Transdisciplinary Masters in Climate and Energy

ended

Here we propose creating a transdisciplinary Erasmus Mundus Joint Master (EMJM) on Climate and Energy (TransClim) which addresses the challenges of tackling climate change while meeting society’s energy needs. Our vision is an educational framework which makes it possible for scholars with a solid disciplinary background in any of the natural sciences, social sciences, law or humanities to become transdisciplinary scholars capable of “speaking the languages” of other disciplines than their own, and of communicating meaningfully with non-academic stakeholders about climate and energy. The educational program will be created by 11 universities across Europe in partnership with the partner universities in Africa, all of whom belong to the European Civic University Alliance – CIVIS. Our team of educators have already worked together for 3 years creating joint educational activities and outlining a framework for the proposed Master’s program. We propose beginning the educational framework with an obligatory semester during which scholars learn the core parts of each other’s disciplines and, by learning to work with communities, gain skills in transdisciplinarity. In the second and third semesters, we propose offering multiple pathways for scholars to dig deeper into specific disciplines, but with a transdisciplinary perspective. In the fourth semester, we propose that scholars write a transdisciplinary thesis while acquiring skills in transdisciplinary literacy and communication. Here, we seek Erasmus Mundus Design Measures (EMDM) funding to make it possible for our team of educators and experts on education administration to build an EMJM application worthy of funding.