The Office of Communication and Marketing serves as the public face of Freie Universität. A conversation with its director, Karin Bauer-Leppin, about the role of sustainability.

Ms. Bauer-Leppin, one of the Communication and Marketing Office’s tasks is to communicate the university’s core objectives and values actively and credibly. What role does the topic of sustainability play in this?

Sustainability is a cross-cutting task and a guiding principle. It affects research, teaching, operations, and knowledge transfer, and thus also communication. At the same time, it holds a special position because it is strongly linked to societal expectations. For us, this means that sustainability must be visible, but it must also be communicated credibly from within the university itself, showing what Freie Universität actually does and where it does more than others. After all, practically every university, and probably every educational institution, lists sustainability as one of its goals.

From a communications perspective, what opportunities and risks are associated with the topic of sustainability?

Sustainability’s status as a topic of high relevance and appeal to many members of the university community and prospective students alike presents us with a great opportunity. It garners attention and is truly important to many stakeholders. However, the collision of different expectations poses a risk: while academia is supposed to mainly conduct research and provide context, some people often also expect a stance or action. “You just talk and do nothing!” is the common refrain. And in fact, researchers do actively advocate for sustainability and engage in political or volunteer work. Misunderstandings can arise quickly when these roles are not clearly indicated. Effective communication must consciously address such tensions.

Climate protection and sustainability have been en vogue in politics and society over the past decade. Today, skeptical attitudes toward science and the topic of sustainability tend to prevail. How do you deal with this? What demands does this place on science communication?

We are indeed observing that people question scientific expertise more closely. Especially when it comes to climate issues, the public sometimes dismisses research findings as being mere opinions. This places greater demands on science communication: it must distinguish even more clearly between classification, evaluation, and possible courses of action, and make who is speaking and in what capacity transparent. At the same time, universities also have the responsibility to highlight and protect the scientific integrity of their researchers.

… and here at Freie Universität Berlin?

At Freie Universität, this tension is quite salient. By declaring a climate emergency, the university has deliberately put itself in the spotlight, presenting itself in a certain sense as an activist institution and thereby raising high expectations. After all, Freie Universität is one of the universities that have already made significant progress in implementing climate goals within their own operations. From a communications perspective, we could state our achievements even more clearly and take confident steps to make them more visible. Especially in an increasingly skeptical environment, it is important not only to talk about goals but also about what has already been concretely achieved.

Universities have very complex organizational structures. What challenges does this pose for successful sustainability communication?

The biggest challenge is actually the complexity itself. A university does not speak with one voice, and it doesn’t have to. What matters is that the different voices can relate to one another. Internal sustainability communication plays a central role in this. Formats such as the sustainability report and other internal information resources create a shared knowledge base: What is actually happening at the university? Where do we stand? What goals are we pursuing? Only on this basis can researchers, departments, and the central communications team contribute their respective perspectives without talking past one another. Good sustainability communication therefore begins internally, then it will come across as credible and consistent to the outside world.

You have been involved with the Advisory Committee for Sustainability & Climate Protection for several years. From a communications perspective, do you have any requests for the Advisory Committee?

It is important to think about communication at an even earlier stage, not just at the end, but at the beginning of a process. That’s why it’s an advantage to be involved in the committee from the very start. This also includes the question: What do we want to achieve communicatively with certain measures or positions, and who is our intended audience?

The interview was conducted by Judith Hübner, Katrin Schweigel, and Andreas Wanke.
It first appeared in Freie Universität Berlin’s 2026 Sustainability Report.