The Department was founded in January 2003, and since 2005 the initial purely economy-oriented research has also embraced selected sociological research topics. Our research activities are primarily based on methodological individualism in environmental and welfare economics, as well as environmental sociology. Our pre-dominant interest in empirical research has led to the completion of over 20 original surveys. Moreover, the Department functions as a national contact point for the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.