Research Area D


Societal challenges and Sustainability

Aspects of sustainability, psychological acceptance and ethical approval will be an important driver of the work done in livMatS. Research and development are carried out in constant, concurrent reflection of the sustainability of the applied approaches. At the same time, questions of societal acceptance and the philosophical clarification of traditional notions of what is considered “natural”, “artificial”, “living” or “inanimate” have an important impact on an appropriate public perception. This is because living materials systems are linked to certain attitudes and preconceptions in both, science and society.

The development of living materials systems will be part of a responsible scientific and technical progress in the Anthropocene, the current era in the history of the Earth dominated by human impact on life and inanimate nature. Instead of first completing the technological development and then analyzing the implications for society, livMatS will closely interweave technology development with sustainability assessments, behavioral analyses regarding acceptance, and the philosophical-ethical discourse on the interplay between human control and autonomy of systems. For this purpose, livMatS connects experts from the natural and engineering sciences with those from sustainability research, psychology, philosophy, and ethics. The aim is to meet people's demands for future-oriented environmental and energy technologies.


Coordinator Research Area D
Prof. Dr. Andrea Kiesel


Projects within Research Area D


Longterm Projects 2022 and 2023

Longterm Projects 2019 and 2020

Booster Projects 2023 - finished

  • Identification of ethical issues and the influence of multiple core constructs on the acceptability of emerging technologies – a large-scale online survey
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Andrea Kiesel
  • Intra- and extracellular self-assembly of filamentous protein polymers
    This project is a collaboration between research areas B, C and D.
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Ralf Reski
  • Modelling Abscission of Plant Organs as Inspiration for the Separation of Artificial Materials Systems
    This project is a collaboration between research areas C and D.
    Principal investigator: Dr. Olga Speck
    Responsible Investigator: Prof. Dr. Patrick Dondl
  • A sustainable approach towards peptide synthesis in water
    This project is a collaboration between research areas A, B, D and Demonstrators.
    Junior Research Group leader: Dr. Charalampos Pappas
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe
  • Carbohydrates as predetermined enzymatic breaking points in surface-bound cross-linked polymers
    This project is a collaboration between research areas B and D.
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe
    Responsible Investigator: Prof. Dr. Daniel B. Werz
  • Zinc(Photo)Batt
    This project is a collaboration between research areas A and D.
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Anna Fischer
    Responsible Investigator: Dr. Daniel Biro

Booster Projects 2021 - finished

Compact Projects 2021 - finished

  • The autonomy of nature. Rethinking the status of nature in livMats and the Anthropocene
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Lore Hühn

Compact Projects 2020 - finished