Aims of the Study Programme

Goals and Guiding Principles

The M. Sc. “Physical Geography: Environmental History" focusses on the reconstruction of environmental and climatic history as scientific expertise in this field is paramount today. The programme provides physical-geographical knowledge and skills that will enable you to analyse, interpret and evaluate the complex effects of natural and anthropogenic environmental changes on nature and society. Global environmental changes are one of the biggest social, political and cultural issues of the 21^st century. In order to cope with their complexity, innovative and interdisciplinary approaches in teaching and research are developed to qualify you for linking natural and anthropogenic phenomena.

Information about the past, obtained from natural, archaeological and historical archives as well as from instrumental data, enables you to understand how global climate and environmental changes affect natural and socioeconomic systems as well as to investigate future environmental development. You learn to evolve your own scientific questions in close contact to ongoing national and international research projects. You work in an interdisciplinary manner through research-based education and in close co-operation with research institutions in Bremen and Lower Saxony. Methodological training in the field, in the laboratory and on the computer (including geographical information systems – GIS) qualifies you for different applied labour markets, e. g. public administration, planning offices, adult education as well as media sectors and information technology.

Course of Study

You will be trained in interdisciplinary lectures, seminars, projects as well as in laboratory and field courses. Lecturers are leading experts in their respective fields and will provide you with information about up-to-date research questions. Thus, you participate in ongoing research by working on own projects while preparing your master thesis.