Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML)
Education
CML’s education programme aims at training (under)graduate and graduate students for integrated and multidisciplinary sustainability research and for better decision making in managing the world’s natural resources, environmental quality and biodiversity.
CML acts as the centre for sustainability expertise in education programmes of Leiden University.
Bachelor programme
CML offers the interdisciplinary bachelor programme Science for Sustainable Societies together with the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs. Within this programme, students learn to combine natural and social science insights and methods, to better understand and address complex sustainability challenges in the context of human systems such as climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. In addition, bachelor students from Leiden University, TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam are welcome to join our interdisciplinary Minor Sustainable Development. Staff of the two departments of CML, Environmental Biology and Industrial Ecology and staff from other university departments, work together in this minor to offer a comprehensive and analytical view of sustainability issues to students coming from different disciplines.
Furthermore CML participates in the bachelor programmes of:
Master programmes
In the Master curriculum CML offers three programmes:
- First of all we offer a joint degree Master programme Industrial Ecology together with Delft University of Technology. In Industrial Ecology, students learn to integrate engineering, environmental and social science perspectives while studying sustainability. The programme has a strong focus on methods and tools (such as LCA, MFA and EIOA) to help students identify, design and critically evaluate sustainability solutions and their implementation.
- Connected to this programme we offer an Erasmus Mundus CIRCLE programme which is organised together with among others NTNU, Chalmers (Goteborg, Sweden) and Graz University.
- CML also offers the Master programme Governance of Sustainability, together with the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (The Hague). This programme offers students in-depth knowledge of both the governance perspective (social science) and the natural sciences. Students learn how to integrate these perspective to develop governance solutions to complex environmental sustainability challenges.
- Environmental biology education is one of the core themes of the Biology Master specialisation Biodiversity and Sustainability and this master specialisation aims to discuss and answer these societal relevant biological questions, such as;
- How much biodiversity do we need to ensure that nature functions well?
- What determines the stability of ecosystems?
- How can we quantify ecosystem services?
- Are invasive species always bad for the ecosystem?
- Will species be able to adapt sufficiently fast to global change and what are appropriate measures to facilitate this.
- And, how can we optimize ecosystem functioning and biodiversity for a sustainable society?
Lastly, we also offer a MOOC on a Circular Economy of Metals: towards a Sustainable Societal Metabolism.
PhD training
Finally CML participates in national and international PhD training programmes. See the PhD progamme of CML.