Under the banner of responsibility

How do we deal with the social challenges of our time?

Climate change, war, social inequalities, poverty – we have seemingly never been faced with such a large number of crises as we are today. Many young people ask themselves: How do we deal with this? And how do we manage to initiate positive changes? H-BRS wants to find answers to these questions through the study programme “Responsibility”. Launched by the Centre for Ethics and Responsibility (ZEV) in 2021, the interdisciplinary study programme, designed to supplement a standard degree course, offers students the opportunity to deal intensively and self-determinedly with the topics of ethics, responsibility and sustainability. “Students learn to navigate the multitude of sustainability-related issues in a scientifically sound manner. They learn to describe and analyse open questions about the future, justify their own positions, perceive the perspectives of others, practise addressing complex issues, and deal with contradictions,” says Professor Klaus Lehmann, managing director of the ZEV and initiator of the “Responsibility” programme as a systematic studies-supplementing course. It is open to students of all departments and can be taken parallel to a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree. Successful graduates receive a sustainability certificate upon completion.

Innovation Award for Sustainability

The voluntary study programme is quite popular with students. “I chose H-BRS because of the “Responsibility” programme. It gives you the opportunity to earn a solid science degree while dealing in parallel with one of the biggest challenges of our society – how we want to and can live in the future,” says Jana Dingels. She studies Chemistry with Materials Science.

At the first-ever Innovation Award for Sustainability, the “Responsibility” programme won joint second place. Professor Lehmann’s team is particularly pleased about the 3,000 euros prize money: “This is a great encouragement for us. The prize belongs to the team and the students, who are so courageous, hopeful and motivated to shape the future responsibly.” The Innovation Award for Sustainability honours innovative sustainability projects from research, teaching and transfer and was created in the course of the H-BRS sustainability strategy published in 2022.

ȹ More on the topic of sustainability: page 50

The Board of Directors of the Centre for Ethics and Responsibility