Tracks
Following admission to this Master's programme you can choose one tracks based on your interests in the field. On this page you will find information about the four tracks offered within the Sustainable Development programme.
The transformation to the sustainable use of energy and materials
Scientific approach: Natural sciences and social sciences
Energy and Materials is a multidisciplinary natural and social sciences track that focuses on the analysis of energy and materials systems. Current systems are clearly unsustainable as they have a significant negative impact on the environment and are based on finite resources. In the track we study cleaner and renewable production options and a more efficient consumption of energy and materials needed for sustainable development. The focus of the track is both global and local, with examples and topics on global, European and national or provincial level. There is limited focus on specific challenges in developing countries.
Please note that some track courses build on specific foreknowledge, notably concerning energy analysis and thermodynamics (consult the Study Guide for current students for more information). Students lacking this foreknowledge are responsible for acquiring this knowledge independently before entering such courses.
Research themes
Here are some examples of themes you could focus on in this track.
- How will global energy and material demand develop in the coming decades?
- What is the role of wind, nuclear, and solar power in the future energy supply system?
- What is the role of material efficiency and product design in a sustainable society? How can circular economy contribute?
- What policies can be implemented to effectively improve energy and material efficiency?
The sustainable use of land and water
Scientific approach: Natural sciences
Environmental Change and Ecosystems is a multidisciplinary natural science track focusing on the interaction between humans and the physical and biotic environment. The track brings together the fields of physical geography, hydrology, (landscape) ecology, mathematics, physics, and chemistry. You will study changes in land use, the dispersal of substances (in water, soil, and air) and their impact on ecosystems, biodiversity and remediation options.
Please note that some track courses build on specific foreknowledge, notably concerning mathematics and systems analysis (consult the Study Guide for current students for more information). Students lacking this foreknowledge are responsible for acquiring this knowledge independently before entering such courses.
Research themes
Here are some examples of themes you could focus on in this track.
- How do the substances generated by various human activities spread through water, air, and subsoil?
- What impact does environmental pollution have on ecosystems?
- How can ecosystems and biodiversity be protected more effectively?
- What options are there for regenerating damaged ecosystems?
- How should future water management adapt to climate change?
Governing the transformations needed for a sustainable world
Scientific approach: Social sciences
Earth System Governance is an interdisciplinary social science track focusing on the governance, policy, and politics of sustainability across all scales from local to global. The track examines actors, policies, and arrangements used to steer societies towards sustainability, spanning governments, businesses, and civil society. It also includes the performance of governance considering effectiveness, fairness, democratic legitimacy, and accountability. Ultimately, governance is focused on having a positive impact on sustainability issues such as climate change, biodiversity, agriculture, food, water, cities, material use, and many more. The track integrates knowledge from the fields of political science, policy studies, sociology, human geography, planning, economics, and law.
Research themes
Here are some examples of themes you could focus on in this track.
- How is governance of sustainability organised across levels from local to global?
- Which factors influence policy success, when, where, why, and how?
- How do national, regional, and local governments collaborate with diverse societal actors to address environmental challenges?
- What are the consequences of unequal power relations on the design and performance of policy and governance?
- How can societal transformations be governed to ensure that they are effective and equitable, and do not introduce new problems?
- How can governance itself be transformed in response to planetary pressures such as climate change, biodiversity crisis, and the Anthropocene?
Exploring the political implications of ecology and the ecological basis of politics
Scientific approach: Social and natural sciences
Politics, Ecology and Society is an interdisciplinary social and natural sciences track focusing on the political, economic, cultural, material and social structures that underpin social and ecological injustices within and across global regions. This track emphasizes the co-constitution of ecological, social and political processes and addresses it by critically examining global socioecological interconnections and injustices, as well as interventions seeking to transform them. This track places emphasis on practical engagement, such as field work, and combines it with theoretically-informed analysis and empirical research, with insights from political ecology, anthropology, human geography, development studies, sociology, science and technology studies, ecology and environmental sciences.
Research themes
Here are some examples of themes you could focus on in this track.
- How are politics of sustainable development shaped today? How do they affect our knowledge of ecological and social processes?
- How are spatially distant world regions interconnected and interdependent through flows of energy, natural resources, ideas, people, and what social, economic, political structures and knowledge determine such interconnections?
- What do socially and ecologically just transformations look like in different socio-cultural-political contexts?
- How are deeply seated understandings of wellbeing, progress, justice, development, and nature discursively used to prevent or promote different approaches to transforming society?
- How does sustainable development intersect with processes of ecological decline, colonization, modernization and political transitions?