

The open access journal “Sociology and Sustainability - Contributions to Socio-Ecological Transformation Research” (SuN) has published a new call for papers: Interested authors are cordially invited to send an abstract on the main topic "Time of Transformation, Time of Silence?" to the journal by February 15 2024.
Last week, an interview with political scientist and ZIN member Prof. Svenja Ahlhaus was published on the University of Münster's homepage on the occasion of the "Animal Rights Day" (December 10).
The „Tag der Lehre“ of the University of Münster, taking place on 27 November 2023, is dedicated to the topic of “Education in times of societal challenges”. Activities on five main topics are proposed, including “Sustainability” and “Interdisciplinary Approaches”. Zin members are involved in a total of seven different agenda items.
On October 31, the press office of the University of Münster announced that the research project "BIOSTORE" is being funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science (MKW) NRW. | Read more
Among the numerous sustainability-related courses offered by ZIN scholars in the winter term 23/24 are two interdisciplinary seminars: While Prof. Anne Käfer (Protestant Theology) and Carolin Bohn (Political Science) teach together on the "Future of Old Ideas", the joint advanced seminar by Prof. Anne Käfer and Prof Tillmann Buttschardt (Landscape Ecology) focuses on the topic of "Rights of Nature".
What encourages citizen engagement, and how can climate targets be effectively achieved? These questions will be addressed during the Münsteraner Klimagespräche at the event "Enforcing Climate Targets - even against Opposition?" on Thursday, September 21, at 7 pm, in the VHS Forum, Aegidiimarkt 2.
We are pleased to draw your attention to the lecture series "Climate Change and Peace - Shaping the Future", which will start on September 11 at 7:30 pm with a lecture by Prof Dr Stefan Rahmstorf.
The journal "Sociology and Sustainability" (SuN) has recently launched a blog in addition to its regular journal activities. The journal is published by the Working Group on Community and Sustainability Research, which includes several members of ZIN.
ZIN member Prof. Antonia Graf and ZIN employee Julia Hansel will join Jochen Roes (Stadtwerke Münster) as panelists on September 1 for a discussion on the topic of the transport transition. The discussion will follow a screening of a documentary of successful transport transitions starting at 4:30 pm at Kurbelkiste Münster (Cinema).
On 17 July 2023, WDR's Lokalzeit Münsterland reported on the microplastic investigations in the Rieselfelder of Münster. The team led by Dr. Friederike Gabel (ILÖK) and Prof. Dr. Bodo Philipp (Institute of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology) examined the occurrence and distribution of microplastics in the bird paradise of the Rieselfelder.
In the winter term 2023/24, ZIN scholars will once again be offering a wide range of exciting sustainability-related courses in various disciplines. These include, for example, a seminar on the conference "Rights of nature in the Basic Law", seminars on topics such as "Sustainability and digitality in the school context" or "AI and sustainability - potentials, challenges and conflicting goals" and also lectures series such as the one revolving around "Water as a lifeline".
On Monday, July 10 2023, the MExLab ExperiMINTe will be on deck of the ship “MS Wissenschaft”, which is touring Germany as part of the "Science Year 2023 - Our Universe". The floating science centre will dock in Muenster’s city harbour, near the Kunsthalle, from 8 to 11 July 2023. In addition to the interactive exhibition (open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.), you can also experience exciting experiments together with scientists from the University of Muenster on July 10 and 11.
On Monday, July 3rd, starting at 4:15 pm, ZIN scholars Carolin Bohn and Lena Siepker will give a lecture entitled “Demokratien in der (Klima)krise – Transformation durch Bürger*innenbeteiligung? "(can be translated as: “Democracies times of crisis - transformation through citizen participation?") in the Auditorium Aasee (Scharnhorststr. 100) as part of a series of public lecture series organised by the contact point “Studium im Alter”.
In the 4th lecture of the “ZIN-Brown Bag Lecture Series 2023” June 15 at 12:15 p.m., ZIN members Prof. Dr. Stefan Arnold and Dr. Kerstin Wilhelms will talk about climate lawsuits and the ways they are used as staging strategy. The lecture will take place in room JO 1 (Johannisstraße 4) and online.
We are happy to share information about the “Kompost Festival” 2023, which is lead-organized by the interdisciplinary research network “StadtLabor” (University of Muenster). The ZIN is co-hosting the kick-off event "Kreislaufdinner”. | Read More
Just like the ZIN's semi-annual newsletters and annual activity reports for the past years, the activity report for 2022 is now available online. | Read More
At the beginning of May, the University of Münster Foundation and the university’s Innovation Office (Arbeitsstelle Forschungstransfer, AFO) awarded the foundation’s Citizen Science Prize. One of the two winning projects is a project (“Transformationen im Münsterland”) led by ZIN members Prof. Matthias Grundmann (Institute of Sociology) and Dr. Cornelia Steinhäuser (Institute of Landscape Ecology) together with Julia Haarmann (Foundation Artists' Village Schöppingen). | Read More
On March 23, the German TV-show MDR Investigativ broadcasted a reportage on e-fuels and their possible contribution to climate neutrality. In the reportage, ZIN spokeswoman Doris Fuchs commented on the German Liberal Party's (FDP) reasons for blocking a complete phase-out of internal combustion engines at the EU level. She commented on the same topic in the news program “Tagesschau” on March 21.
On March 6 and 7, Prof. Doris Fuchs takes part in the kick-off event of the research project INCITE-DEM in Lisbon. The project, in which the ZIN spokesperson is leading a sub-project together with Prof. Oliver Treib and Prof. Bernd Schlipphak, is supported by the Horizon Programme of the EU and will run in the period March 2023 - February 2026. | Continue
ZIN-member Dr. Steffen Lange participates as guest in a new episode of the podcast "Besser Wissen" of the online magazine Golem. He talks about the report "Digital Reset: Redirecting Technologies for the Deep Sustainability Transformation". | Read More
On January 15, ZIN member Steffen Lange was guest on the Center for Research into Energy Demand Solutions’ (CREDS) podcast "CREDS in Conversation." Together with Professor Tim Foxon, Professor Tim Schwanen and host Dr. Sarah Higginson he talked about the study "Digital reset: Directing Technologies for the Deep Sustainability Transformation", co-authored by him. | Read more
The ZIN Newsletter 02|2022 is now available online. The comprehensive newsletter contains information about the numerous sustainability-related publications of ZIN members and ZIN Junior Scholars from the 2nd half of 2022. | Read more