FOSTER - Biodiversity Preservation in German Higher Education Institutions: Existing approaches, challenges and future developments
Project Description
Stella-Maria Yerokhin has been working as a research assistant at the Chair of Business Administration, esp. Environmental Management, since January 2022. Since April 2023, she has been supporting the DBU project UNISIMS, which aims to anchor sustainability criteria of five different action areas in German universities through an indicator catalog. From May to October 2023, she received project funding from FOSTER at TU Dresden, in which she conducted an interview study to gather information on existing approaches, challenges, and future developments regarding biodiversity conservation at German universities.
Research Design
The research project focused on analyzing the biodiversity strategies of German universities, with a focus on existing approaches, challenges, and future developments. The central idea was to gain a comprehensive overview of efforts towards biodiversity conservation through expert interviews at 14 universities. Numerous initiatives in various areas could be identified, which were summarized deductively and inductively in a category system.
The interview study revealed the measures German universities are already taking to protect biodiversity, as well as the hurdles they face. Making these visible to develop future solution strategies and create synergies provides significant added value for biodiversity conservation. Particularly relevant was the deeper integration of biodiversity topics in research and teaching to foster a deeper awareness among students and staff, thereby positively influencing numerous industries in the long term.
The contribution has been submitted and accepted by the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. The publication date of the paper is not yet known.
Leadership: Prof. Dr. Remmer Sassen und Yu-Shan Lin Feuer
Editing: Stella-Maria Yerokhin
Duration: 01.05. - 31.10.2023
Funding: FOSTER - Funds for Student Research