The institute’s systemic approach is reflected in the research conducted across its fields of work. It addresses key issues in the areas of energy transition, climate protection and climate adaptation, resource conservation, land use, and local and regional development.
Sustainable solution models, grounded in the understanding of interactions between technology, material flows, environmental and nature conservation, economics, and the diversity of human life worlds, are becoming increasingly important. These models are particularly embedded in the concept of sustainable economics, which operates across the dimensions of ecology, economy, and socio-cultural aspects.
The ongoing and future research projects contribute to these objectives. Furthermore, these goals are firmly anchored in the updated mission statement, which was collaboratively developed with the staff.
The challenge of developing solution models lies in their multidimensionality and in identifying the correct relationships from the associated data and information, structuring them, and preparing them in a way that is understandable for various stakeholders. To address this, the Transformation Knowledge research group was established. Its core research interest focuses on exploring and applying approaches and methods for capturing, analyzing, and visualizing data, as well as designing and developing tools for transformation knowledge in the context of the energy and material flow transition.
Furthermore, the research group works integratively across the other fields of work, supporting them in data collection, preparation, analysis, visualization, and modeling.
The specific research orientations, methodologies, and related challenges of each field of work are presented on their respective pages.