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Research
To meet the challenges of the Anthropocene – particularly in relation to global climate change – new approaches are needed across all sectors of agriculture, forestry, water, energy, and waste management, as well as in regional and environmental management and industrial production. The Department of Resources and Sustainability aims to establish such approaches in research and teaching, combining technical solutions with ecological adaptation strategies.
Concept of Research
The Department of Resources and Sustainability is dedicated to research for sustainable and resource-efficient economic activity.
Since the onset of industrialization, economic development has largely been driven by the assumption of unlimited growth and limitless resources. This has resulted in a linear economy characterized by high resource consumption and substantial waste generation. Ecological limitations – both in terms of resource input and environmental output – have led to the realization that a transition away from fossil-based resources toward a sustainable circular economy is imperative.
The key sustainability principles guiding the department’s research are:
- Anthropogenic material flows must not alter the size and quality of natural reservoirs (e.g. fossil resources, groundwater).
- Anthropogenic material flows must not exceed local assimilation capacities.
- Renewable resources must not be consumed faster than they can be sustainably regenerated.
- Biodiversity must be maintained or enhanced.
The department seeks interdisciplinary solutions that adhere to these principles. Research focuses on a wide range of finite natural resources such as water, air, raw materials, soil/land, vegetation, and ecosystems in general. Beyond this, communication, information, food, mobility, safety, and energy are also viewed as resources. Sustainability acts as a cross-cutting theme connecting these subject areas. In this context, the department pursues an integrative research approach that combines economic, social, cultural, and ecological perspectives to analyze and address societal challenges related to resources.
The key research areas ‘Energy Systems’, ‘Materials and Interfaces’, ‘Supply Security and Resilience', and ‘Circular Value Creation’ form the core pillars for addressing these challenges. The department’s work is interdisciplinary, uniting natural and engineering scientists with researchers from the agricultural, social, and economic sciences.
Energy Systems
The ‘Energy Systems’ research area focuses on transforming energy systems towards the exclusive use of renewable, inexhaustible resources. Research topics include the methods and processes of this transformation as well as system analysis across all energy-related applications.
This encompasses the conversion of renewable resources into usable end energy carriers, their storage and distribution, and their efficient utilization in industry, commerce, services, households, and transport.
Research also explores the development and optimization of energy system components to improve efficiency and minimize resource consumption throughout their life cycle. The area further addresses resource and technology optimization in local and regional energy systems, as well as coupled energy systems — both conceptually and operationally.
Relevant interfaces include energy-efficient construction, climate protection, legal frameworks, social acceptance, and institutional conditions. Advanced methods such as numerical optimization, artificial intelligence, and machine learning play an essential role.
Research Area Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Mario Adam, Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences
Materials and Interfaces
The ‘Materials and Interfaces’ research area belongs to the classical natural and engineering sciences. Here, resources are primarily understood as material goods used as raw materials and/or energy sources.
The focus lies on phenomena occurring at the interface between different phases – solid, fluid, or gaseous. These “interfaces” (or surfaces) are central to various technical and material processes.
Key research topics include:
- Resource conservation: developing new materials and optimizing known ones to reduce resource use.
- Material research: addressing challenges of modern materials, e.g. the relationship between material and form or approaches to mitigating microplastic pollution.
- Material development: creating novel materials based on fossil and renewable raw materials, developing technical biopolymers as substitutes for petroleum-based products, textile innovations, resource-efficient dyes, 3D-printing materials, and sustainable high-tech materials.
- Material-based energy research: developing materials for energy conversion, storage, and transport, such as electrocatalysts, porous storage materials, electrode systems, fuel cells, and solar energy.
Research Area Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Jörg Meyer, Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences
Supply Security and Resilience
Intact ecosystems and stable social structures are prerequisites for the sustainable provision and use of natural resources and for maintaining resilience within socio-ecological systems. Overexploitation of ecosystems, geopolitical conflicts, and uncontrolled technological developments can threaten the continuous availability of key resources — thereby endangering prosperity, health, and the functionality of technical and social infrastructures.
This research area examines questions within various socio-ecological and technical subsystems, such as food, energy, water supply, critical infrastructures, and ecosystems, and studies the interrelations between them.
Its applied research aims to identify how producers, companies, consumers, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and civil society actors can secure the provision of the natural and technical resources necessary to meet human needs in the future.
Research Area Coordinators: Prof. Dr. Alexander Fekete, TH Köln, and Prof. Dr. Wiltrud Terlau, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences
Circular Value Creation
The ‘Circular Value Creation’ concept is based on a sustainable, innovation-driven economic model that redefines anthropogenic material flows and technical material cycles. It seeks to decouple economic growth from resource extraction through value-preserving product and production strategies.
By reusing and repurposing products and materials within new products, processes, and business models, the retained value of processed material flows is maximized while energy demand and raw material extraction are minimized.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, this research area is particularly relevant due to the region’s strong industrial base and high resource dependency. The local manufacturing sectors – including chemical, textile, and furniture industries as well as mechanical and plant engineering – exhibit a distinct need for research and innovation.
Research Area Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Margit Schulze, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences
