The Transdisciplinary and Transformative Sustainability Education (TTNB) project of the Sustainability Innovation Campus (ICN) aims to strengthen and establish sustainability education at universities in Baden-Württemberg. Transdisciplinary and transformative education trains students to work with practice partners and researchers on innovative solutions to specific sustainability problems. To this end, nine measures will be implemented at selected universities in Baden-Württemberg over the next two years.

Overview of the measures

(1) Digital teaching and learning labs (DTLL): This measure opens up existing laboratories for transdisciplinary and transformative teaching and develops new teaching concepts (for teachers) as well as new digital and partly AI-based teaching and learning formats for working on innovative sustainability solutions. Universities receive guidance and training on integrating DTLL and sustainability education.

(2) TransImpactHubs: This measure establishes permanent interfaces between universities and the local (urban) communities so that, in the future, research, teaching, and practice can address sustainability challenges synergistically through cooperative learning formats.

(3) Networked project seminars and self-experiments: This measure designs and conducts practice-oriented project seminars where students from different degree programs acquire problem-solving skills in cooperation with practitioners while simultaneously generating social impact.

In parallel, teachers and students are guided through self-experiments that allow them to experience sustainability transformation individually.

(4) Sustainability teaching and learning resources “to go”: This measure creates easily accessible, cross-disciplinary introductions, exercises, and other teaching and learning formats for solution-oriented sustainability education and transdisciplinary collaboration in various media (analog, digital, hybrid).

(5) Winter School Sustainability: This measure pilots an (international) winter school on transformational sustainability research. It aims to equip junior sustainability scientists with the methodological foundations and practical approaches of solution-oriented research on sustainability innovations.

In addition, an outreach campaign and a teaching award raise awareness of transdisciplinary and transformative sustainability education; a new platform called “Studium & Lehre für Nachhaltigkeit Baden-Württemberg” (“Study & Teaching for Sustainability Baden-Württemberg”) will strengthen the coordination of sustainability-oriented teaching at universities; and fellowships will offer support to teachers in Baden-Württemberg so they can develop and implement their own ideas into innovative teaching projects. A conference planned for 2027 will provide insights into the project results and strengthen dialogue with international pioneers in transformative sustainability education.

ITAS co-manages the project on behalf of KIT and plays a leading role in designing all measures. It works in close cooperation with the research group Transformational Sustainability Science at the University of Freiburg. Other key tasks include organizing the pilot phase at KIT and communicating with the higher education community in Baden-Württemberg.

The Sustainability Innovation Campus (ICN) is an institution of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Freiburg. It is funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts. As an interface between science and practice, it supports transdisciplinary research, development, and education projects on sustainability transformation and initiates corresponding innovation ecosystems. Its main topics are climate protection, resource conservation, and wellbeing.

The TTNB project is funded as part of the “Future Contract” program for high-quality teaching of the Federal Government and the Länder.

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