BSc Applied Earth Sciences
It’s adventurous and strongly international, but above all it’s a world study: this degree programme centres on the earth itself. Applied Earth Sciences is everywhere around you.
At Applied Earth Sciences, you study the part of the earth system that interacts strongly with society, namely the upper crust from a few kilometres depth up to the lower atmosphere. The engineers from this programme know how to secure our future sustainable energy supply and are needed for obtaining the scarce resources for your phone, windmills and car-batteries. They are also key in the construction of subsurface infrastructure such as tunnels, but also for other constructions, such as the stability of dykes. Furthermore, they monitor the Earth and its climate. This programme offers you a unique combination of engineering and geology and challenges you in the areas of mathematics, chemistry and physics.
What will you learn?
Applied Earth Sciences is the study about the Earth’s subsurface and its atmosphere. You, therefore, will learn how the subsurface can be used to form the foundations of buildings and infrastructure or how a geothermal energy well works. You explore how the earth's resources come into existence, where they can be found and how they can be extracted wisely and efficiently, keeping the impact on the landscape and environment to a minimum. During the programme you will use advanced technologies to learn how to monitor changes in the subsurface, on the earth's surface and in the atmosphere, telling you about climate change or whether an area is suitable for construction or a geothermal well. As you will use technical knowledge to study the Earth, you will also gain the necessary knowledge in mathematics, physics and chemistry during this BSc programme.
"Ever since I can remember I’ve had a huge fascination with how the Earth and its different processes work. I thought studying Applied Earth Sciences would be the best way to dive into that curiosity".
(Ulrich van Staden - Applied Earth Sciences student from South Africa)
Is Applied Earth Sciences something for you?
Students of Applied Earth Sciences are interested in the earth. How can we reveal and explain Earth's underground resources and support their use in an environmentally responsible manner? What technical solutions can we come up with for more sustainable forms of energy? And what effects of climate change can be observed in the atmosphere? You like to come up with technical solutions by combining geology with mathematics, physics and chemistry. Next to that, students of Applied Earth Sciences enjoy applying their knowledge in practice during fieldwork excursions. Even though the world is your playground, the programme can be characterised by a small-scale and personal atmosphere, in which students and professors know each other by name. In addition, the programme is in English and you will study with fellow students from different countries.
| Highlighted Student Story
Volcanic rocks solving CO2 problems
What if we could capture CO2 from the atmosphere and permanently store it under the ground in the form of solid minerals? Applied Earth Sciences student Elara Redondo Garcia didn’t think twice when she had to opportunity to go to Iceland, where they are researching CO2 mineral trapping.
