer project “System Innovation for Sustainable Development. Transfer as a learning process in the region” (s:ne). The aim is to link the creative and innovative potential of the region to support sustainable development and to establish a system with the inherent capability to learn (self-learning system). To this end, the project works closely with regional and urban institutions and actors from society, research, politics and business in the Darmstadt area.
The research project develops inter- and transdisciplinary concepts and methods that enable a dialogue on biodiversity and ecosystem services as well as on the impacts of human interventions on ecosystems and on the role of climate change.
The BIOZ project aims to identify environmentally friendly alternatives to control mosquitoes that transmit West Nile virus. The focus is on public education and networking among the agencies involved. Central to the project will be a dialogue between the scientific community, the public, and the authorities on future prevention measures to control the West Nile virus (WNV).
For the Indian cities of Coimbatore and Solapur, the establishment of Water Innovation Hubs as network and project centres contributes to sustainable local development and the consolidation of Indo-German cooperation in the water sector. Demonstration projects integrated in these hubs promote technology transfer in a very concrete way, as the exemplary piloting of smart water quality monitoring systems in the two cities shows. This way, partnership-based cooperation in combination with innovative, digital technology can make a sustainable contribution to improving water security in India.
The ENGAGE project investigates the conditions under which the participation and commitment of citizens to sustainability can lead to “sustainable public welfare”.
The examination of the scientific and social discourse on sustainability makes it clear that in the course of its development the legitimacy of the goal of sustainable development was strengthened which means that at the same time the actors, objectives and understandings of sustainability have multiplied. A closer look at the “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDG) and their sub-objectives makes this evident since they are in part contradictory.
In many places one already finds attractive, environmentally friendly alternatives to owning a car, such as car sharing, carpools or electric cars, which allow citizens to use an own car less. All too often, however, these offers are not taken up. That is why, in the research project Mobility Laboratory 2020 the team from ISOE and Zebralog are investigating the obstacles that lead to this situation using participative methods.
The aim of DINA is to test a standardized monitoring of flying insects and to analyse factors that correlate with the drastic decline of insects in nature reserves. In three in-depth case studies, the ISOE team will bring different local groups of actors from agriculture, science, politics and nature conservation into a dialogue process with the aim to jointly develop feasible approaches to better protect biodiversity.
