Overview

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Are you passionate about sustainable development? Would you like to ensure that the resources that we now have will still be available for future generations? And can you see yourself developing strategies to steer governments and businesses towards sustainable behaviour? Then the master’s programme Sustainability Science, Policy and Society is the perfect programme for you!

The world needs professionals capable of tackling today’s sustainability challenges. This interdisciplinary master’s programme focuses on different factors that affect sustainability, such as global dynamics, policy, governance and law. You will also learn how to design, conduct and evaluate sustainability assessments. Based on your personal interest, this master’s programme allows you to specialise in:

1. Policy
2. Business

Why this programme?

The world needs professionals who are able to recognise, analyse and respond to sustainability challenges. This requires the ability to design, conduct and evaluate sustainability assessments in collaboration with stakeholders while operating at the interface of science, policy, business and society. In the Sustainability Science, Policy and Society programme, you’ll learn to do just that. You’ll be familiarised with the complexity and normativity of sustainable development for policy or business. This master’s offers you the opportunity to specialise in Policy or Business.

Interdisciplinary approach:

The courses approach sustainability from a number of different angles, such as business, innovation and governance. The students and staff you’ll encounter will also have diverse cultural and educational backgrounds. This means you will learn to bridge both disciplinary and cultural boundaries, a skill that will be a great asset later on in your career.

Specialisations

This master’s programme offers 2 specialisations. All students in this master’s programme start with the same courses in period 1, before choosing a specialisation based on personal interest in periods 2 & 3. In period 4, students of both specialisations will re-join for a collaborative integrated sustainability project.

Policy

The policy specialisation will deepen your knowledge on sustainable development from the perspective of public policy-making. The courses will introduce multiple policy perspectives of a variety of stakeholders on current sustainability topics, such as climate change, the energy transition and the SDG’s

This specialisation prepares you to be a bridge builder between policy, business and society, with a strong basis in public problem-solving. The policy specialisation will consist of three courses:

1. The State, Politics and International Environmental Law
2. Policy for Sustainability Innovation
3. Sustainability Governance

Business

The business specialisation will deepen your knowledge of the social and environmental impacts of economic activities, and explore what it means for these activities to remain within planetary boundaries

This specialisation prepares you to be a bridge builder between business, policy and society, with a strong basis in sustainable business, which will give you more of an edge in the business world. The business specialisation will consist of three courses:

1. Challenges of Business in Sustainability Transitions
2. Sustainable Business Innovation
3. Measuring and Reporting on Corporate Impacts

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