Environment and Resource Management

Overview

The Environment and Resource Management (ERM) programme from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is highly international in character and is open for students from all disciplinary backgrounds, training them to bring in their disciplinary knowledge while co-operating in multidisciplinary teams. Students will become familiar with several key disciplines and learn to integrate different bodies of knowledge in a problem-oriented manner.

Students can determine their own focus by choosing a specialisation and further establish their own niche through the Master’s thesis. The specialisations have been selected to cover some of the most fundamental environmental problems of our time, notably the provision of sustainable energy and the sustainable governance of water, climate, and ecosystems.

You can choose from five specialisations:

• Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity

• Global Food Challenges

• Global Water Challenges

• Energy and Climate

• Global Sustainable Futures

Career prospects

• There is a growing need for versatile, all-round environmental experts who can analyze and develop solutions for local national and global sustainability challenges. 

• By now, more than 1,000 students have received their Master’s degree in Environment and Resource Management from VU Amsterdam. 

• Many of our alumni have embarked on exciting sustainability careers as consultants, NGO leaders, entrepreneurs, ministry officials or international civil servants. Some of our students continue in academia by starting a PhD.