Institute for social-ecological research

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ISOE - Institute for Socio-Ecological Research
Legal form of the carrier: GmbH
Membership: Ecological Research Network (Ecornet) , Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center (BiK-F)
Facility location: Frankfurt am Main
Type of research: Socio-ecological research

Transdisciplinary environmental and sustainability research

Areas of expertise: Institute areas:
  • Water resources and land use
  • Water infrastructure and risk analysis
  • Energy and climate protection in everyday life
  • Mobility and Urban Spaces
  • Biodiversity and population
  • Transdisciplinary methods and concepts
Homepage: www.isoe.de

The ISOE - Institute for Social-Ecological Research GmbH is a nationally and internationally active, non-profit research institution based in Frankfurt am Main . As an independent research institute, ISOE develops socio-ecological concepts for sustainable development. As an innovative think tank, the research institute works in a transdisciplinary manner and, together with partners from science and practice, develops well-founded decision-making bases for civil society, politics and business. In doing so, social and scientific aspects are systematically related and integrated from the start . ISOE is a co-founder of several national research networks , such as the Ecological Research Network (Ecornet) and the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center (BiK-F).

focus

The research work focuses on complex social problems of sustainable development , such as unsustainable consumption or mobility behavior, local and global water problems or the loss of biodiversity . Perspectives of population development and gender equality are also treated in their investigation . The aim of the institute's work is to develop future-proof solution concepts in order to make practical contributions to sustainable development and sustainability research.

history

The institute was founded in 1989 as an interdisciplinary independent research facility. The basis for the establishment of the institute was developed in 1986 and 1987 by the Social Ecology Research Group , which, on behalf of the Hessian state government , had prepared an expert report on socio-ecological research in Hesse. The Science Council has already in 1994 in its opinion on environmental research in Germany , the "significant and deserving social and sociological basic research highlighted the tension between economy and ecology" of the ISOE. In 2000, the ISOE was awarded the first Swiss Science Prize for excellent transdisciplinary research projects for the project “Sustainability - an interdisciplinary concept for socio-ecological transformations ”. The ISOE was instrumental in establishing the BMBF funding priority "Social-ecological research". According to the evaluation by the Science Council in 2016, the concept of transdisciplinarity co- shaped by ISOE is being implemented convincingly in its “research practice”.

structure

Around 50 employees are currently working in a variety of different interdisciplinary research projects. The institute is supported by a scientific advisory board.

The scientific team works in the following research areas:

As an independent and non-university research institution, the institute is mainly financed by public project funds and contracts and by private clients and associations . In addition, it receives institutional funding from the State of Hesse and support from the City of Frankfurt am Main .

Research program

The starting point of the research of ISOE is the realization that in ecological problems social behavior patterns and natural interdependencies penetrate mutually and a socio-ecological crisis dynamic trigger. A specific socio-ecological research approach follows from this knowledge : nature and society are examined at the same time and their mutual relationships are examined. This interdependence becomes clear in the concept of social relations to nature . Social ecology as a science of the social relationships to nature moves between the two poles of working out solutions for practical life problems as practical, transdisciplinary research and conceptually ordering new knowledge that has been generated methodically as a theory-oriented science.

literature

  • Egon Becker , Thomas Jahn (Ed.): Social Ecology. Basic features of a science of the social relations of nature. Frankfurt a. M., New York: Campus 2006
  • Matthias Bergmann , Engelbert Schramm (Ed.): Transdisciplinary Research - Understanding and Evaluating Integrative Research Processes Frankfurt a. M., New York: Campus 2008
  • Diana Hummel (ed.): Population Dynamics and Supply Systems - A Transdisciplinary Approach Frankfurt a. M., New York: Campus 2008
  • Matthias Bergmann, Thomas Jahn, Tobias Knobloch, Wolfgang Krohn , Christian Pohl, Engelbert Schramm (eds.): Methods of transdisciplinary research - an overview with application examples Frankfurt a. M., New York: Campus 2010
  • Thomas Jahn (2013): Science for Sustainable Development needs a critical orientation. GAIA 1, 29-33
  • Thomas Jahn, Diana Hummel, Engelbert Schramm (2015): Sustainable Science in the Anthropocene. GAIA 24 (2), 92-95
  • Johanna Kramm, Melanie Pichler, Anke Schaffartzik, Martin Zimmermann (eds.): Social Ecology: State of the Art and Future Prospects . Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Sustainability. MDPI, Basel etc. 2017
  • Thomas Jahn, Diana Hummel, Lukas Drees, Stefan Liehr, Alexandra Lux, Marion Mehring, Immanuel Stieß, Carolin Völker, Martina Winker, Martin Zimmermann (2020): Socio-ecological design in the Anthropocene. GAIA 29 (2), 93-97

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ institute areas
  2. ^ Institute for Social-Ecological Research
  3. ↑ Biodiversity and Climate Research Center (BiK-F)
  4. ^ Research group on social ecology: Social ecology. Expert opinion on the promotion of socio-ecological research in Hessen. (pdf, 1.8 MB)
  5. ^ Julie Thompson Klein, Walter Grossenbacher-Mansuy, Rudolf Häberli and others. a. (Ed.) Joint Problem-Solving among Science, Technology and Society. Zurich , p. 147
  6. ↑ Th. Jahn et al. a., Conceptual focusing and participatory networking of knowledge. Report on the genesis of the funding priority “Social-ecological research”. ISOE study texts No. 8 (2000)
  7. ^ Statement on the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE), Frankfurt a. M. (WR-Drucksache 5408-16)
  8. ↑ Advisory Board of ISOE
  9. ↑ Main research areas
  10. ↑ These are usually awarded competitively, for example within the funding initiative Research for Sustainability of the BMBF

Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 56.3 "  N , 8 ° 38 ′ 42.1"  E