MSc Applied Earth Sciences

The earth is our home, shared with millions of other living species. In order to make it a safe and sustainable living environment, we need to monitor and understand how the earth and its climate are changing due to natural processes and human interactions, and we need to be able to responsibly extract energy and other resources.

At the MSc programme 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. You will develop solutions to understand, monitor and predict processes within the earth system and to utilise earth’s natural resources in a responsible and sustainable way.

What you will learn

➨ Engineering skills to help move society toward a sustainable future.

➨ To responsibly utilise Earth's natural resources to provide the growing world population clean energy and the critical raw materials necessary for solar panels, electronic devices, and windmills.

➨ To develop the tools needed to understand, monitor, and predict processes in the earth and climate system.

➨ To observe and model physical processes related to climate change effects, natural hazards, resource extraction, and subsurface storage.

➨ International study environment, combining theory and field study.

| 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.

MSc Applied Earth Science Disciplines

The programme has been divided into 4 disciplines. During the programme you develop in-depth knowledge in one of these disciplines and get acquainted with the others . This will enable you to master new knowledge through your professional life, either in research or in engineering applications.

Climate & Weather

Study physical phenomena and processes in the earth system varying from weather to climate time scales. You will use modelling and observational techniques to analyse and quantify these processes, and apply those techniques to monitor, understand and predict phenomena that have a strong impact on daily life (storms, rainfall and flooding, droughts and heat waves).

Earth Observation

Our Earth is changing due to the natural geophysical processes, climate change, land use, growing population and urbanisation. In this discipline, key questions are: how to improve our understanding of the underlying processes and how to make the right decisions for the future?

Geo-Energy

With a rise in the worldwide standard of living and a growing world population, the use of the deep subsurface is becoming more intense. At the same time, society requires an accurate estimate of the risks and environmental impacts involved with subsurface engineering.

Geo-Resources

This discipline includes the environmental and societal aspects to enable the development of innovative management of geo-resources with the objective of (zero) waste extraction and mitigating associated adverse impacts.