Sustainable development

Description

This interdisciplinary minor addresses sustainability challenges from a systems perspective and investigates ways to sustain society within planetary boundaries.

The minor provides knowledge of society; energy and material flows; climate change; land use and biodiversity; and the interlinkages between these. You will also be taught academic skills and tools to design interdisciplinary solutions to sustainability challenges; including innovative and circular economy approaches. Moreover; you will improve several practical skills like English writing; debating; and presenting. In the final course of the minor; you will apply your acquired skills and knowledge to current and real-life sustainability challenges in the Netherlands or in Portugal.

Timetable

The minor is a full time programme lasting five months (Monday 1 September 2026 - Friday 6 February 2027). Please be aware that it is an intensive programme with lectures and tutorial group sessions throughout the week. Classes have compulsory attendance. Days with no classes scheduled are reserved for self-study and group work; occasionally there will be extra compulsory classes and excursions. It is not possible to have other classes scheduled next to this minor programme. Should you have any questions about the timetable or registration; please reach out to minor@cml.leidenuniv.nl.

After completing the minor Sustainable Development, you will be able to: A. Describe the world as a complex system of cycles and processes, and explain how that affects sustainability challenges; B. Use theory, factual knowledge and a system’s perspective to explain the drivers of sustainability challenges and how they interact with economy, culture and biodiversity; C. Analyse complex sustainability problems using various methodologies, and use the results to propose well-founded and creative ideas for solutions; D. Substantiate and defend statements and findings regarding sustainability challenges and proposed solutions to a broad audience, both verbally and in writing; E. Identify how the knowledge and skills of your major programme can contribute to managing and solving sustainability challenges; F. Recognise the value of the interdisciplinarity of the field of Sustainable Development by integrating different perspectives and sensitively interacting with people with different backgrounds.

For students who do not have the full 30 ECTS available, we have a few spots availabe for the ‘Sustainable Development: Big Issues New Answers’ course. If you are interested in joining the half minor, please reach out to minor@cml.leidenuniv.nl. You may need permission from the exam board of your degree programme to follow the course as an elective.

Registration

For students of Leiden University registration is possible from May 19 13:00 until June 30 23:59. For students outside Leiden University the registration also opens on May 19 13:00 and closes at June 30 23:59.

Registration for this minor will be done via eduXchange. More information about how to register for a minor via EduXchange can be found on this webpage.

Should you have any questions about your registration; please feel free to reach out to us via minor@cml.leidenuniv.nl.