Finished Projects

Contact

Management Chair

Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner

Secretariat

Birgit Schelenz

+49 441 798-4384  

Finished Projects

Finished Projects

ALICE (Agents' Long-term Investments in the context of Climate and Energy)

Project management and team (in Oldenburg):
Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner (Project coordination), Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer, Prof. Anthony Patt, PhD, Dr. Volker Barth

Project partners:
Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

Duration:
2007-2010

Sponsor:
BMBF

Short description:
Well-documented results from behavioural economics show, that individuals' decisions systematically deviate from what the rational actor ("homo oeconomicus") of standard economic theory would do. Examples are time preferences (i.e. the valuation of future earnings and costs), or the common overconfidence in one's capabilities. The ALICE project aims to investigate whether these deviations from the homo oeconomicus are also to be observed among company decisions, in particular when it comes to long-term investments in the electricity sector. This will not only have an impact on decision theory but also influence strategies to protect the global climate.

Publications:
See the project homepage.

BREsilient - Klimaresiliente Zukunftsstadt Bremen

Object of research

In the research project "BREsilient - Klimaresiliente Zukunftsstadt Bremen", participants from administration, research, business and citizens are working together to develop solutions that tie in with Bremen's climate adaptation strategy. In the first funding phase (Nov. 2017 - May 2021), concepts and measures for dealing with the consequences of climate change were developed in four model areas as part of transdisciplinary real-world laboratories. These model areas are heavy rainfall prevention in the Blumenthal Aue, storm surge prevention in Pauliner Marsch, climate adaptation in Bremen's economy and the use of economic assessments of climate adaptation measures in Bremen's administration.

In the second funding phase of the project (June 2021 - May 2023), the solutions developed will be implemented in the four model areas with specific communication, consultation and cooperation formats. For example, a heavy rain partnership will be established in the Blumenthaler Aue and a storm surge partnership in the Pauliner Marsch, which will be continued after the end of the project.

The object of research at the University of Oldenburg in the first funding phase was the success and the conditions for success of the transdisciplinary living labs in the four model areas. To this end, a new resilience measurement concept was developed that evaluates success based on the increase in climate resilience at the levels of knowledge, action and networking. In the second funding phase, the University of Oldenburg is researching the effectiveness of the implemented communication, counselling and cooperation formats and evaluating these in turn with regard to the increases in climate resilience achieved.

Method / Approach

Using the methodology of transdisciplinary real-world laboratories, measures for adapting to climate change were developed at various systemic levels of the municipality in the first funding phase. In the second funding phase, in addition to cooperation formats (e.g. establishment of heavy rain and storm surge partnerships), communication and consultation formats are also being used to reach further stakeholders from civil society, business and administration and to contribute to the implementation of climate adaptation measures in Bremen.In the first funding phase, the team at the University of Oldenburg evaluated the success of the transdisciplinary living labs primarily using questionnaires completed by the participants in the living lab workshops. Participant observation of the workshops and qualitative interviews were also used. In the second funding phase, questionnaires were used to evaluate the communication, counselling and cooperation formats. Observations are also used for selected formats. The systematic process and impact evaluation used will identify success factors for increasing climate resilience (at the levels of knowledge, action and networking). In addition, the continuous evaluation allows targeted countermeasures to be taken if processes or formats prove to be unsuccessful.

Duration

  1. Funding phase: November 2017 - May 2021
  2. Funding phase (implementation phase): June 2021 - May 2023

Funding

The research project is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The total funding volume of the first funding phase was 2.2 million euros. The second funding phase is supported with almost 1.2 million euros.

Partners

Downloads

Praxisleitfaden „Urbane Klimaresilienz partizipativ gestalten“

 

 

 

Clim-A-Net

Short description:

The river-, mountain- and coast-region of Tanzania and South Africa are subject to permanent changes due to climate change with severe consequences for the whole ecosystem and land use. New options for action and strategies occur not only for the inhabitants of these regions but also for the social and political institutions. The project 'Clim-A-Net' examines these processes and follows the objective to advance the sustainable development of river basins, coastal zones and its water management systems and to connect scientists and students of natural and social science.

With 'Clim-A-Net', the University Oldenburg could win as one of two universities the 'Klimanetze-Ausschreibung' of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which supports the project with 1,000,000€. The funding enables scholarship fundings for PhD-students and master students of all three partner universities, the exchange of postdocs and professors as well as the organisation of summer schools and workshops.

Project management:

  • Prof. Dr. Michael Kleyer, Landscape Ecology
  • Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner, Ecological Economics

Project partner:

  • University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Tansania
  • Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), Südafrika

Project duration:
2010-2014

Funding:
DAAD

Publications:

Climate Adaptation Policy Lock-Ins: a 3x3 Approach

Adapt Lock-in Logo

Official Website

To learn more about our project and stay current on project news, visit our project website at adaptlockin.eu.

Object of Research

One of the greatest current global challenges is an adaptation to the intensifying impacts of climate change. Yet, despite increasing calls for action, certain policy sectors (or sub-systems) remain slow or even resistant to change, and limited action on the part of public authorities prevails. Efforts to embed climate change adaptation into sectoral policy-making face strong counteracting forces of path-dependency and system rigidity, through established institutional norms, infrastructures, values, practices, and power dynamics. However, existing research is mostly limited to describe barriers to change. It requires the uncovering of the dynamic causing and keeping up the so-called 'lock-ins'. The aim of this interdisciplinary project is to explain variation in the level of climate change adaptation action and identify the extent to which inaction or selective action is determined by lock-in dynamics.

With an empirical approach that reflects theoretical foundations, we are analysing three areas of policy and regulation relevant for climate change adaptation in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom: water management, health care as well as nature management.

Method / Approach

This project takes an approach with mixed measures to understand, why lock-ins occur and persist in selected case studies. Interviews, document analyses, and group interviews will be used for data collection. In a later step, a qualitative, comparative analysis will be conducted to improve the understanding of the dynamics of lock-ins and their effect on climate change adaptation. The project will confront the observed variation of (in)activity with different approaches for explaining advance empirical findings of the emergence and persistence of lock-ins. In the final step, the findings will be used to give recommendations on the design of more effective policies.

Project Duration

June 2019 - May 2022

Funding

The project “Climate adaptation policy lock-ins: A 3x3 approach” is funded with 1.5 million euros from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the British Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk (NWO).

Partners

  • University of Oldenburg (Germany): Focus on conceptualising and analysing infrastructural-technological lock-ins
     
  • Open University (Netherlands): Focus on conceptualising and analysing behavioural lock-ins
    Prof. Dr. Dave Huitema - 
    Dr. Lisanne Groen -
    Dr. Jean Hugé -
     
  • University of East Anglia (UK): Focus on conceptualising and analysing institutional lock-ins
    Dr. John Turnpenny -  
    Dr. Tim Rayner - 
    Dr. Meghan Alexander - (now University of Nottingham)

Collective Learning as a Contribution to Reflexive Governance

Project management and team (in Oldenburg):

  • Prof. Dr. Tom Dedeurwaerdere (Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve, Leitung des Subnetzwerks)
  • Prof. Dr. Eric Brousseau (Université de Paris X)
  • Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner

Project partners:
8 European Research institutes

Duration:
2003-2004

Funding
European Commission Europäische Kommission (5th research framework)

Short description:
In this European research project, collective learning processes within the scope of current developments in international biodiversity politics are being examined. In doing so, especially the regulations about the access and a fair benefit sharing in the usage of genetic resources included in the biodiversity convention were paramount.

Publications:

  • Siebenhüner, B./Dedeurwaerdere, T./Brousseau, E. (Hrsg.) (2005): Biodiversity Conservation, Access and Benefit Sharing and Traditional Knowledge, Special Issue of Ecological Economics Vol. 53.
  • Siebenhüner, B./Suplie, J. (2005): Implementing the Access and Benefit Sharing Provisions of the CBD: A Case for Institutional Learning. In: Ecological Economics Vol. 53, S. 507- 522.


See the book: Reflexive Governance for Public Goods

Dilemma of Sustainability between Evaluation & Reflection

Object of Research

The establishment of the sustainability discourse also created different ideas, objectives and forms of knowledge, which are all substantiated by the term of sustainability. This gives space for specific dilemmas of sustainability which may appear in the variety of objectives, the heterogeneity of forms of knowledge, the diversity of the involved actors or the different evaluation criteria for the performance assessment of transdisciplinary sustainability projects.

The joint project unites four subprojects to the understandings and dilemmas of sustainability in superordinate sustainability programmes (Module 1) and specific sustainability projects (Module 2) as well as to the comparative reflection of sustainability as a field of knowledge (Module 3) and as knowledge regulation (Module 4).

The project aims to understand how specific funding programmes and sustainability projects deal with the challenge of sustainability and how they influence social practice. Guidelines for the assessment of sustainability are intended to be formulated, which sharpen both the scientific and practical communication across scientific disciplines and social stakeholders.

Method / Approach

The project combines approaches of evaluation research, governance research, philosophy of science and social research to evaluate criteria of sustainability and to reflect knowledge of sustainability. The joint starting and reference point are the above mentioned specific dilemmas of sustainability which arise from the state of research and which ought to be reviewed, specified and further developed.

Project Duration

April 2019 - September 2022

Funding

With the programme „Wissenschaft für nachhaltige Entwicklung“ the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen Foundation funds the project “Dilemmas of Sustainability” with 950,000€.

Partners

Further information

www.tu-braunschweig.de/philosophie/dilemmata  

Developing Sustainability

Short description:

The cooperation network Developing Sustainability pursues the goal to build up master programs with common curricula following the example of Oldenburg, to initiate research projects and to realise a comprehensive exchange of students and lecturers. Content-related core issues are Renewable Energies, Operational Sustainability Management inclusive IT as well as Environmental Science. With this network, the University Oldenburg strengthens its international profile in the field of development cooperation and falls back on longstanding experience in research and teaching concerning sustainability-related topics.

Project management:

  • Prof. Dr. Jorge Marx Gómez
  • Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner

Project partners:

  • Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Südafrika
  • University of Dar es Salaam, Tansania
  • Universidad de Quintana Roo, Mexiko
  • Universidad Central de las Villas, Kuba
  • Institute of Technology Surabaya, Indonesien

Project duration:
2009-2013

Funding:
DAAD - German Academic Excange Service

Publications:

ECOSOLA - Ecosystem-Based Solutions for Resilient Urban Agriculture in Africa

Object of Research

ECOSOLA is a collaborative project between the University of Oldenburg, the Planungsgruppe Grün in Bremen, the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa.

The project aims to explore the current role and future potential of small-scale urban and sub-urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam and the Western Cape region. The project intends to strengthen urban and peri-urban agriculture in Tanzania and South Africa in the long term. At the same time, the food supply for urban dwellers will be improved and the efficiency of important ecosystem functions in fast-growing cities will be ensured. Together with local stakeholders, the project seeks to develop and test concrete solutions on the ground. Furthermore, the institutional framework conditions of urban agriculture will be analyzed so that recommendations can be given to local authorities.

Follow this link to get to the website of the project.

Method / Approach

The rapidly advancing urbanization in many areas of sub-Saharan Africa poses problems for the affected societies. Planning authorities cannot keep pace with rapid developments. The results are growing poverty and unemployment, insufficient food supply, inadequate infrastructure and informal settlements. The first generation of settlers in newly emerging urban districts has a small-scale farming background and can establish agriculture as an important source of income in the urban areas. Urban agriculture has the potential to counteract poverty and food shortages in the cities. Despite these promising opportunities, small-scale farmers in urban and peri-urban areas of Africa face numerous challenges. These include uncertain or unclear land use rights, the lack of political acceptance, and the pollution of soil, water and air, inadequate water supply.

Project Duration

2017 - 2019

extended until December 2021

Funding

The project is supported by both the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
The funding was granted within the funding measure for research and integrated postgraduate education within the Federal Government's strategy for the internationalisation of science and research - partnerships for sustainable solutions in sub-Saharan Africa.

Partners

EGON - Development of Organically Bred Fruit Varieties in Commons-based Initiatives

Short description:

The interdisciplinary research group EGON investigated the development of organically bred fruit varieties in commons-based initiatives. This breeding approach is characterized by the utilization of the genetic diversity of heirloom and underutilized varieties in breeding, as well as the practical participation of a community of farmers and breeders. In EGON, studies were conducted from different perspectives to evaluate this breeding approach ecologically, economically, and socially.

Project management and team (in Oldenburg):

  • Hendrik Wolter
  • Nicholas Howard
  • Prof. Dr. Dirk Albach
  • Prof. Dr. Stefanie Sievers-Glotzbach
  • Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner

Project partners:

The organization “Saat:gut e.V.“ with its ecological and participatory project “Apfel:gut” as well as the “Öko-Obstbau Norddeutschland” – an organization for consultation and experimentation in organic fruit farming – were responsible for the practical breeding.

By including the botanical garden of the University Oldenburg as a breeding yard for apples, the network of apple breeders was expanded by one further scientific institution.

Duration:

2017-2019 (expanded until July 2020)

Funding:

The state government of Lower Saxony promoted the three-year project from the “Niedersächsisches Vorab der Volkswagenstiftung”. The research group was one out of five projects which were promoted by the state government to strengthen sustainable agricultural production from 2017 onwards.

Publications:

  • Wolter, H.; Sievers-Glotzbach, S. (2019): Bridging traditional and new commons: The case of fruit breeding. International Journal of the Commons, 13(1), S. 303–328. DOI: doi.org/10.18352/ijc.869
  • Verma S., Evans K., Guan Y., Luby J.J., Rosyara U.R., Howard N.P., Bassil N., Bink M.C.A.M., van de Weg E., Peace C.P. (2019): Two large-effect QTLs, Ma and Ma3, determine genetic potential for acidity in apple fruit: breeding insights from a multi-family study. Tree Genetics & Genomes. Apr 15:18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-019-1324-y
  • Howard N.P., Tillman J., Vanderzande S., Luby J.J. (2019): Genetics of zonal leaf chlorosis and genetic linkage to a major gene regulating skin anthocyanin production (MdMYB1) in the apple (Malus × domestica) cultivar Honeycrisp. PLoS ONE. Jan 28;14(1): e0210611. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0210611
  • Howard N.P., van de Weg E., Tillman J., Tong C.B., Silverstein K.A., Luby J.J. (2018): Two QTL characterized for soft scald and soggy breakdown in apple (Malus × domestica) through pedigree-based analysis of a large population of interconnected families. Tree Genetics & Genomes. Feb 1;14(1):2.
  • Sievers-Glotzbach, S.; Wolter, H. (2018): Bringing Commons elements into fruit breeding. In: Ecofruit. 18th International Conference on Organic-Fruit Growing: Proceedings, 19-21 Februar 2018, Hohenheim, Deutschland. S. 19-28. Fördergemeinschaft Ökologischer Obstbau e.V. (FÖKO). Download.
  • Howard, N. P.; Albach, D. C.; Luby, J. J. (2018): The identification of apple pedigree information on a large diverse set of apple germplasm and its application in apple breeding using new genetic tools. In: Ecofruit. 18th International Conference on Organic-Fruit Growing: Proceedings, 19-21 Februar 2018, Hohenheim, Deutschland. S. 88-91. Fördergemeinschaft Ökologischer Obstbau e.V. (FÖKO). Download.
  • Wolter, H.; Howard, N. P.; Ristel, M.; Sievers-Glotzbach, S.; Albach, D.C.; Sattler, I.; Siebenhüner, B. (2018): Research Project EGON: Development of organically bred fruit varieties in commons-based initiatives. In: Ecofruit. 18th International Conference on Organic-Fruit Growing: Proceedings, 19-21 Februar 2018, Hohenheim, Deutschland. S. 92-95. Fördergemeinschaft Ökologischer Obstbau e.V. (FÖKO). Download.

Other:

ENaQ (Energetic Neighbourhood Fliegerhorst Oldenburg)

Object of Research

The interdisciplinary ENaQ-Project aims to create a climate-neutral living quarter on the former military compound Fliegerhorst in Oldenburg, which is supposed to play a leading role in the field of Smart Cities.

The project is composed of three pillars:

  • Technical: The physical infrastructure around electricity, heat and mobility is supposed to guarantee the maximum energy efficiency possible with the help of an integrative mains power supply. To ensure climate neutrality, energy is to produced locally by the majority.
  • Digital: The physical interconnectedness is reflected on the digital level. The platform facilitates intelligent supply management for energy producers and consumers. Furthermore, residents should be able to participate in the design of the energy provision over a community portal.
  • Participative: To assure that the needs, wishes and interests of the residents are considered and integrated into the planning and implementation of the climate-neutral living quarter, citizens of Oldenburg are to be included in the processes. For this, innovative participation methods are developed, deployed and continuously evaluated and improved.

The long term goal of this project is to develop concepts for the development of other smart cities, based on these three pillars.

Method / Approach

Within the project, it is the task of the University of Oldenburg, to draft, implement and evaluate selected participation processes. The utilised framework are field tests, which link participation procedures and science. The aim is to carve out the essential factors of success and challenges in the participation process and to find the ideal form of participation for each of the different population and stakeholder group. The development of the participation processes builds systematically on the procedures that have already been carried out, like the City Workshop or the Innovation Camps.

For the deeper analysis, the participation processes are analysed during the execution in form of the process evaluation and based on this ground continuously improved. Subsequently, the processes are assessed to find out, to which extent participation processes can contribute to sustainable technical and digital solutions.

After the conclusion of the participation processes, a systematically applied strategy will be designed, to transfer the experiences of the participation procedures in the Fliegerhorst Oldenburg for other quarters.

Project Duration

01.01.2018 – 31.12.2023

Funding

ENaQ is one of six flagship projects, which are funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research with 100 million euros in total in the context of the shared announcement "Solar construction / Energy efficient City".

For the ENaQ project, promotion of 18.4 million euros was allowed - another 8.4 million euro are conceded by industry partners in the north western region of Germany.

Partners

ErKlim - Implementation-oriented communication for climate protection and protection of climate consequences in the construction and mobility sector

Short description:
The ErKlim-Project pursues three objectives:

(1.) The analysis of the causes for success or failure of previous measures for the distribution of climate protection and adaptation, especially in private households as well as the analysis of the synergies and conflicts of climate protection and adaptation, particularly in the action fields of construction/living and mobility.

(2). The deduction of improved strategies for the integrated promotion of climate protection and adaptation with particular consideration of environmental psychological findings of behavioural changing communication- and participation-forms.

(3.) The application of the gained knowledge in concrete measures for the promotion of climate protection and climate adaptation.

For the achievement of these objectives, already existing networks for climate protection and adaptation in the fields of action construction/living and mobility are being developed and several professionally moderated workshops with experts from society, administration, economy and research are conducted. The project performance is a practical guide (the so-called Kyoto-navigator) for the fields of action construction/living and mobility. It contains the integrated knowledge of the expert workshops and the published literature about effective strategies for the promotion of climate protection and adaptation in construction/living and mobility, as much as sustainable combinations of measures within the meaning of the use of synergies and the prevention of conflicts between climate protection, climate adaptation and other ecological, economic and social target areas as well as between the fields of action construction/living and mobility.


Project management and project team (in Oldenburg):

  • Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner (Overall project management)
  • Dr. Torsten Grothmann

Project partner:

  • Universität Kassel
  • Universität Marburg
  • e-fect

Project duration:
2006-2008

Funding:

  • BMBF
  • EWE Stiftung

Publications

Future field Tenant Flow Models

Short description:
The research project 'Future field tenant flow models' is a subproject of the joint project "BuergEn: Perspectives of citizen participation in the energy transition under consideration of distribution issues" funded by the BMBF. In the project, the chair Ecological Economics works of the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg works together with the innova eG and the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW).

The objective of the project is to analyse and evaluate transformation potentials, success factors and challenges for the implementation of tenant flow models carried by citizens. The analysis of organisational forms and business models focusses on Germany is on the macro-, meso- and micro-level. Furthermore, development potentials by blockchain technology are examined. The results are integrated into a potential study, a guideline addressed at citizen energy actors and in a software tool to calculate the economic efficiency of tenant flow projects. Therefore, the project gives a research-based and practice-oriented contribution to the implementation of a decentral citizen energy transition.

Research Approach:

The research project is structured in three different perspectives. Besides a (quantitative) inventory, systematisation and comparative consideration of tenant flow projects in Germany (macro-level), a comparative (qualitative) analysis of the cooperative as adequate company form for tenant flow is conducted (meso-level) as well as a transdisciplinary case study of a cooperative tenant flow project, which is accompanied by action research (micro-level). On top of that, the perspectives of the blockchain technology for tenant flow models and its technical execution are analysed in detail (by the IÖW).

In doing so, it is imperative to consider the various technical options, which are applied (PV, cogeneration unit, battery storage) and their combination as well as the different constellations of actors and opportunities for cooperation that are available for citizen energy companies. The research over three levels should not only generate knowledge for improved evaluation and assessment of citizen energy-oriented tenant flow projects but also produce valuable statements for better planning and realisation of such projects.

Project duration:
06/2017 - 12/2017

Research partner:

Contact:

  • Hendrik Wolter, M.A.
    Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter
    Mail:
    Tel.: 0441 / 798-2983
    Raum: A5 0-035
     
  • Dr. Christian Lautermann
    Projektkoordinator
    Mail:
    Tel.: 0441 / 798-4843
    Raum: A5 2-267

GELENA - Social Learning and Sustainability

Short description:

Global climate change illsutrates the necessity of a social-ecological transformation of society. To initiate and create the essential changes in production and consumption patters and because of limited governmental regulation and intervention opportunities, comprehensive learning procresses for a variety of social actors are needed. In the research project 'Social learning and sustainability', socially and sustainably relevant learning processes in the three crentral areas of need for climate change (mobility, construction and living, information and communication) are reflected upon on three levels:

  • Organisational level: Investigation of intraorganisational learning processes for a sustainable development in companies.
  • Societal level: Investigation of interorganisational connections and the institutionalisation of sustainability in the areas of needs, from which as social perspective can be developed.
  • Process level: Investigation and practical testig of particip

Prozessebene: Untersuchung und praktische Erprobung partizipativer Lernprozesse (insbesondere Produktentwicklungsprozesse) zur Entstehung nachhaltiger Innovationen.

Der Zusammenhang zwischen intra- und interorganisationalen Lernprozessen sowie die Reflexion der Bedeutung partizipativer Produktentwicklungsverfahren für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung wird durch eine Bezugnahme auf unterschiedliche ökonomische und sozialwissenschaftliche Organisations- und Institutionentheorien hergestellt.


Project management and project team:

  • Bernd Siebenhüner
  • Esther Hoffmann
  • Thomas Beschorner
  • Volker Barth
  • Marlen Arnold
  • Torsten Behrens
  • Karin Vogelpohl

Project partner:
Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) gGmbH, Berlin

Project Duration:
2002-2007

Finanzierung:
Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Publications:

  • Siebenhüner, B. et al.: Organisationales Lernen und Nachhaltigkeit. Marburg: Metropolis, 2006.
  • Beschorner, T. et al.: Institutionalisierung von Nachhaltigkeit. Marburg: Metropolis, 2005.
  • Hoffmann, E. et al.: Gesellschaftliches Lernen und Nachhaltigkeit. Marburg: Metropolis, 2004.


See the project homepage.

IBR - Interdisciplinary Approach to Functional Biodiversity Research

Logo IBR

The IBR research project aims to contribute to the understanding how biodiversity reacts to the challenges of global climate change and of the role biodiversity plays in ecosystems. The integrative research project includes ecology, evolutionary biology and theory as well as interdisciplinary approaches to the protection and management of biodiversity. The objective of the project is to examine biodiversity in encompassing approaches about terrestrial and maritime habitats, by investigating microbes, primary producers and consumers on higher levels with the focus on the link between biodversity and ecosystem processes.

The project is organised in cluster:

A) Spatial dynamics:  Investigation of the potential for the rapid evolution under changing conditions as well as phylogenetic limitatiions of the emergent characteristics of communities and ecosystems.

B) Eco-evolutionary dynamics: Understanding, how the adaptability to uncertain conditions of species contribute to ecosystem functions.

C) Resilience and biodiversity: In linked human-environment systems in regards to biodiversity losses in anthropocentric dominated ecosystems.

By the involvement of perspectives of ecology, evolutionary and environmental protection research and social science, the doctoral program offers a solid foundation to run synthetic-integrative science.

Project duration:
2014 - 2018

Funding:
Niedersächisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur

Project partner:

  • Universität Oldenburg
  • Institut für Biologie und Umweltwissenschaften (IBU)
  • Institut für Chemie und Biologie des Meeres (ICBM
  • Wirtschafts- und Rechtswissenschaften (Fakultät II)

Contact persons:

Further information:

IVS-WaC: International Virtual Seminar – Water and Climate

Research subject

Complex societal challenges, such as climate change and water management, require innovative approaches to which international and interdisciplinary higher education can contribute. The "International Virtual Seminar - Water and Climate" (IVS-WaC) will be a digital-collaborative module with international partners from Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania and will be directly embedded in existing study programmes.

Method / Approach

In the IVS-WaC seminar, two teaching-learning formats are used, which contain both asynchronous and synchronous elements. On the one hand, all students are taught the 6 main topics through guest lectures by the lecturers and experts from the field. On the other hand, students work in small groups on a term paper on one of the topics and develop a short film or podcast to share the results with all participants and beyond.

In total, 30 international students (advanced Bachelor's or early Master's level) will be able to develop a variety of skills in 6 thematic areas that address current challenges of sustainable water and climate management. They are supervised by 11 participating lecturers who actively engage in the seminar and provide current discourses and comprehensive competences in water and climate research, which are additionally sharpened by 2 practice-oriented expert lectures (authorities, international networks, NGOs).

Duration

October 2021 - September 2022

Promotion

The IVS-WaC project is funded with 50,000€ by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in the funding measure International Virtual Academic Collaboration - IVAC.

Partners

MANUS - Managers of Global Change

Short description:

The MANUS project examined the role of international bureaucracies in global governance-processes. Within a theoretical frame, which was structures on sociological institutionalism, it researched in the influence of international bureaucracies in global environmental politics, how volatility in their influence could be explained and they could 'learn' to improve their effectiveness. To analyse these questions, the project team worked out an analysis framework of hypotheses and variables with more than 120 indicators. The framework was applied to nine case studies, in which the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) were assessed. Furthermore, the secretariats of multilateral environmental conventions were evaluated, as they have barely been researched before. Concretely, the secretariats of the climate convention, the biodiversity convention, the desertification convention and of the international treaties on the protection of the ozone layer were investigated. Further case studies examined the UN environmental program and the Globale Umweltfazilität (GEF). These case studies were complemented by an online expert survey in Germany, India, Mexico and the United States.

Project management and project team (in Oldenburg):

  • Prof. Dr. Frank Biermann (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
  • Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner

Project partners:

  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung (PIK)
  • Freie Universität Berlin, Forschungsstelle für Umweltpolitik (FFU)

Project Duration:
2002-2005

Funding:
Volkswagen Foundation

Publications:

  • Biermann, F./Siebenhüner, B. (Hrsg.) (2009): Managers of Global Change: The Influence of International Environmental Bureaucracies. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Biermann, F./Siebenhüner, B./Schreyögg, A. (Hrsg.) (2009): International Organizations in Global Environmental Governance. Oxford: Routledge.
  • Siebenhüner, B. (2008): Learning in International Organisations in Global Environmental Governance. In: Global Environmental Politics, Vol. 8(4).
  • Siebenhüner, B. (2007): Administrator of Global Biodiversity: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. In: Biodiversity and Conservation, Vol. 16, S. 259-274.

 

See the book: Managers of Global Change

Nordwest 2050

Project management and team (in Oldenburg):
Dr. Ralph Baumheier, Metropolregion Bremen-Oldenburg im Nordwesten e.V. (Project coordinator)
Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner, Maik Winges, Kevin Grecksch

Project partners:
Metropolregion Bremen-Oldenburg im Nordwesten e.V.
SCB - Sustainability Center Bremen
Universität Bremen - artec Forschungszentrum Nachhaltigkeit
Universität Oldenburg - Centos Oldenburg Center for Sustainability Economics and Management
Hochschule Bremen
Bioconsult Schuchardt & Scholle GbR

Duration:
2009-2014

Sponsor:
BMBF (Federal Ministry for Education and Research)

Short description:

With this practice-oriented research project, the Northwest German region is among the selected model regions in Germany that through the support of Creating Climate Change-Ready Regions (KLIMZUG) has the opportunity to develop improvements in their ability to deal with climate change in selected fields, and to integrate them into regional planning and development processes.
In Northwest 2050 there are two different characters of road mapping processes for climate adaptation in the Northwest region.

  1. It is necessary to define the vulnerability of economic sectors for the food industry, the energy production and distribution, and the port management and logistics, evaluate chances for innovation and implement concrete measures. This activity e.g. is touching resilient food plants, environmentally friendly cooling and air-conditioning technologies as well as the fitness of the electricity grid. These so-called sector-oriented roadmaps are focusing on innovation paths within the period of Northwest 2050 until spring 2014.
  2. All partners will develop a long-term roadmap of change for climate adaptation strategies for the whole Metropolitan Region Bremen-Oldenburg Northwest with the time frame of 2050. The roadmap of change is based on the experiences and results of short-term processes in specific innovation paths to define needs for structural changes until 2050.

The generalisability and the transferability of the approach should be assured through close cooperation with the parallel projects in the support programme, as well as with the Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER) at the University of Maryland. Parallels in the focus sectors of logistics/port management, the food manufacturing industry and the energy sector, together with the circumstances of the natural surroundings make possible this transatlantic comparison of the two coastal regions. They also serve to inspire the shaping of future-readiness about climate change in both regions.
Not only the ability to adapt to climate change but also the ability of the region to learn and to compete internationally will improve greatly. Together with partners from the respective economic clusters, concrete paths of innovations will be developed and new ground is broken. The paths target not only technical innovations at different stages of development (e.g. solar cooling systems, low exergy solutions, resilient logistics systems, adapted cultivation und processing strategies in the food industry) but also organisational and institutional innovations (e.g. management of regional climate impacts, adaptive governance, further development of mechanisms and structures of the metropolitan region in terms of accompanying the implementation of the roadmap of change, land use management, risk communication, capacity building).


Publications:
www.nordwest2050.de

Open innovation processes for the energy efficient city 2020+

Project management and team (in Oldenburg):
Dr. Marlen Arnold (TU München, Project coordinator)
Dr. Volker Barth (head of subproject), Daniel Meyerholt

Project partners:
Technical University Munich
University Erlangen-Nuremberg
Technical University Darmstadt

Duration:
2009-2010

Sponsor:
BMBF (Federal Minstry for Education and Research)

Short description:

The project employs citizens' knowledge of their needs and solutions to generate and develop energy-efficient strategies and supply in the fields of action "mobility", "housing" and "mobility & housing integrated", to ease the application of new ideas and to foster their acceptance.
To increase energy efficiency in the fields of mobility and housing and at their interfaces, ideas shall be generated, developed, assessed and implemented in cooperation with citizens, the city of Munich, and our partner companies. Energy flows and greenhouse gas emissions of the Ideas and concepts will be assessed. We use a variety of methods including idea competition, web communities, discussion boards and innovation workshops. We check-in close cooperation with our partners and the city of Munich - whether and when the ideas might be competitive and how they could be implemented.


Publications:
Idea competition www.save-our-energy.de (starting 01.09.2009)

OptiWohn - Quarters Specific Probe and Development of Innovative Strategies for the Optimized Use of Living Space

OPTI WOHN Logo

Object of Research

Living space is a resource: As much as the ground, in general, should be used considerately and land consumption should be reduced, living space is a scarce good as well - a phenomenon highly visible in large cities. Therefore, the project OptiWohn studies how living space use can be optimized. For that purpose, OptiWohn specifically counsels senior citizens, which options they have with large apartments or houses - reorganization, subtenancy or removal. If the counselling succeeds and existing apartments and houses are used more efficiently, energy-intensive new construction can be avoided. For achieving the energy transition, we need not only energy efficiency but sufficiency - rooms, that haven't been constructed before, don't need to be heated. To use flats efficiently, the OptiWohn program seeks ways to reduce the living space per person, so that more people live in the same space.

Method / Approach

The OptiWohn program studies in three ways, how the consumption of living space per person can be reduced: by reconstruction of the existing asset, by change management and by new construction in line with the change management. In the course of this, the project looks especially at senior citizens, whose apartments and houses got too large after their children moved out. To explore their options, they receive counselling in the three model cities Göttingen, Köln and Tübingen. Some would like to reconstruct the building and create a granny annexe (the architects of werk.um assist at this step). Others would like to receive subtenants while again others prefer to move (for this, the local project partner cooperate with housing companies or housing counselling agencies). Also possible is the conception of new constructions with common living arrangements, where less living space per person accrue, and in which elderly people can move from their bigger apartments. The OptiWohn partners connect the existing offerings in the model cities and organize living space agencies, which help senior citizens individually to find their new residential happiness.

In the sub-project in Oldenburg, Daniel Fuhrhop is engaged in a style of intermediation of subtenants already existing since the 1990ies in Germany: "Living for Help". In this program, mostly young people like students, move together with elder people and instead of paying normal rent in euro, they provide help in household chores, in the garden or while shopping. For this operation, agencies are located in 36 cities agencies, mostly associated with student services or at the municipality. Daniel Fuhrhop studies how these agencies work, on which ground their success is based and which challenges they meet. This analysis assists with the installation of the complex counselling offerings of the OptiWohn project. Furthermore, the analysis will show how a project like "Living for Help" can help to relieve the current situation at the housing market and how new constructions can be avoided. It therefore demonstrates the economic and ecological significance of the model.

Project Duration

01.05.2019 – 31.03.2022

Funding

The Federal Ministry for Education and Research promotes OptiWohn as part of the funding guideline „RES:Z - Ressourceneffiziente Stadtquartiere für die Zukunft“ (Resource efficient quarter for the future). This is part of the flagship initiative within the Ministry's framework program „FONA - Forschung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung“ (Research for Sustainable Development).

Project sponsor Jülich.

Promotion of sustainable consumption by the integration of users in sustainability innovations

Short description:

In the context of exploring sustainable consumption the network project considers the early stages of the process and examines the development of sustainable products and services using the integration of users in the particular innovation process.
The basic idea of the research project implies that through user integration sustainable innovation and thereby sustainable consumption can be enabled, improved and boosted. User integration means the systematic integration of the user from the first idea through to market diffusion. The expected advantages of this dialogic user integration are a higher market acceptance by early integrating the user into practical use aspects and user needs, reduced failure risks, quicker diffusion and an early assessment of social-ecological effects of sustainable consumption.
The research concept can be described on a horizontal and a vertical level. On the horizontal level, the focus is on user integration in three selected products and services. Three subprojects examine (1) Passive Houses, (2) BioPlastics for Food Packaging and (3) "Mobile" Mobility. The vertical level contains cross-section topics related to all sustainable innovation processes: (5) Motivation, (6) Gender and Diversity, (7) Institutional Framework Conditions and (8) Evaluation of the Effects.
Subproject 7, lead by a team from the University of Oldenburg, examines the legal and structural framework conditions which support or hinder the institutionalisation of user integration in sustainable innovation processes. A theoretical multi-level model and a qualitative empirical study shall determine factors for successful institutionalisation of user integration at the company level.

Project management and team (in Oldenburg):

  • Prof. Dr. Frank-Martin Belz (Overall project),
  • Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner (Subproject Oldenburg), David Sichert

Project partners:

  • Technical University Munich
  • University Hannover

Duration:
2008-2011

Funding:
Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Publications:

REFGOV - Reflexive Governance in the Public Interest

Short description:

The European research project analyses innovative institutional mechanism, with which the market failure and the failure of government regulatory policy should be encountered. They content increasingly reflexive elements, in which the knowledge of the involved actors, in particular, should be used and introduced. The sub-project "Global Public Services and Common Goods" examined the role of knowledge, knowledge generation and learning in governance processes for the provision of global public goods like biodiversity, climate protection, etc.

Project management and project team (in Oldenburg):

  • Prof. Dr. Tom Dedeurwaerdere (Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve, head of subjetwork)
  • Prof. Dr. Eric Brousseau (Université de Paris X)
  • Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner, Elke Blachnik


Project partner:
28 European Research Institutions

Project duration:
2005-2010

Funding:
European Commission (6. Framework Programme)

Publications:

SaltSa - Groundwater Salination by Sea-level Rise as Societal Challenge - the example Noth-West-Germany (DFG)

Projektlogo SaltSa

Object of Research:
With sea-level rise caused by climate change, also the salinity of the groundwater rises near coasts - which again affects the majority of our drinking water. This "insidious danger" is the centre of a new research project run by hydrogeologist Prof. Dr Gudrun Massmann and Ecological Economist Prof. Dr Bernd Siebenhüner. The objective is to examine the dimension of the problem and to develop strategies for societal handling with the increasing groundwater salination - e.g. near costs - as well as countermeasures.

Method / Approach:
As an interdisciplinary project, scientific modelling will be connected wit social science analysis and the participation of local actors in the North-West-region. The project is supposed to develop a model to display and predict current and future flow conditions and groundwater salinity. The results will be interwoven with socio-economic consequences, to then demonstrate suitable countermeasures. A particular focus is on perceptual patterns, the knowledge and learning processes of relevant societal actors as well as the costs caused by the salinisation.

Project duration:
2016 - 2019 

Funding:
The project is fundet by the German Resarch Community (DFG) with 475,000€.
 

Partners:

  • Prof. Dr. Gudrun Massmann -  Leitung der Arbeitsgruppe „Hydrogeologie und am Institut für Biologie und Umweltwissenschaften

WAKOS – Water at the coast of East Frisia: basis for tailor-made climate services for adaptation

Object of Research

The East Frisian coastal region is facing major challenges, particularly about the long-term provision of adaptation to climate change. An increase of mean sea level, heavy precipitation events, storm surges, drainage and ground-water formation processes as well as saltwater intrusion represent crucial impacts of climate change. Those were already examined in numerous projects in the East Frisian region. However, there does not exist a combined view that takes possible interrelationships and interactions of all processes and factors into account.

The project aims to identify those interrelationships between the individual perspectives through the integrated consideration of coastal protection, inland drainage of the mainland coast as well as the freshwater supply of the East Frisian Islands. Relevant information is to be delivered for strategies, that are necessary to reduce cascading extreme events, such as heavy precipitation and storms in the region. It is aimed to provide tailor-made climate information services that can be finally discussed according to transformative governance.

The Ecological Economy team focuses on project unit 2 on the analysis of relevant actors and their relationships in the East Frisian coastal protection. It is to identify the dominant governance structures along with existing barriers and potentials for transformative governance. Based on this, the regional adaptation capacity and the need for adaptation are examined and discussed together with relevant actors.

Methods / Approach

WAKOS is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary joint project by the collaboration of various science sectors and relevant practical partners from the model region. There exists a combination of scientific modelling (e. g. storm surge and swell scenarios) and social-science analysis with the active involvement of actors in East Frisian coastal protection.

Based on existing and new processed data of the region, regional climate models are to be developed that can be used to identify relevant parameters for assessing e. g. heatwaves, heavy precipitation etc. The aim is to develop scenario libraries, that describe possible regional developments and their uncertainties. Basis of the social-science analysis is the close cooperation with practice partners in the form of focus group discussions and expert interviews. Due to the pursued Co-Design of the strategies for adaptation to climate change, based on the identified regional climate change parameters, the focus lies on the identification of socially accepted necessities for acting and the improvement of the social adaptation capacity and hence resilience of the East Frisian coastal protection.

Project Duration

June 2020 - May 2023

Funding

The project WAKOS – Water at the coast of East Frisia: basis for tailor-made climate services for adaptation is funded with 2.290.000 million Euros by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Partners

 

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