Sustainability Office

The Sustainability Office has been operating as part of a pilot project since July 2021, serving as an operational complement to the Sustainability Steering Committee. Its goal is to promote a sustainable Otto-Friedrich University and to analyze, connect, and publicize existing activities.

The primary focus is to provide support, particularly in organizational and administrative tasks, to various university stakeholders, such as the working groups of the Sustainability Steering Committee and student groups. This facilitates the networking of sustainable actors, groups, and initiatives within the university.

Accompanying projects and measures in teaching, research, administration, and public relations aim to strengthen awareness of sustainability both within and outside the university.

The Sustainability Office is the central point of contact for sustainability at Otto-Friedrich University.

Its tasks include:

• Informing about all sustainability activities and networking stakeholders.
• Connecting various sustainability initiatives from researchers, faculties and administration, as well as university groups, with the aim of providing support.
• Assisting in the EMAS certification of the university, organizing the Sustainability Month, and obtaining Fairtrade certification.

Do you feel like getting involved and contributing your ideas? There are the following possibilities:

• Participation in one of the working groups of the steering committee.
• Initiation of decentralized projects in your area (department/faculty/department, etc.) - the Sustainability Office is happy to provide support and advice here.
• Involvement in one of the university-affiliated groups/committees of the student representation.
• What ideas do you have for improving sustainability? Feel free to write to nachhaltigkeitsbuero(at)uni-bamberg.de.
• Are there already projects in your area? Please inform us so that as many people as possible can participate."

Our interdisciplinary team consists of an administrative staff member and students from various academic programs.

• Antonia Schott-Bartning (Coordination Sustainability Office, EMAS)
• Theresa Riedel (Master's student in Geography)
• Lara Schaub (Bachelor's student in German Studies, European Ethnology and Philosophy)
• Katharina Stelse (Bachelor's student in Political Science)
• Daniel Kluge (Bachelor's student in Vocational Education, Lecturer for Integration and Refugee Education)

In the summer of 2020, a group of students explored the topic of sustainability at Otto Friedrich University Bamberg. Together with Dr. Yelva Larsen (Science Education), they developed a concept for a Green Office, which was subsequently presented to the university's Sustainability Steering Committee. With the support of this committee—particularly from Dr. Dagmar Steuer-Flieser, Chancellor of the University of Bamberg, and the university's then sustainability coordinator—the Sustainability Office was established based on this concept and officially opened on July 1, 2021.

The Student Parliament's Green Office Working Group won the Sustainability Award in the category of Studies and Teaching for their dedication during the founding phase of the Sustainability Office at the University of Bamberg.