Sustainability as an academic subject
Sustainability is an important term in our everyday lives, for all of us – however, the insights which drive us to practice sustainability every day, are the fruit of in-depth scientific research in ecological Institutes around the world. It is this research which enables us to find out more about ecological processes and sustainable alternatives for our everyday life. This gives us one more reason to turn the spotlight on scientific institutions such as these and gain insight into the valuable work that they do. This triggers the start of our series on Research Institutes around the World. We will kick off with a portrait of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna.
With roughly 11,000 students and more than 2,000 research assistants, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna – named the BOKU for short – is one of the leading scientific institutes in Europe in the field of Life Sciences. Established in 1872, the University has developed over the last 150 years to become a research location, which deals with sustainability at an academic level in 15 different departments – from food sciences to research into biodiversity, through to forest and soil sciences. The uppermost goal in the research and teaching of the University as a whole is the focus on the sustainable protection and use, fit for the future, of natural ecological resources and the shaping of our habitat.
Focus of research: sustainability
Different subjects are researched in the 15 different departments. Once central theme is the management of natural resources and the protection of ecosystems, as well as themes such as Sustainable Food Production, to secure foodstuffs and ensure health. The University has one further main commitment: research into climate change. As a member of the Climate Change Centers Austria (CCCA), at the BOKU the reasons and consequences of climate change are examined, the climate research community is supported and information about climate change is provided in an active manner – for example at schools or to the public.
Moreover, the University does not only research sustainability, it also lives and breathes it – thus in 2020 the BOKU opened the first University Wood Construction building in Vienna. The Ilse Wallentin House, named after the first woman to graduate from the University, is climate-friendly boasting low CO2-emissions and is an innovative sign in the field of climate protection.
Apart from sustainability, the BOKU is successfully researching crucial topics of our times: recently a research group, in which researchers from the University led the way, examined two antibody test procedures to diagnose Sars-Cov2 antigens.
Anniversary year 2022
In 2022 the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences is celebrating its 150th anniversary – true to the motto looking to the future sustainably the focus should primarily be on the themes of the 150 years to come. Apart from climate change, global ecological themes such as resource scarcity or food security are in the foreground. Science’s most vital task is to take up these themes which affect politics, the economy and society, and find solutions which are relevant and applicable. The anniversary year will be accompanied by lots of events, Panels and conferences at which speakers will review the history of the University and its research and at the same time turn the focus to future fields of research.
Lenzing AG continuously cooperates with a number of academic institutions and facilities - including BOKU. Just recently, we reported on the collaboration between VEOCEL™ and the SCRIPPS Institution of Oceanography at the University of San Diego. In our series Research Institutes around the World we will, in the future, present other Universities and Institutes to you at itsinourhands.com, who focus on sustainability and other relevant ecological themes of our times.
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