The Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Sea (ICBM) is an interdisciplinary research institute where fundamental and applied issues of marine and environmental research are addressed. The ICBM investigates the significance of marine environmental systems in cooperation with working groups from various scientific disciplines (chemistry, biology, physics, modelling). The focus is on marine material cycles and energy flows in water, in sediments and at interfaces between habitats and water bodies, as well as the functional role of marine biodiversity. One research focus of the ICBM is coastal waters worldwide, as coastal regions are among the most productive and most human-influenced and used zones on our planet. The North Sea and the Wadden Sea are of particular interest. The ICBM is also the home institute of the research vessel Sonne and is therefore also globally active in the various oceans. The function of marine ecosystems depends on the biological diversity of the oceans. How strongly and in what form this biodiversity responds to global warming and anthropogenic influences is the central research interest of the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB), founded in 2017. It aims to better understand the impact of fluctuations in biodiversity on the function and performance of marine ecosystems and to develop corresponding conservation and management strategies. Together with the Bremerhaven Alfred Wegener Institute and the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) the ICBM is currently developing and expanding the HIFMB. Modelling, observational and experimental research approaches benefit from modern, high-resolution chemical analytics and the institute's own technological developments in marine sensor technology. To this end, in January 2017 the Centre for Marine Sensor Technology (ZfMarS) began its work with ICBM staff. One focus is also on boundary layers. The transition from the sea to the atmosphere is a central area for climate processes. New metrological methods are to record the exchange processes at the interfaces and shed light on their role in technical applications as well as in climate research.

ForWind is the centre for wind energy research of the universities of Oldenburg, Hanover and Bremen and bundles 30 institutes and working groups. This inter-university association is unique in Germany. The German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES) and ForWind form the collaborative Wind Energy Research Association (FVWE). Findings from the elementary questions on wind energy research are transferred to industry in numerous research projects via application-oriented projects.

The design of sustainable development and the decarbonisation of the economy and society represent complex socio-economic transformation processes. The associated research questions are addressed by the Oldenburg Center for Sustainability Economics and Management (CENTOS). CENTOS combines scientific competencies and activities in the disciplines of environmental economics and sustainability management as well as the social sciences, which have been established at the University of Oldenburg over the course of two decades and have since achieved a high national and international visibility. CENTOS is concerned with environmental economic analyses and the design of learning and change processes in companies and other social actors and governance processes. In particular, it focuses on business networks, new services, utilisation systems and institutional change in the context of sustainable development. At the macroeconomic level, the focus is on the assessment of environmental changes, the design of environmental policy measures, their political-economic determinants as well as their economic effects. Modern concepts and methods of environmental policy, questions of environmental education, aspects relevant to consumption and lifestyle as well as culturalist perspectives on sustainable consumption are taken into account, as are transdisciplinary approaches in innovation and entrepreneurship research. The concrete fields of investigation currently include climate protection and energy supply, adaptation to climate change, nutrition, information and communication technologies, the textile industry and mobility.

The Centre for Sustainable Spatial Development in Oldenburg (ZENARiO) bundles spatial and regional competencies in sustainability research and teaching at the University of Oldenburg, which until now have existed in isolation and unconnected to each other. It takes on a bridging function, integrating various natural, economic, social and political science working groups under the common umbrella of sustainability and tapping into the resulting potential for cross-institutional and cross-faculty cooperation as well as cooperation with non-university institutions to build profiles and create synergies. The action level of space is of essential importance for dealing with numerous questions of sustainable development, as it is on this level that the complex requirements of spatial planning and control of development processes are mapped and organised. The work of ZENARiO is aimed at contributing to both national and internationally networked spatial sustainability research. Special attention is given to deepening the partnership with neighbouring universities in Bremen and Groningen. ZENARiO is equally concerned with basic research in spatial and regional science as well as practical, application-oriented solutions to spatially relevant problems.