Sustainable development is the key requirement for lasting achievement of strategic goals. At the same time, high-quality education leads to solutions – also in the interests of comprehensive security. These convictions are what drives Stefan Bayer, both at the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College and at the Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg (HSU/UniBw H), where he has taught and researched since 2004 – also coining and refining the term “sustainable defence”.

At the HSU/UniBw H, Bayer is Director of Studies and since 2014 co-founder of the advanced Master’s course “Military Leadership and International Security”. He teaches economics, focusing on environmental, climate and military economics, and has been instrumental in shaping the joint think tank of both facilities, the German Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies (GIDS). GIDS was founded in 2018 by the then defence minister Ursula von der Leyen.

The link between education and sustainability already influenced Bayer’s PhD and habilitation at the University of Tübingen in the chair of public finance under Prof. Dr Dieter Cansier – just as it did his guest professorships in Rio de Janeiro and Paris.

Since 2004 in Hamburg he has been gradually analysing the realm of defence from the perspective of sustainability – and is delighted to now be extending this work on the Council.

Prof. Dr Stefan Bayer was appointed to the German Council for Sustainable Development in January 2026.

Press photo

This press photo can be used free of charge for reporting purposes with copyright credit.

To download the photo directly, we recommend right-clicking it or the relevant link. Then select “Save image/link as…” (or similar) from the pop-up menu.