Environment and Resource Management

Student experiences

"The Masters programme gave me quite some fresh, new perspectives. Among the 60 students, 25 nationalities were represented, and I enjoyed the discussions that were always really enriching, as viewpoints from all continents were highlighted. A one-year Masters programme. A focus on practical solutions and methodologies. A strong international component. These three factors determined my choice for IVM’s Masters programme in Environment and Resource Management. I chose the Environmental Studies specialization and was introduced to multi-criteria analysis, the use of citizens’ panels and innovative forms of multi-stakeholder participation, like e-participation."
Corinne Cornelisse, the Netherlands

"What I liked most was the fact that we had some freedom to follow our own interests. At the same time, the basic coursework ensured that we all developed a very thorough theoretical background. Perhaps the most interesting was a group project in which we focused on the European emission trading scheme. We studied what would happen to the aviation industry if the sector was to be included in the trading scheme, which is currently not the case. This impact assessment was mainly economic in nature, but also quite political: we had to take into account policy and decision making mechanisms.”
Holger Gerdes, Germany

“I studied political science in Germany, but decided that I wanted to change my focus. To me, the Master’s programme at IVM was an ideal opportunity to combine science and policy. During the programme, I particularly enjoyed my master’s thesis research. My research project focused on flood risk. I developed a method to simulate dike breaches, and to predict where the land would inundate in case of a dike breach. It involved quite a lot of modeling with a geographical information system (GIS), which I enjoyed very much.” 
Philip Bubeck, Germany