Organisation

The Institute for Environmental Studies (Instituut voor Milieuvraagstukken, IVM) is an interdisciplinary research institute at VU Amsterdam that sits within the Faculty of Science (SCIENCE). 

IVM facilitates four main departments: Environmental Economics, Environmental Geography, Environmental Policy Analysis and Water and Climate Risk. All departments are located on the VU campus.

We closely cooperate with colleagues from ecology and earth sciences in research and teaching programmes.

Mission

We continuously stimulate creativity, innovative ideas and talent development so that we maintain world-class scientific research and teaching. It is our ambition to build a critical mass in key disciplines and research themes by training well-rounded, independent and entrepreneurial researchers with a passion for combining scientific excellence with societal engagement.

As we seek for visibility in society, and impact on policy, our research and courses are aimed at solving environmental problems, involving partners from science, government, industry and civil society. We aim at maintaining strong collaborations with partners from research institutes, funders and societal actors, and particularly share our ideas with our international IVM alumni and donor network.

Academic community

IVM has strong links with the departments within our own Faculty of Science (SCIENCE), such as the Department of Ecological Science & the Department of Earth Sciences. Furthermore, IVM maintains close links with the VU Faculties of Economics, Social Sciences and Law.

As of 2016, IVM has signed an agreement between SCIENCE institutes and the UvA-IBED institute to strengthen research and teaching programmes in order to establish a strong collaboration in the area of, among others, Environmental Sciences in Amsterdam.