What is my work good for? Even the most nerdish PhD student asks himself or herself this question once in a while. Is it just for the sake of science or does it relate to other research or even to environmental policy? What are my SENSE colleagues working on in other departments and other universities? How does their research relate to mine?

In the SENSE course 'Environmental Research in Context' several perspectives and approaches to analyse and to solve environmental problems are discussed. You will find out how your own research project fits within other (multi-) disciplinary approaches and you will discuss the advantages and the disadvantages of your approach compared to these alternatives.

In addition, you will evaluate some examples where questions from society were translated into scientific research projects in terms of relevance and scientific validity with experienced researchers and other PhD students.
The course duration is four days and it will take place in Apeldoorn. The course includes an excursion and a discussion with other researchers and policymakers on 'environmental research in the 21th century'.

To get an impression of the team spirit of this course, you may have a look at:

SENSE A1: Class of March 2011

SENSE A1: Class of September 2010

SENSE A1: Class of January 2010

SENSE A1: Class of March 2009

SENSE A1: Class of June 2008

Basic Course in Environmental Science.

After this course, the PhD students can describe several perspectives and approaches to analyse and to solve environmental problems.
They can explain the position of their own research project within other (multi-) disciplinary approaches and they can discuss advantages and disadvantages of their own approach compared to these alternatives.
Finally, they can evaluate some examples where questions from society were translated into scientific research projects in terms of relevance and scientific validity.

The primary goal of this week is to give PhD students insight into the multidisciplinary and policy context of environmental research, enabling them to position their own intended thesis research adequately. This week will also provide an opportunity for getting to know other PhD students in the SENSE research school and learning about each other’s research activities and the problems being tackled.

The course consists of an introductory week in an external conference venue. During the week, special attention will be paid to three contexts: • the multidisciplinary SENSE context: socio-economic and natural sciences of the environment; • the policy context: the mutual influencing of policy and research; • the context of setting research priorities for the near future.

tba

Dr. Ad van Dommelen ad.van.dommelen@vu.nl