Here below you can find all master courses the University Centre offers. All courses are taught in 1-3 week modules running from August through June. See how the courses are organised in the teaching schedule for both programs. Usually 2-3 courses are taught at the same time, but students may only enroll in one course at a time.
The master courses are available to you whether you plan to pursue a degree or just take a course or courses. Please review the options for guest studies to determine how you can apply.
For further information, contact the Administrative Director of Education and Teaching.
Ethics of conservation and resource use
- Spring 2027
- Instructor: Dr. Marie Schellens
About the course
Working in resource management and development fields often means facing difficult choices as people seek to balance the conservation and utilization of natural resources with the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, protecting Indigenous rights, promoting environmental justice, and securing a healthy economy. Actors involved in decision making and resource use often possess different priorities and ethical values which means controversial decisions with long-term implications. This course provides an overview of diverse fields of environmental ethics that can inform decision-making and management of these important resources. It also introduces students to practical applications and examples of how ethical approaches can and should be used. Particular emphasis will be given to applications and case studies involving coastal and marine resources.
Instructor
Marie Schellens, environmental researcher at peacebuilding organisation PAX (NL), monitors environmental damage impacting the lives and livelihoods of people in conflict zones through earth observation and geospatial analysis, in collaboration with affected communities. She explores the wider linkages between environmental degradation, the climate crisis, and conflict to strengthen international norms and policies on this nexus and supports the integration of environmental initiatives in peace work.
Before joining PAX, she worked as an environmental security analyst at the UN Environment Programme. She coordinated the development of Strata, an easy-to-use web-based mapper that supports project managers, analysts, and policymakers to streamline climate security data in their daily work. From 2016 to 2020, she was a Marie Curie PhD fellow at Stockholm University and the University of Iceland, researching the role of natural resources in conflict risk. She holds an MSc in Geography jointly from KU Leuven and Free University Brussels (Belgium, 2015).
Learning outcome
On completion of the course a student:
- Can explain how different ethical traditions understand the human relationship with the environment and the types of values they place on natural resources.
- Can discuss how various ethical views have influenced resource use and conservation in the past across different cultures and regions.
- Can explain how various fields of ethics value humans and non-humans.
- Can analyse how different types of ethics affect just uses of environmental and natural resources.
- Can reflect upon their own system of environmental ethics and how it influences the student's relationship with the environment.
- Can employ ethical principles to inform management plans for resource use and conservation.