Science, Technology and Society

The group was created in 1987 by the Board of Utrecht University and by the departments of Chemistry, Biology, and Physics and Astronomy, with the objective to strengthen and coordinate the education and research activities at Utrecht University in the field of Science, Technology and Society. The group is located within the department of Chemistry of the Science Faculty and is part of the Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation .

Research Mission

The overall objective of the research activities of STS-UU is to obtain insight in and reflect critically upon the interaction between natural sciences and society. Such insights and reflections should facilitate the use of technical and scientific knowledge in such a way that a sustainable development of society can be obtained. STS-UU wants to make a significant contribution to this development in the areas that are covered by the research of the department. The mission of the department is to investigate which contributions science and technology can make to a sustainable development of society. This is done by both reactive and pro-active research in the areas of energy, environment and land-use.

Education

The department provides education for bachelor’s programmes, master’s programmes and a PhD programme.Bachelor’s programmes:

• Chemistry,
• Biology,
• Environmental Studies, and
• Science and Innovation Management Master´s programmes:
• Sustainable Development: track Energy and Resources (Graduate School of Geosciences);
• Energy Science (Utrecht School of Applied Sciences USAS)
• Natural Resources Management (Utrecht School of Applied Sciences USAS). PhD’s programme:
• SENSE (Netherlands Research School for the Socio Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment) The department has about 50 employees. They are involved in numerous projects, courses and activities and most of them are also active within a number of networks, in- or outside Utrecht University, nationally as well as internationally.
If you don't see the blue-lettered navigation buttons for this web-site on the left hand side of the screen, click here to open this page in its navigation frames.