Radboud University has launched an exciting new Master’s programme: Science for Sustainability. This two-year, full-time programme equips students to tackle urgent environmental challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource scarcity. The programme is a collaborative effort of the Faculty of Science and the Radboud School of Management, hence having a strong emphasis on both natural sciences and societal transformation. The programme prepares students to work across disciplines and in close collaboration with societal actors to drive sustainable change.
The Institute for Science in Society (ISiS) is proud to play a central role in this new programme. Our institute contributes three courses that reflect our expertise in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. These include Framing (non)sustainable futures, which explores how different perspectives and future imaginaries shape sustainability challenges and solutions, and two foundational courses in the transdisciplinary learning line: Transdisciplinary Foundations and Transdisciplinary Methodologies. These courses help students understand how to work across disciplinary boundaries and engage with societal stakeholders in meaningful ways.
The Science for Sustainability programme is structured around four learning lines: quantitative assessment and modelling, governance and organisational change, sustainability integration, and transdisciplinary skills. ISiS’s contributions are particularly aligned with the latter two, offering students the tools to navigate complex sustainability issues by integrating diverse forms of knowledge and engaging with real-world actors. This approach mirrors the research conducted at our institute, which focuses on the interface between science and society.
As the programme enters its first academic year, we look forward to engaging with students and colleagues across the university to further develop its content and approach. Through our involvement in the programme, we aim to support its mission of educating future sustainability navigators in addressing societal and global sustainability challenges.