Prof. Rödel forms alliance of research communities for a sustainable future

On the initiative of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rödel, Head of the Department of Non-Metallic Inorganic Materials, several scientific societies have joined forces to form an alliance for a sustainable future. The aim of the „International Alliance of Societies for a Sustainable Future“ (SFS) is to achieve greater sustainability in teaching and in the organization of conferences – but above all to address the sustainability crisis beyond boundaries of research communities.

Founding members of the association are: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Materialkunde (German Materials Society), Deutsche Keramische Gesellschaft (German Ceramic Society), European Ceramic Society and American Ceramic Society. In the future, the SFS is supposed to be expanded to include other disciplines, too, particularly from the social sciences and humanities. The aim is to create a strong interdisciplinary and international network to take decisive action against the global sustainability crisis.

The need to better understand and protect our environment has never been more urgent, explains the SFS. Global warming is increasing inexorably, biodiversity and arable land are being lost, and pollution is increasing exponentially. Despite decades of efforts and warnings, the earth is heading straight for a sustainability crisis. “We are therefore convinced that it is the task of all scientific disciplines to explain the sustainability crisis to the global public as a task of socio-ecological transformation,” emphasize the alliance partners. “The aim of the SFS is to raise social awareness of our shared responsibility in building a sustainable future.”