The Independent Institute for Environmental Concerns (UfU) is a social-ecological research institute that focuses on citizen-oriented research. The institute consists of three departments: Climate Change & Education, Environmental Law & Participation, and Resource Protection & Landscape Ecology. In the course of our work, researchers from diverse scientific backgrounds - spanning ecology, economy, sociology, law, ethnography, cultural science, geography, biology, physics and environmental engineering - work together in interdisciplinary teams. Three staff members have training in social as well as in natural sciences.
Expertise and capacity
UfU has yearlong experience with different methods of involving stakeholders and citizens, as well as with participative technology assessment. The methods it is versed in encompass: mediation processes, roundtables, future workshops, world cafés, multicriterial mappings, and consensus conferences. Additionally, the institute is experienced in the analysis of public acceptance, discourse and media analysis, as well as the organization and moderation of advanced training programs and workshops on topics such as environmental conservation or new methods of ecological communication. Scientists at UfU have conducted accompanying social scientific research in the highly complex technological fields of genetic engineering, nanotechnology and hydrogen technology.