Professional Master in Sustainable Chemistry (M.Sc.) Leuphana University Luneburg

Chemistry - Sustainability - Sustainable Development

Launching in April 2020, the pro­fes­sio­nal Mas­ters pro­gram M.Sc. Sustainable Chemistry pro­vi­des ex­pert in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry trai­ning in sustainable che­mis­try. Our uni­que cur­ri­cu­lum teaches – from the mole­cu­lar le­vel to glo­bal pro­duct flows, sustaina­bi­li­ty as­sess­ment and al­ter­na­ti­ve busi­ness mo­dels for che­mi­cal pro­ducts – how to un­der­stand and ap­p­ly chemistry in the context of sustainability.

Chemistry is the key en­ab­ling sci­ence for the pro­ducts we use in our ever­y­day life. Every sec­tor of our so­cie­ty, from agri­cul­tu­re, health­ca­re, mo­bi­li­ty, en­er­gy to the di­gi­tal sec­tor has been and is being shaped by che­mi­cal in­no­va­tions. Whi­le sub­stan­ti­al­ly cont­ri­bu­ting to our health and well­being, che­mis­try plays an im­portant role in fa­c­ing to­day’s chal­len­ges of re­sour­ce de­p­le­ti­on, cli­ma­te chan­ge, and pol­lu­ti­on as well as for se­cu­ring a sustainable development of our so­cie­ties.

The in­no­va­ti­ve Mas­ters pro­gram­ M.Sc. Sustainable Che­mis­try teaches pro­fes­sio­nals with a back­ground in che­mis­try to un­der­stand the re­le­van­ce and op­por­tu­nities of che­mis­try in the con­text of sustaina­bi­li­ty. This first of its kind in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry pro­gram­ con­veys a broad un­der­stan­ding of sustainable che­mis­try ran­ging from the mole­cu­lar le­vel of che­mi­cal pro­ducts to glo­bal ma­te­ri­al and pro­duct flows, al­ter­na­ti­ve busi­ness mo­dels, tools for as­ses­sing sustaina­bi­li­ty, in­ter­na­tio­nal re­gu­la­ti­ons and stra­te­gies for in­itia­ting and lea­ding chan­ge towards sustaina­bi­li­ty. Ex­ten­ding much bey­ond the lens of green che­mis­try, the cur­ri­cu­lum de­li­vers uni­que­ly no­vel per­spec­tives on how che­mis­try can and must cont­ri­bu­te to sustainable de­ve­lop­ment and the Sustainable De­ve­lop­ment Goals of the Agen­da 2030.

At a Glance

• Degree: Mas­ter of Sci­ence (M.Sc.)
• Credit Points: 90
• Length of Study: 4 se­mes­ters
• Language: Eng­lish
• Study Places: 25
• Start Date: March
• Application Deadline: December 10th

Sustainable Chemistry Masters: Course Content

Most­ly on­line-ba­sed, the pro­gram­ al­lows high fle­xi­bi­li­ty and is de­si­gned to match the sche­du­le of full-time pro­fes­sio­nals. Clus­te­red on-site ses­si­ons fea­ture lec­tu­res, prac­tical ex­er­ci­ses, and selec­ted la­bo­ra­to­ry trai­nings, and pro­vi­de op­por­tu­nities for net­wor­king.

In the pro­fes­sio­nal Mas­ter’s pro­gram­ M.Sc. Sustainable Che­mis­try at Leu­pha­na Pro­fes­sio­nal School, you will at­tend mo­du­les on the fol­lo­wing to­pics in four se­mes­ters:

F1: Concepts of Sustainable Chemistry (5 CP)

• This mo­du­le in­tro­du­ces you to the in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry con­cept of sustainable che­mis­try and a ho­lis­tic per­spec­tive of che­mis­try along the life cy­cle of che­mi­cal pro­ducts. To­pics co­ve­r­ed are the in­ter­re­la­ti­on of and dif­fe­rence bet­ween sustainable and green che­mis­try, syn­the­sis and eva­lua­ti­on of its green­ness, re­sour­ces and re­cy­cling, be­nign by de­sign of che­mi­cals and pro­ducts, ser­vice and func­tion of che­mi­cals, al­ter­na­ti­ve busi­ness mo­dels, and in­ter­na­tio­nal che­mi­cals ma­nage­ment.

F2: Environmental Chemistry (5 CP)

• In this mo­du­le you learn about sour­ces, re­ac­tions, trans­port, fate and ef­fects of che­mi­cals in air, soil and wa­ter en­vi­ron­ments and the ef­fect of an­thro­po­ge­nic ac­tivi­ties on the­se pro­ces­ses. The im­port­an­ce of ana­ly­ti­cal che­mis­try for en­vi­ron­men­tal che­mis­try is high­ligh­ted.

F3: Toxicology and Ecotoxicology (5 CP)

• This mo­du­le pro­vi­des an in­tro­duc­tion to key prin­ci­ples of to­xi­co­lo­gy and eco­to­xi­co­lo­gy. You re­cei­ve a prac­tical over­view of to­xi­co­lo­gi­cal tests and learn the pro­ce­du­re of risk as­sess­ments and risk-ba­sed de­ci­si­on ma­king.

F4: Modelling of Chemical Properties and Fate (5 CP)

• You learn the ba­sic prin­ci­ples of che­mo-in­for­ma­tics and how to build, va­li­da­te and ap­p­ly mo­dels for the pre­dic­tion of che­mi­cals pro­per­ties and fate. You prac­tice how to ap­p­ly the­se mo­dels for com­pu­ta­tio­nal to­xi­co­lo­gy pre­dic­tions of new com­pounds as well as the eva­lua­ti­on of exis­ting com­pounds and their en­vi­ron­men­tal ef­fects.

F5: Green Chemistry (5 CP)

• This mo­du­le in­tro­du­ces the 12 prin­ci­ples of green che­mis­try and how to ap­p­ly them in che­mi­cal syn­the­sis. You dis­cuss when and how green che­mis­try can cont­ri­bu­te to im­pro­ved sustaina­bi­li­ty.

F6: Sustainable Chemistry and Renewable Energy (5 CP)

• You stu­dy the ma­te­ri­als and pro­ces­ses re­qui­red for har­vest and sto­r­a­ge of re­ne­wa­ble en­er­gy and ana­ly­ze as­pects of re­sour­ce use and re­cy­cling for re­ne­wa­ble en­er­gy in­fra­struc­tu­re.

F7: Benign by Design (5 CP)

• In the mo­du­le be­nign by de­sign, you learn the pro­ce­du­re of de-novo de­sign or re­de­sign of che­mi­cal com­pounds to bet­ter com­ply with sustaina­bi­li­ty re­qui­re­ments. A be­nign de­sign may tar­get im­pro­ved de­gra­da­bi­li­ty for de­crea­sed en­vi­ron­men­tal per­sis­tence, in­crea­sed sta­bi­li­ty for pro­ducts that are ap­p­lied in clo­sed sys­tems, or a re­duc­tion of to­xi­ci­ty, im­pro­ved re­cy­cling, and im­pro­ved pro­duct per­for­mance.

F8: Resources, Recycling and Circular Economy (5 CP)

• This mo­du­le of­fers in­sights into the avail­a­bi­li­ty and spe­ci­fics of mi­ne­ral, bio­lo­gi­cal and fos­sil re­sour­ces. You dis­cuss the chal­len­ges of cur­rent and fu­ture use of the­se re­sour­ces, their re­cy­cling and the es­ta­blish­ment of a cir­cu­lar eco­no­my with re­spect to sustaina­bi­li­ty.

F9: Sustainability Assessment (5 CP)

• You learn about dif­fe­rent tools for qua­li­ta­ti­ve and quan­ti­ta­ti­ve sustaina­bi­li­ty as­sess­ment and prac­tice how to ap­p­ly them in the con­text of de­ci­si­on-ma­king and po­li­cy de­ve­lop­ment.

F10: Law, International Regulations and Chemicals Management (5 CP)

• In this mo­du­le, you are in­tro­du­ced to che­mi­cals and en­vi­ron­ment law as well as in­ter­na­tio­nal con­ven­ti­ons and stra­te­gies for in­ter­na­tio­nal che­mi­cals ma­nage­ment.

F11: Business Models and Strategies (5 CP)

• By view­ing che­mi­cals in terms of their func­tion and ser­vice, you learn to think cri­ti­cal­ly about al­ter­na­ti­ve ways of se­cu­ring the­se func­tions, in­clu­ding as­pects of sub­sti­tu­ti­on on one hand, and al­ter­na­ti­ve eco­no­mic so­lu­ti­ons on the other hand.

F12: Project Work Chemistry, Sustainability and The Agenda 2030 (10 CP)

• You choo­se a to­pic of your in­te­rest to in­te­gra­te your com­bi­ned know­ledge in a pro­ject work on sustainable che­mis­try and re­flect im­pli­ca­ti­ons for the Sustainable De­ve­lop­ment Goals of the Agen­da 2030 and the cur­rent de­ba­te on sustainable de­ve­lop­ment.

C1: Society and Responsibility (5 CP)

• In this com­ple­men­ta­ry mo­du­le, you re­flect on your per­so­nal style of com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on, are trai­ned in re­s­pon­si­ble lea­dership and learn about sustaina­bi­li­ty-dri­ven chan­ge ma­nage­ment in cor­po­ra­ti­ons and or­ga­niza­t­i­ons.

Masters Thesis (20 CP)

• In your Mas­ters the­sis, you in­ves­ti­ga­te cur­rent and fu­ture cont­ri­bu­ti­ons of che­mis­try for sustaina­bi­li­ty and sustainable de­ve­lop­ment in a to­pic of your choice. Ide­as for to­pics can stem from any mo­du­le of the pro­gram­ or may be cho­sen from your in­di­vi­du­al pro­fes­sio­nal work con­text. The­sis re­sults are pre­sen­ted and dis­cus­sed in ple­na­ry at the end of the pro­gram­. Your fi­nal gra­de is com­po­sed of gra­des for cour­se as­si­gn­ments, your the­sis, and the fi­nal pre­sen­ta­ti­on.

Who is the Professional Masters Program M.Sc. Sustainable Chemistry Aimed at?

The pro­gram­ is ai­med at high­ly mo­ti­va­ted pro­fes­sio­nals with a de­gree (B.Sc. or M.Sc.) in che­mis­try, che­mi­cal, bio- and en­vi­ron­men­tal en­gi­nee­ring, phar­ma­cy, bio­che­mis­try or re­la­ted fiel­ds and at least one year of re­le­vant work ex­pe­ri­ence who wish to in­te­gra­te ex­per­ti­se in sustaina­bi­li­ty into their pro­fes­sio­nal port­fo­lio. The M.Sc. Sustainable Che­mis­try de­li­vers in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry trai­ning ran­ging from re­le­vant know­ledge at the mole­cu­lar le­vel of che­mi­cal pro­ducts, tech­ni­cal con­side­ra­ti­ons of re­sour­ces and re­cy­cling to stra­te­gies for shaping the role of the che­mi­cal en­t­er­pri­se in line with sustaina­bi­li­ty. As gra­dua­te of the pro­gram­, you will be uni­que­ly qua­li­fied to meet an in­cre­a­sing de­mand for pro­fes­sio­nals with com­po­si­te trai­ning in che­mis­try and sustaina­bi­li­ty in a va­rie­ty of sec­tors. Vo­ca­tio­nal fiel­ds in­clu­de, but are not li­mi­ted to, sci­ence, (in­ter­na­tio­nal) aut­ho­ri­ties, in­dus­tries, en­vi­ron­men­tal or­ga­niza­t­i­ons or sustaina­bi­li­ty con­sul­tan­cies.

Suc­cess­ful com­ple­ti­on of the Mas­ters pro­gram­ en­t­it­les to the pur­su­it of a Ph.D.