SENSE highlights

Browse our selection of Summer Schools. Applications are due soon.
Visit our course catalogue (filter search: Summer School) here and below for a selection of Summer Schools from our partners and beyond, throughout the summer period.

Courses highlight:
Do not missthe upcoming courses and registration deadlines!

Environmental and Resource Economics – Module: Sustainability Applications of Behavioral Economics. 28 April – 2 May 2025
For more information & registration visit here

Micropollutants in the water cycle. 23 - 27 June 2025
For more information & registration visit here

Inclusive Leadership in international Settings. 12, 14, 21, 23 May (mornings only)
For more information & registration visit here.

A1 SENSE Introductory Course. 28-30 October 2025
Mark the dates of the upcoming edition of the 'A1 SENSE Introductory Course: building a personal vision for your PhD': 28 - 30 October 2025, at De Bosrand, Ede. For more information visit here. 

Behavioral economics (BE) is one of the most prominent subfields in social sciences. It challenges and extends the standard rational choice model used in economics, providing a more realistic depiction of the behavior of the “representative agent” that incorporates key insights from other social sciences, notably psychology and political sciences. This module helps the participants to understand the applications of behavioral economics to environmental questions, to identify biases in human decision-making emerging from risk, time, and social preferences and to design (environmental) policy intervention with behavioral tools. ECTs: 2-3

For more information see here. Register here.

During the course the participants build on their own experiences in individual preparation and in group exercises and exchange. The lecturers will give input through supportive reading and instructional materials and in short lecturing blocks in class. They will build on examples of approaches as developed in support of Inclusive leadership, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI), Decolonizing efforts, Intercultural communication, Social Safety, Crossing Boundaries, Inclusive language and imaginary and Transdisciplinary and Transformative Methods. Throughout the course the participants learn to assess and build upon relevant approaches to develop their own leadership style and profile. ECTs: 1

For more information and registration see here. 

Issues surrounding agriculture, the environment, and food systems have become central in public debate. This graduate-level course presents a unique opportunity for students to explore these debates through the lens of citizenship and its role in shaping fair and just agricultural, environmental, and food systems.

For more information see here.

The advanced course Integrated Multi-Omics approaches for Improvement of Industrial Microbes aims to offer a coherent overview of current state of the art omics technologies, bridging the different cellular levels, i.e. metabolomics, fluxomics, transcriptomics and proteomics. It will be shown how integrated application of these technologies provides holistic, quantitative insights in cellular physiology. Finally, it will be demonstrated how targets for (further) improvement of industrial microbes can be identified through integration of omics data with modelling approaches.

For more information see here.

Master class to broaden disciplinary thinking in agriculture, food sciences, nutrition and health to arrive at an interdisciplinary research perspective on healthy and sustainable diets. It aims to contribute to synergy between scientific disciplines, applied research and stakeholders along the food supply chain.

For more information see here.

This course offers a comprehensive overview of the threats to water quality posed by micropollutants and a multidisciplinary approach to identify and solve this environmental problem. Designed for national and international PhD candidates in environmental sciences working on topics of water governance, water quality and water treatment technologies. The content of the course is divided into 4 pillars: 1) Origin, fate and impact of micropollutants in the water cycle; 2) Analytical methods to detect micropollutants and their transformation products; 3) Advanced water treatments technologies for removing micropollutants; 4) Water governance: translating scientific knowledge into legislation. In the assignment, the course participants will reflect on the knowledge obtained in the lectures by compiling a dossier about a specific micropollutant.

For more information see here. Register here.

Carbon farming is proposed as a solution. Carbon farming designates any agricultural management practice resulting in carbon sequestration in soils or vegetation, and the business model should allow farming to get paid for each ton of carbon sequestered. One approach – soil carbon sequestration - to solve the climate crisis and revert environmental degradation caused by agriculture while feeding a growing world population… is that too good to be true?

For more information see here.

Save the date for the next edition of the SENSE A1 Introductory Course!

This course brings together PhD candidates from different institutes that are part of SENSE, and that have the ambition to work on environmental issues. During the course, you will discuss your own personal wishes and ambitions, what impact you would like to have with your research, and set personal learning goals for your PhD. We will have open discussions on finding your own way within science, and how inter- and transdisciplinary science can play a role for you. The course will also be an introduction to personal leadership, exploring what is important to you, and talking about how to tackle challenges you may face along the way.

For more information see here. 

In the summer of 2025, the Timbergen Institute is offering courses in various areas at their selective and small-scale summer school. All courses will take place on campus. The summer school courses are taught to the Tinbergen Institute’s high standard and are academically rigorous. Applications are open for the following courses:

- Applied Public Policy Evaluation
- Deep Learning
- Economics of Blockchain and Digital Currencies
- Economics of Climate Change
- Machine Learning for Business
- Marketing Research with Purpose
- Foundations of Machine Learning with Applications in Python
- From Preference to Choice: The Economic Theory of Decision-Making
- Gender in Society
- Sustainable Finance

For more information and dates see here.

In this summer school you will explore the intrinsic links between freshwater ecosystems and services for societies and discuss how to ensure the sustainable and equitable management of freshwater resources. You will gain insight into different global paradigms of sustainable ecosystem management, explore actions and policies to support aquatic resources, and compare examples of management outcomes through lectures, debates, and group discussions.This summer school has been developed through a special collaboration between the University of California at Davis in the USA and IHE Delft Institute for Water Education in the Netherlands. PhD candidates qualify for a 50% discount.

For more information see here.

The Netherlands Centre for River studies (NCR) aims at disseminating its expertise through the organization of a summerschool. From the 7th until the 11th of July 2025 the NCR and the University of Twente will organize the second NCR Summerschool. You are welcome to the University of Twente in Enschede for an inspiring week full of river-related topics focusing on the technical aspects as well as the management perspectives.

For more information see here.

This course centres around the socio-political dimensions of the energy transition, whilst considering the physical and technical limitations of the energy system, as well as the global environmental boundaries that we live with. It will give you a broad overview of the global energy transition’s needs, challenges and solutions, including the trade-offs generated by different (policy) options. This course will feature guest speakers from diverse backgrounds, offering varied perspectives on the global energy transition. The excursions provide practical insights into the challenges and opportunities of moving away from fossil fuels while adopting renewables and low-carbon solutions.

For more information see here.

In this course you examine different approaches to coping with climate change, from international agreements to climate actions by companies, cities and individual citizens. Each class, we delve into different topics and challenges, ranging from the history of climate change governance, to how we adapt to perhaps irreversible climate-induced effects in an equitable way. We also critically engage with questions around responsibility and accountability for and in the climate crisis. Theory is mixed with practice throughout a set of interactive lectures, where discussions, games and excursions are used to provide concrete examples of how the issue is being addressed at various levels and by various actors. Along the way we invite you to question scientists, policymakers and lobbyists. As an outcome, you will be equipped not only with current insights on how to govern the problem at multiple levels, but also with concrete positive examples of how change can actually work.

For more information see here.

This summer course will introduce students to environmental justice from a variety of perspectives. In discussing different approaches, we will link these to concrete case studies and examples of struggles for environmental justice. These will come from various environmental issue areas such as climate change (SDG 13), marine or terrestrial ecosystem conservation (SDGs 14 and 15), and urban sustainability (SDG 11). Lecturers will provide input on key concepts, methods, and empirical trends in the field of environmental justice, and guest lectures by practitioners will demonstrate how these concepts are operationalized, feeding into discussions of theory versus practice. Students will be given considerable room to work with these inputs and apply them to cases of environmental injustice or environmental justice movements they choose to work on.

For more information see here.

Water is central for ecosystems, human wellbeing and development. The relationship between society and water resources is critical and complex. Water issues have been historically treated as a technical problem, something to be resolved through hydraulic and engineering solutions. However, the increasing and exacerbating competition over water resources due to expanding global population, climate change and conflicting production activities raises new political and democratic challenges. Understanding water governance implies developing interdisciplinary knowledge about the different problems, approaches, perspectives and controversies related to how societies cooperate and compete over water resources. The main objective of this course is for you to build an expert understanding of the multidimensional challenges of governance of water resources. Collectively as a class, and individually, you will develop expertise in the water governance world by engaging with the core scientific literature, discussing, and tackling real world problems and independent research activities.

For more information see here.

Experience a unique opportunity to learn, network and grow at the Green ERA-Hub Summer School 2025 in Bari, Italy. This five-day event brings together promising PhD students with leading experts in the agri-food and biotechnology sectors to jointly develop innovative solutions to global challenges.

For more information see here.

OpenGeoHub Summer School is an annual event that has been running at various locations in Europe, North America, and Australia since 2010, inviting researchers and specialists in developing open-source software and open data to help others improve analysis and modeling frameworks. The 2025 event is organized in collaboration with EO Council and SURF. The Summer School will consist of live presentations and demos by leading EO modelers and OSGeo developers, workshops, discussion panels, machine learning competition, and several social events.

For more information see here.

On 8 and 9 May, the NCR DAYS 2025 “Crossing boundaries” will take place at Deltares. The Netherlands Centre for River studies (NCR) is a consortium of eight Dutch organisations (including IHE Delft) focussed on improving the understanding of the behaviour of rivers. The NCR DAYS provides a podium for young and established researchers and professionals to present their work on rivers. 

For more information, see here.

Join us on 19 May 2025 for a workshop on resource recovery using phototrophic species during the IWA Resource Recovery Conference 2025. Organised by IHE Delft and TU Delft, this workshop will explore various resource recovery pathways involving phototrophic species, while also addressing the techno-economic challenges that hinder the commercialization of these technologies and proposing potential solutions. 

For more information, see here.

The conference will focus on the crucial role citizen science plays within water resource monitoring, management and governance as well as community-led actions. Together, we will explore how citizen science can help us achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) around the world and future-proof healthy water bodies for generations to come. 

The call for contributions ends on 15 December 2024.

For more information, see here.

The 7th International Symposium on Knowledge and Capacity for the Water Sector will bring together sector organizations, knowledge institutes and policy makers to explore the significant shifts that have taken place in the water sector over the past decades. Participants will analyze how these changes impact knowledge and capacity strengthening, especially in relation to the new generation water and sanitation professionals, and investigate how knowledge and capacity strengthening can further contribute to water-related improvements. The Symposium will also assess how these developments alter the landscape of knowledge and capacity strengthening in the water sector – and what that means to the way capacity strengthening is organized and implemented. 

The call for abstracts is now open until 3 February 2025. Read more here.

For more information, see here.

IHE Delft will host the 1st International Conference on Photogranules from 17 to 19 September 2025. This International Water Association (IWA) supported conference will bring together researchers in microbial ecology and physiology, environmental biotechnology and engineering who work in the emerging field of phototrophic aggregation. Registrations open 1 April 2025. 

For more information, see here.

The RCCC 2025 will bring together global experts, policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders to share knowledge and innovative solutions for a more sustainable future. Serving as a platform for meaningful dialogue and collaboration, the conference aims to drive climate resilience and sustainable solutions, especially in regions most affected by climate change. This year’s theme, “The Intersection of Climate Science, Adaptation, and Climate Financing: Focus on the Global South and Inclusivity,” aims to foster meaningful discussions and collaborations addressing critical climate challenges.

For more information, see here.

The International Conference on Water, Peace, and Security will bring together governments, international organizations, researchers, civil society, and key stakeholders to explore the critical role of water as a catalyst for peace and cooperation.
Participants will examine the challenges posed by water insecurity, including conflicts triggered by water scarcity, pollution, and mismanagement. The conference will also spotlight innovative strategies, tools, and policies that can transform these challenges into pathways for sustainable peace and development.

For more information, see here.

• Clara Lines Diaz
  Usefulness of Information for Drought Management Decisions: Data and User Perspectives
  7 April 2025, IHE Delft and TU Delft
• Job Rosier
  Characterization of urban land use and urban land dynamics in data scarce regions
  22 April 2025, VU Amsterdam
• Albert Moerkerken
  On the way to climate-friendly farming: Attitude and behaviour of Dutch farmers towards greenhouse gas emission reduction on their farms
  22 April 2025, VU Amsterdam
• Hesham Elmilady
  Modeling Sea Level Rise Impact on Estuarine Morphodynamics
  23 April 2025, IHE Delft and TU Delft
• Tim Leijnse
  Riding the wave: Enabling large-scale wave-resolving probabilistic coastal compound flood modeling
  24 April 2025, VU Amsterdam
• Camille Venier-Cambron
  Justice in Conservation: A global land use perspective
  9 May 2025, VU Amsterdam
• Nikki Funke
  Three perspectives, one problem: a multi-theoretical approach to the role of expertise in the acid mine drainage policy controversy in Gauteng, South Africa
  26 May 2025, VU Amsterdam