Research Institute for Sustainability (Helmholtz Centre Potsdam) - Coordinator

Research Institute for Sustainability (Helmholtz Centre Potsdam) - Coordinator

Germany

The Research Institute for Sustainability - Helmholtz Centre Potsdam (RIFS) is part of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. It was founded in 2009 as the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), the predecessor of today's RIFS, as a joint initiative of the German Federal Government, the State of Brandenburg and the research institutions of the Science Alliance. RIFS conducts research with the aim of understanding, advancing and guiding processes of societal change towards sustainable development. Its research approach is transformative, transdisciplinary and co-creative, as RIFS researchers collaborate with different actors from science, politics and public administration, as well as business and civil society, to develop a common understanding of sustainability challenges and generate potential solutions.

As consortium leader, RIFS will be responsible for coordinating the research activities between the work packages and promoting integration and synthesis. In terms of specific research tasks, RIFS will lead WP 3 on structural enablers, constraints and policy levers for lifestyle changes and coordinate its implementation in the five case countries. It will also play an important role and lead in WP 6 on communication and diffusion, and together with its partners GDI, HoC and others, will carry out the transfer activities aimed at the various stakeholders. Finally, RIFS will collaborate with ERS in the Management WP.

Until 1 January 2024, the coordinator was the University of Münster (Germany).