Interactions between humans and the earth system

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We live in a geological era in which humanity’s impact on the Earth system is so great as to increasingly endanger life on the planet. The effects of climate change, scarcity of resources, and loss of biodiversity are necessitating a fundamental and lasting change in human activity. In order to record the complex interactions between humanity and the Earth system, and to find and impart practical and sustainable solutions, research, academia, and science communication need new, in particular transdisciplinary approaches aimed at boosting cooperation between stakeholders from science and practice.

Last edited: 22. January 2026

Publications of the working group

Against this backdrop, the working group focuses on three key areas of activity: university and non-university research, higher education, as well as the dialogue between science, politics, and society. The working group analyses the current situation in Germany regarding these three areas and places them in the context of national and international best practice examples. This goal is to then derive potential for an integrative and transdisciplinary human-Earth science that unites perspectives and insights from the social and earth-system sciences and from practice. The working group aims to provide recommendations for research support and designs, education and training approaches, and communication strategies, to be published in the form of a Leopoldina report on the future of science.

Spokesperson of the working group

Further members of the working group

  • Jörg Bendix ML, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography
  • Frank Biermann, University of Utrecht, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development
  • Katrin Böhning-Gaese ML, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Leipzig
  • Boris Braun, University of Cologne, Institute of Geography
  • Andreas Diekmann ML, University of Leipzig, Humanities Centre
  • Jonathan Donges, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
  • Juliane Engel, Goethe University Frankfurt, Department of Educational Sciences
  • Doris Fuchs, Research Institute for Sustainability Potsdam (RIFS), Helmholtz Centre Potsdam
  • Jan-Christoph Heilinger, Witten/Herdecke University, Department of Philosophy, Politics and Economics
  • Britta Höllermann, University of Osnabrück, Institute of Geography
  • Eva-Maria Jakobs, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen, Institute for Industrial Communication and Specialised Media
  • Axel Liebscher, Federal Company for Final Disposal (BGE) Salzgitter
  • Till Markus, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Leipzig, Department of Environmental and Planning Law
  • Ellen Matthies, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Institute of Psychology
  • Ilona Otto, University of Graz, Wegener Centre for Climate and Global Change
  • Sonja Peterson, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
  • Kira Rehfeld, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Geo and Environmental Research Centre
  • Johan Rockström ML, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
  • Remmer Sassen, Dresden University of Technology, International University Institute Zittau
  • Jochen Schanze, Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Planning Dresden (IOER)
  • Thomas Stocker ML, University of Bern, Institute of Physics
  • Helmuth Trischler ML, German Museum Munich
  • Thorsten Wagener, University of Potsdam, Institute of Environmental Sciences and Geography
  • Ricarda Winkelmann, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Jena

ML = Member of the Leopoldina

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