Planet Earth is a complex, interactive and fascinating system, providing all the essentials needed to sustain life and support living organisms, protected by a thin layer of atmosphere. Natural processes and human needs often clash, leading to a wide range of environmental issues. Water scarcity and quality, soil degradation, food supply, loss of biodiversity, vulnerability to severe weather and climate change are just a few examples of key issues that need to be addressed urgently.

The Master in at teaches you the natural scientific processes that make our earth inhabitable. The main focus is to understand the interlinked physical, chemical and biological processes and to develop models that describe these processes. This way, scenarios can be developed to illustrate what can occur at a local, regional and/or global scale and also at which timescale these changes may take place. In this manner you will be able to provide solutions to the impact of human behaviour on areas like air quality, biodiversity and water management.

Future career

Graduates from this programme are well equipped with the knowledge and skills to continue their academic training as a PhD student, or to start a career as a scientific professional at universities, research institutes and consultancies. Depending on their specialization, graduates may take up positions as meteorologists, hydrologists, water quality scientists or soil scientists in the public or private sector.