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Course Design ‘Citizens’ Initiatives for Sustainability’

November 2020 – As a response to ever increasing citizens’ engagement in sustainability issues, for instance through renewable energy or ecological farming initiatives, SPA Sustainability has led for the Open University of the Netherlands the design of a new course for policy makers and citizens interested in theory and practice of this topic. Some of the featured questions are: What kinds of citizen initiatives exist? How can they flourish and expand? What is their contribution to global sustainability transitions? What are potentials and limitations of these initiatives? and what are success factors for policy makers and citizens engaged in, or cooperating with such initiatives? More information and subscription options to the course as of September 2021 can be found here.

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Successful Edition of Summer Course Energy Transition 2020

August 2020 – The VU-IVM Summer Course ‘Global Energy Transition in a Fossil World’ was held from 6 to 17 July 2020. 25 students from all over the world discussed with a variety of speakers from Dutch government, NGOs, academia and business to learn about social, political, economic and technological aspects of the global energy transition. A new edition will follow in July 2021.

Understanding sustainability starts with basic environmental principles

November 2019 – For the Open University in the Netherlands, SPA Sustainability supervised the courses ‘Principles of Environmental Science’ and ‘Earth, Humans, Environment 2’. In these courses, students learn the basics of sustainability science. Part of the assignment was also an update of one of these courses in order to fit with most recent insights in sustainability and environmental sciences.

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Summer School Energy Transition in a Fossil World

July 2019 – Combining social, technological and economic perspectives is required for successful change. In July 2019, SPA Sustainability organised the Summer Course “Energy Transition in a Fossil World” for the IVM Institute for Environmental Studies of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In lectures, excursions and interactive sessions, a large number of expert speakers introduced the students in a nutshell to all key aspects of a successful global energy transition. The course was attended by bachelor and master students as well as energy professionals from all over the world and very positively evaluated: “The knowledge that I got is much more than what I expected before I came. Technology, Economics, and Politics, all of them are covered in just two weeks program – unbelievable but true.” The Summer Course will be organised again in July 2020. Read more