INTERDISCIPLIN­ARITY capitalised

Activities are focussed on monitoring and modelling of the “Earth System” on the global, regional, and local scales, and use of this knowledge in the context of the sustainable development of the human environment. Research and teaching cover a wide range of topics and are firmly embedded in both regional and international networks. Joint professorship appointments have been established with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig and the Leibniz Institute for Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IÖR).

The broad spectrum of studies offered by the faculty is further complemented by a Master programme in Spatial Development and Natural Resource Management. The Faculty of Environmental Sciences is moreover the host of the special postgraduate course “Environmental Management”; this programme is unique in Europe and has in the meantime been offered for 40 years in close cooperation with the Federal Ministry for the Environment, the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) and the United Nations (UNEP, Nairobi, and UNESCO, Paris). The primary goal is to provide specialists and managers from developing and emerging countries with sound university training in integrated environmental management and related environment-specific fields.

Close cooperation and strategic partnership is likewise cultivated with the FLORES Institute of the United Nations University (UNU). The mission of this Dresden-based UN institute is to contribute to the development of integrated management strategies for the sustainable use of water, soil and waste resources. For this purpose, a joint doctoral programme has also been established.