Natural and Social Science Interface

Chair of Environmental Sciences – Natural and Social Science Interface (NSSI)

NSSI is part of the Institute for Environmental Decisions (IED) and was founded in 1993. The NSSI research groups are engaged with environmental decision-making processes. We investigate prerequisites, constraints, drivers, and impacts of individual, organizational and societal decision making that is principally related to environmental issues. The current focus is on the development of methods, models and theories that support sustainable human and environment interactions.

NSSI has worked successfully on the interfaces of human and environment systems, research and practice (transdisciplinarity) and natural and social sciences. As these systems are complementary, the study of coupled human-environment systems forms the basis of successful environmental decision-making and sustainable development. NSSI is headed by Prof. Dr. Roland Scholz.

Mission

NSSI organizes interdisciplinary research regarding cause-impact relationships of environmental problems and developing strategies for integrated approaches in investigating processes at the human and environment interface. Our goal is to functionally understand the transitions in human-environment systems and to anticipate environmental challenges of the 21^st century.

NSSI conducts large-scale transdisciplinary case studies in cooperation with other professors of the department, universities and research institutes in Europe and abroad as well as with the corporate world. Here, scientists and non-scientists join forces to elaborate solutions in a spirit of mutual learning. The current focus is on the use of high performance models and knowledge in real-life, complex, ill-defined problems of human-environment systems.

For this purpose our work and research units are genuinely inter- and transdisciplinary.

The NSSI research team in May 2011. By clicking on a head you may reach the person's personal home page.