The University of Groningen is a public research university located in the city of Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. The university has 11 faculties, including one in the Frisian capital of Leeuwarden, and has more than 37,000 students from over 120 nationalities. It also boasts over 140,000 alumni and a budget of 1,000 million EUR.

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What are the causes of various large-scale global environmental issues such as climate change? Can we identify options to solve these problems? Are options different for different countries? While the global challenges with respect to the environment and sustainability are huge and can only be addressed in an interdisciplinary approach, they also call for specialization. The Energy and Environmental Sciences (EES) programme provides a series of introductory courses that give a general overview of the problem-field, and then allows for specialization towards any of a broad range of subjects within energy or sustainability, treating it from a natural science perspective. However, it trains the students that the natural sciences/technical approach to and solution of problems is only a part of the story and collaboration with other scientific disciplines is vital. As the programme has a strong focus on the natural sciences; a bachelor’s degree in one of the natural sciences or related engineering studies is an entry requirement. The exact background, however, can be very different, both in discipline (e.g. Marine Biology, Engineering, Nuclear Physics, Astronomy, etc.) and nationality and culture (about 50% come from abroad and it is not unusual to have over 10 nationalities). This educational and cultural makes for a most interesting and challenging learning environment, in which you can benefit and learn from each other’s knowledge and backgrounds and become accustomed to working in interdisciplinary and intercultural groups. Lecturers of the programme are staff members of the Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen (ESRIG). Research groups within this institute are: Centre for Isotope research (CIO), Geo Energy, Integrated Research on Energy, Environment and Society (IREES), Energy Conversion (EC) and Ocean Ecosystems (OE). Research within this institute covers a wide range of topics, from isotopes research to social acceptance of windmills, and staff members have a background in various natural science disciplines. You can conduct your master’s research project in one of the research groups of ESRIG, this means that an enormous of variety of subjects is available and it rather likely that one of them fits you. Around their graduation our students find jobs that suit their education and fit their interests. Universities (PhDs), energy companies, environmental consultancies, environmental NGO’s, industry and government are typical first employers. These employers mention that the combination of strong natural science fundaments and the ability of working in an international/interdisciplinary context provides our students extreme value. Show less

Courses (Preview)
This is a 2 year research master degree programme. The first year includes about 30 ECTS obligatory courses, addressing the relevant theories and methodologies in our research field and 30 ECTS electives. These electives can also be courses from other faculties, like economics, psychology or spatial sciences.

The second year focusses on doing research and consists of two projects. The first research project is an internal research project carried out within the ESRIG research institute. This implies a lot of options and subjects are available. The second project can be another internal research project at ESRIG or an external research internship/research project outside the university (company, consultancy, government, other university) or even abroad.

Your tutor will help you to design a tailor made study program that fits your interests and matches your future career wishes

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You will need to book the accommodation after you have been accepted.

You can choose to live on campus or off campus in private accommodation.

How to book:

• Make a booking online after you have been accepted (in this case please let us know your choice when you apply).
• Register when you arrive - its not possible to reserve a room before arriving. You can arrive a few days before and book it

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