The research programme Industrial Ecology aims to support the ecological transformation of society and environment towards sustainability. The research subject is Industrial Ecology in its broadest definition, covering environmental systems analysis, and incorporating the social and economic aspects…

Are you thinking about studying Industrial Ecology? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

The master's programme Industrial Ecology (joint degree Leiden University and Delft University of Technology) is unique in the Netherlands and one of the few programmes in the world combining natural science, engineering, and social science for science-based solutions for sustainability problems.

Do you deeply care about our planet and are you eager to make a real change? Then our two-year MSc programme Industrial Ecology may be the place for you. The interdisciplinary programme, offered jointly by Leiden University and TU Delft, is a true powerhouse for sustainability solutions. As a student…

Our Mission: To optimize human well-being within the constraints of planetary boundaries through innovative research, education, and partnerships that advance sustainable production and consumption. We strive to remain global leaders in developing and applying systems-based approaches, methodological…

How do humans, non-humans and their interactions and relations shape the home as ecological and social space?

Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Leiden University

Many of the most acute problems we face today are global: they transcend national boundaries, they put the future of society and even humanity at peril, and they can only be addressed through international cooperation. However, what can international cooperation deliver? Find out in the minor Ecology,…

Promotores: Prof.dr. H. van Veen & Prof.dr. W. de Boer (Wageningen University)

How can we let the sonic speak in public urban environments? What is the function and position of sound in our daily encounters with urbanity? How do we experience cities aurally? This was the topic of Marcel Cobussen's inaugural lecture on November 28th, 2016.

The soil-dwelling, filamentous bacteria of the genus Streptomyces are renowned for their production of useful secondary metabolites including antibiotics. The work described in this thesis provides new insights on the role and regulation of antibiotic production and resistance in these bacteria.

Promotor: E. Gittenberger, Co-promotores: L.P. van Ofwegen; B.W. Hoeksema

The mycorrhizal symbiosis is among the most widespread species interactions on Earth⁠. This thesis focuses on orchid mycorrhiza, a unique mycorrhizal type that has caught scientists’ attention for centuries⁠.

The aim of this thesis was to develop and evaluate a Ecological Professional Development Model to support preservice biology teachers to direct their own subject-specific ecological professional development route.

Filamentous Actinobacteria, such as Streptomyces, produce a plethora of chemically diverse bioactive metabolites that have found applications across medicine, agriculture and biotechnology.

Uncover novel antimicrobials with prospective health benefits for sea turtles.

Promotor: Prof. dr. Arnold Tukker & Prof. dr. René Kemp (Maastricht University)

Acidobacteria is a widely distributed phylum but their functional roles in ecosystem processes are still largely elusive.

How have human-environmental entanglements changed in the Gulf of San Miguel, Darien, Panama, from the first traces human practices through to the present?

Promotors: Prof.dr. G.R. de Snoo, Prof.dr. H. Leirs (Univ. Antwerpen), Co-promotor: H.H. de Iongh

Can we predict fluctuations in suicidal ideation in a person’s daily life, from hour to hour?

The first international master programme in Industrial Ecology worldwide starting in September 2011.

This thesis combines field and laboratory studies to address some of the most pressing questions in the field of microplastic research.

An interdisciplinary and innovative research group combining History, underwater archaeology, GIS and wood provenancing methods.

Promotor: P.G.L. Klinkhamer, Co-Promotores: K. Vrieling, P.P.J. Mulder

Do offshore windfarms affect the local biodiversity of the pelagic fish community and are fish deterred or attracted by sounds?

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.R. de Snoo, Prof.dr. G.A. Persoon

Promotores: G.R. de Snoo, B. Sinsin, Co-Promotor: H.H. de Iongh

The master’s programme Industrial Ecology (IE) started in 2004 with 12 students and has increased until 90 students from 20 different countries this year.

Dr. Irina Herzon has given a lecture about

The master specialisations Industrial Ecology and Mathematics ranked highest among the master specialisations in Leiden.

The Leiden- Delft joined MSc programme on Industrial Ecology has been accredited by the NVAO as an independent MSc programme within Leiden University and Delft University of Technology. Industrial Ecology is an emergent scientific discipline that promotes a systemic approach to sustainability problems,…

Dirk Uittenbogaard, a student on the Delft-Leiden Master’s in Industrial Ecology, has won a gold medal for rowing at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Uittenbogaard took gold in the men’s quadruple sculls, together with Abe Wiersma, Tone Wieten and Koen Metsemakers.

Plants and their pollinators form complex interaction networks. Within these networks, species differ widely in the number of species they interact with.

Ethiopian wolves are endangered diurnal Afroalpine rodent hunters. I investigated the interaction between wolves, rodents and human land use in Borena Sayint National Park (BSNP), Abune Yosef and Aboi Gara in Ethiopia.

Professor Geert de Snoo, Dean of the Faculty of Science at Leiden University, has been appointed Director of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) with effect from 1 November 2019. He will stand down from his role as Dean of the Faculty of Science with effect from 1 September. De Snoo will…

Together with a large international team of scientists, researchers Peter van Bodegom and Nadia Soudzilovskaia of the Leiden Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) have created maps of variability in plant trait distribution across the globe. The new maps have been published in Proceedings of the…

Promotor: J.A. van Veen, Co-promotor: E.E. Kuramae

Striga hermonthica, commonly known as witchweed, infests major cereal crops in Sub-Saharan Africa causing severe yield losses and threatening the livelihood of millions of resource poor farmers.

Promotor: E.F. Smets, Co-promotor: J. Geml