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Industrial Ecology

The MSc Industrial Ecology (joint degree Leiden University and TU Delft) is an interdisciplinary and international programme, which focuses on the analysis of sustainability problems and the design and implementation of solutions for these problems; all from a socio-technical system perspective. The aim of the programme is to educate students to become researchers or practitioners who can contribute to the development of solutions for persistent sustainability problems, such as related to resource depletion and climate change. The programme has been designed to transfer knowledge from natural sciene, engineering and social science, and enable students to integrate that knowledge to analyse sustainability problems and design science based solutions.

1st year

The first year consists of 30 EC in core courses, a 10 EC project course and room for 20 EC in elective courses

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2
Society's Metabolism 5
Earth System Science and Analysis 5
Methods: Analysing Physical Processes 5
System Design for Industrial Ecology 5
Transitions, Innovation and Governance 5
Methods: Analysing Social Processes 5
Industrial Ecology Project 10

2nd year

For students started before September 2020, the second year is composed of 3 compulsory courses with a total of 48 EC. Students have to fill in 12 EC with Specialisation Modules.

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2
Interdisciplinary Project Groups 12
Thesis Preparation Module 6
Thesis Research Project Industrial Ecology 30

Specialisation Modules

Students started per or after September 2020
Students have to choose at least 35 EC of Specialisation courses: 20 EC in the second semester of the first year, and 15 EC during the first semester of the second year.

  • 30 EC of the 35 EC meant for specialisation courses, should be used to complete courses that are relevant for the field of Industrial Ecology, preferably also to the topic of the Thesis Research Project, and at master education level, i.e. for Leiden University with a level 500 or higher, for Delft University of Technology or other universities the course has to be from a master’s programme or comparable to a MSc level at a Dutch research university.

  • A list with pre-approved specialisation courses, relevant for the field of Industrial Ecology, can be found on the general Industrial Ecology Brightspace page. When choosing Industrial Ecology relevant specialisation courses from this list, only one course from the cluster Entrepreneurship, one course from the cluster Organisation and Management and one course from the cluster Serious Games can be chosen.

  • As part of the 30 EC meant for specialisation courses relevant for the field of Industrial Ecology, students have to choose at least one course from a list of restricted electives on methods for analysing physical processes and one course from a list of restricted electives on methods for analysing social processes. These restricted electives are also on of the list with pre-approved specialisation courses.

For more rules and regulations concerning the Specialisation Modules, see the Implementation Regulations on the general Industrial Ecology Brightspace page.

Students started before September 2020
Students have to choose at least 18 EC of Specialisation courses. 6 EC can be done during the first year, and 12 EC during the second year. For more information and the rules and regulations concerning the Specialisation Modules, see the Implementation Regulations for Industrial Ecology on Brightspace.

  • 12 EC of the 18 EC meant for specialisation courses, should be used to complete courses that are relevant for the field of Industrial Ecology, preferably also to the topic of the Thesis Research Project, and at master education level, i.e. for Leiden University with a level 500 or higher, for Delft University of Technology or other universities the course has to be from a master’s programme or comparable to a MSc level at a Dutch research university.

  • A list with pre-approved specialisation courses, relevant for the field of Industrial Ecology, can be found on the general Industrial Ecology Brightspace page. When choosing Industrial Ecology relevant specialisation courses from this list, only one course from the cluster Entrepreneurship, one course from the cluster Organisation and Management and one course from the cluster Serious Games can be chosen.

For more rules and regulations concerning the Specialisation Modules, see the Implementation Regulations on the general Industrial Ecology Brightspace page.

The courses below are offered by the MSc Industrial Ecology, but students can also choose courses from the list with pre-approved specialisation coursest with Specialisation courses from other Leiden University and TU Delft MSc programmes.

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2
Environmental Input-Output Analysis 5
GIS: Spatial analysis in urban regions 5
LCA Practice & Reporting 9
Material Flow Analysis 5
Industrial Ecology Capita Selecta Module 2/6
Circular Economy 5

More info

The Master’s Programme Industrial Ecology is a co-operation between Leiden University (Faculty of Science) and Delft University of Technology (Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management). Leiden University is resposible for the administration of this programme. Students have to apply via Leiden University

For the admission requirements, please go to the following website.

Questions? Please e-mail studyadvisor-ie@cml.leidenuniv.nl

Career Perspective