2024

As part of this year's award ceremony for the best doctoral thesis (graduating with ‘summa cum laude’) at the University of Münster, ZIN Managing Director and political scientist Dr Carolin Bohn received the doctoral thesis award 2024 for work submitted to the Department of Education and Social Sciences at the University of Münster. | Read more

How can we deal with the major crises of our time? ‘Humboldt N’, the sustainability initiative of universities in North Rhine-Westphalia, is organising a lecture series this winter semester on the topic of ‘Resilience & Active Hope: Dealing with the climate crisis’. The lecture series will end next Monday, 16 December 2024, at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research (ZIN) in Münster. | Read more

From 28 to 30 October 2024, the 'Ulysseus Days' took place in Münster under the title ‘Navigating Pathways to a Sustainable Future’. The Ulysseus Days started with the official kick-off of the Münster Innovation Hub within the Ulysseus University Alliance on 28 and 29 October 2024 with the event ‘Explore and Connect: Meet the Innovation Hub of Socio-Ecological Sustainability’. On the 30th October the Research & Innovation (R&I) conference ‘Sustainable Innovations’ took place. Many current ZIN members were involved in various formats on all three days. | Read more

As part of the event series “Climate stress and climate justice”, a lecture on the topic “Who bears the costs of prosperity? - Climate justice in court”. A consortium of organizers from the Together for future association, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research (ZIN) at the University of Münster and the Münsteraner Klimagespräche sponsoring group invite to this small series of events, which began on 29.10.24 with the lecture “And we carry on regardless. Hoping and fighting in times of crisis” by Carla Reemtsma. | Read more

Once again this year, ZIN scientists are participating in the program of the CAMPUS EARTH Sustainability Day on 8 November 2024. A wide range of events on the topic of “On the way to a sustainable future with AI” will take place in the Fürstenberghaus, the Geomuseum and the Bibelmuseum in the city center of Münster. Anyone who is interested is invited to the diverse program. | Read more

A consortium of organizers from the Together for future association, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research (ZIN) at the University of Münster and the Münsteraner Klimagespräche sponsoring group invites you to a small series of events entitled “Climate stress and climate justice”. Both events will take place in the auditorium of the castle.

On 29.10.24 at 19.30, the series of events will begin with a lecture by Carla Reemtsma, who has been a key organizer of the first climate demonstrations in Münster since the end of 2018 and is now press spokesperson for the nationwide Fridays for Future movement. The lecture is dedicated to the topic “And we carry on regardless. Hoping and fighting in times of crisis”. Registration is required for the lecture. | Read more

The sustainability network of universities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Humboldtⁿ, has set itself the goal of taking “joint responsibility for the issues of the future in the area of sustainability”. The network places “the indispensable sustainability discourses of politics, business and society on a thematically broad, differentiated and rapidly growing scientific basis”. One element of the network's activities is the lecture series. | Read more

On 17.09.2024 from 6 to 8 pm, the LATERNE project is organizing an introductory workshop on the topic of “Slow Science”.

Academic work is increasingly dominated by pressure to accelerate, growth logic and a high density of tasks and requirements. This not only promotes conformism, competitive thinking and opportunism, but also affects the mental health of researchers and the quality of research.

In the workshop, we will look at the concept of “slow science” as a radical alternative and open up a safe space for researchers at the University of Münster to encourage an discussion on the current conditions of scientific work and possible alternatives. | Read more

On Friday, November 8, the University of Münster will host its 3rd Sustainability Day, featuring a variety of transfer events centered around the theme "On a way to a sustainable future with AI". From 1 pm to 8 pm, numerous activities will take place in the city centre, the Geological Museum, the Bible Museum and the Fürstenberghaus - many of which are organised by or involve ZIN scientists.

Enabling citizens to enjoy a good quality of life while reducing the use of resources - the European Union must also face up to this enormous challenge. A study in five EU countries with the participation of ZIN scientists Prof. Dr. Doris Fuchs and Dr. Pia Mamut comes to the central conclusion that the satisfaction of needs and not economic growth should serve as the guiding principle for a redesign of provisioning systems. | Read more

ZIN member Prof. Doris Fuchs, Director at the Research Institute for Sustainability - Helmholtz Zentrum Potsdam and Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Münster, was a guest in the first episode of the RIFS podcast #WuPiG (Wissenschaft und Politik im Gespräch) together with Andreas Jung (climate and energy policy spokesperson for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag and deputy chairman of the CDU). | Read more

During the summer term 2024, the Center for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research organises its annual public interdisciplinary lecture series. This year, it is dedicated to the overarching theme "Digging for Diversity", asking various scientific disciplines for their perspective on the role of diversity within socio-ecological transformations. The lecture series, formerly known as "ZIN-Brotzeitkolloquium", will be held in English this year as the "ZIN Brown Bag Lectures". As an "open class", it will also be possible for students from partner universities of the Ulysseus European University Alliance to attend virtually. | Continue

Communication scientist and ZIN member Prof Sigrid Kannengiesser takes part in the annual conference “Visions for a Better Life. Media and communication in the society of tomorrow” with a total of three lectures. The event will take place in Erfurt from March 13th to 15th, 2024.

All information about the conference can be found here.

The "Farbe der Forschung 2024" conference will take place in Berlin from 15-16 March 2024. ZIN spokesperson and landscape ecologist Prof Tillmann Buttschardt will give a lecture on the topic of "Diversity - Synergy - Resilience: What are the advantages of new approaches such as syntropic agriculture and agroforestry systems?". | Read more

The concept sufficiency is becoming increasingly important in societal discourse — for political actors, researchers and civil society actors alike. However, Dr. Pia Mamut shows that sufficiency has become mainstream in a way that weakens its transformative potential in her new book "Sufficiency - an Emerging Discourse? At the Crossroads of Mainstreaming and Transformation". Starting from this diagnosis she develops proposals to unleash its untapped transformative potential. I Read more 
 

The Centre of Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research (ZIN) is looking for two student assistants as soon as possible. Students of all subjects at the University of Münster can apply for both positions.

On 20 January 2024 at 8pm the third episode of the “BADDABÄM! Show for parapolitische Abendunterhaltung”, dedicated to the topic of “H20” will take place at SpecOps. | Read more