For more than 35 years project work has been carried out as part of the curriculum of degree courses in the department from the very start. As part of this, projects are worked on in an interdisciplinary manner in order to provide career orientation (in the Bachelor's degree course) or to understand processes within projects (in the Master's degree). The department unifies teaching and research in the field of engineering system solutions for the built environment in the Earth's system – from the acquisition of academic findings and the integration into lectures, to the application of these findings in engineering practice.

In the era of increasing internationalisation, a period abroad in conjunction with studies represents a valuable additional qualification. The department offers its students support in completing a period abroad. In addition to the usual exchange formats (e.g. Erasmus+), double-degree programmes have been developed with selected partner universities (e.g. Stockholm, the Écoles Centrales in France, Helsinki, Rhode Island). In addition, there is the option of a cooperation course towards the M.Sc. in Sustainable Urban Development between the Technical University Darmstadt and the Vietnamese-German University (VGU) in Vietnam.

The department has a large PC room for students, as well as various student work rooms. Researchers have access to large research labs, including for hydraulic engineering with large-scale channels, water labs, geotechnology and design labs as well as a rail operations area.

The department’s research profile is highly interdisciplinary. The research topics are broadly structured and deal with the built environment and the way it interacts with environmental and social factors. In addition, there are future-oriented topics such as Water Environments and Technology, Digital Engineering and Production, Extreme Engineering and Smart Infrastructures, addressing current challenges with innovative research approaches.