„Impact Engineers“ shaping the sustainable future
Hamburg University of Technology and Leuphana University of Lüneburg secure substantial funding for a joint bachelor's degree program
11.06.2026
The Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and the Leuphana University of Lüneburg have successfully obtained joint funding of approximately 3.5 million euros for the collaborative project “Impact Engineering for a Sustainable World” through the call “The World is My Campus” by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education.
At the core is the development of a joint, English-language pilot bachelor’s degree program that combines TUHH’s engineering excellence with the transdisciplinary sustainability research of Leuphana’s School of Sustainability. The program will train “Impact Engineers” who integrate technological solution development with societal design competencies. The degree program is scheduled to start in the winter semester 2028/29.
The new bachelor’s program links technological innovations with sustainability science thinking and societal responsibility. It will enable students to design, evaluate, and implement sustainable technological innovations—in areas such as energy and mobility transition, circular economy, sustainable production, or biodiversity conservation—while incorporating societal perspectives. Students will learn to integrate stakeholders from science, business, politics, and civil society and to facilitate participatory change processes.
TUHH leads the engineering modules and the “Open Labs” focused on societal technology mediation. Program implementation, student support structure, and IT integration will be jointly managed. The project builds on existing cooperation structures between both universities and positions this alliance of medium-sized universities as a transferable model for transformative higher education.
A strong signal for innovation capability
TUHH President Prof. Dr. Andreas Timm-Giel: “The new bachelor's degree program marks another milestone in realizing our guiding principle ‘Engineering to Face Climate Change.’ Together with Leuphana University of Lüneburg, we connect engineering excellence with sustainability research and societal responsibility. This sends a strong signal about our capacity for innovation in teaching and educates young people who develop technological solutions for a sustainable world while considering their impacts on society, climate, and the environment from the outset.”
Leuphana’s School of Sustainability is responsible for project leadership and the development of targeted transdisciplinary formats for the program. The School of Management and Technology oversees the curricular integration of interdisciplinary sustainable engineering education in the complementary studies as well as evidence-based impact analysis.
Prof. Dr. Jacob Hörisch, Dean of Studies of the School of Sustainability at Leuphana University of Lüneburg: “The major sustainability challenges of our time can only be solved if technological innovation and societal transformation are thought together. With the new program, we create an educational offering that places exactly this connection at its center and empowers students to actively co-shape sustainable change.”
The duration of the collaborative project “Impact Engineering for a Sustainable World” is from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2030, with a total volume of around 3.5 million euros (approximately 1.34 million euros allocated to TUHH).
Further information:
https://stiftung-hochschullehre.de
TUHH - Public Relations Office
Michael Tokarski
E-Mail: michael.tokarski@tuhh.de
Phone: +49 30601 3458
