Governance of Sustainability Leiden University

Overview

This programme offers a highly immersive, transdisciplinary approach to tackling urgent environmental challenges that goes beyond traditional learning. Regardless of your academic background, be it Biology, Public Administration, International Relations or something completely different, we welcome your perspective!
On your path to becoming a change agent, you will learn how to integrate governance and environmental science perspectives and do this in a transdisciplinary manner, by collaborating with non-academic actors in policy and practice. This will enable you to co-create solutions to real-world sustainability issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, water management, and circular economy. Courses are co-created by an interdisciplinary teacher team, and mostly co-taught. This results in lively discussions and in-class integration of multiple perspectives. Are you eager to learn how governance can be a solution to, but also a driver of complex environmental challenges? Are you passionate about fostering a more inclusive, just and sustainable world? Are you excited at the prospect of working together with students coming from different academic and cultural backgrounds? Then this master's is the right fit for you.

What you will learn

After completing the programme, you are able to analyse and create strategies in which you align the environmental sustainability and governance perspective. Incorporating the knowledge of practitioners. You can develop and implement solutions to complex sustainability issues. You will have acquired a wide variety of skills, including qualitative and quantitative research skills, and transferable skills. A few examples: you will be able to,

• collaborate in a team with a diverse academic and cultural background
• convincingly communicate results to both specialists and a non-specialist audience
• execute integrative projects (design, organise, execute, analyse and report)
• carry out in-depth research on sustainability issues
• operate in an international context

Career prospects

The programme prepares you for careers mainly in consultancy, (semi-) governmental organisations, corporate , or research, equipping you with the knowledge and skill set highly valued in today’s job market.

Examples of jobs

• Consultant
• Policy officer and advisor
• Project leader, manager and coordinator
• PhD or positions at research institutes

Accreditation

Accredited by NVAO, the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders.