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Explore the past, shape our future

Earth Sciences

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This two-year Master's programme gives you the knowledge and skill-set to tackle the complex problems our planet faces today. You will study the earth as a whole system (its interior, surface, climate, and the societies that depend on it ) and specialise in one of two specialisations: Earth System Dynamics (ESD), or Global Environmental Change and Policy (GECP). Both specialisations are built around three themes and a strong portfolio of research skills, allowing you to build your own individual profile in preparation for your future professional career.

Programme
The Master’s programme in Earth Sciences at VU Amsterdam has an excellent reputation. It offers a lot of personal attention, which means you will be connected with all students and staff. Its large scope, allows you to choose from a broad range of topics. In this sense, Amsterdam and the programme are much alike: impressive but cosy enough to make you feel right at home!

Unique in the Netherlands
Few Earth Sciences programmes cover the whole system, from the deep interior to the atmosphere and the human world. Ours does. You will work across the boundaries between geology, climate science, hydrology and the social sciences, and learn to move between them, which is exactly what employers in this field require.

International
Our teachers have high international profiles based on excellent research and successful fundraising; several have received international awards. The master looks at global Earth systems and international challenges such as climate change, the energy transition, policy and economics, natural hazards, and biodiversity loss. The start date of this programme in 2027 is 30 August. 

Choose your own path
You choose whether you want to become a broadly trained Earth Scientist or profile yourself along one of the themes offered within the two specialisations. In the second year, elective space lets you deepen a theme, cross over into the other specialisation, or take courses from the Master's programmes Hydrology or Environment and Resource Management.

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Which specialisation do you choose?

The first year gives you the foundations of the whole Earth System and the research skills to work with it. It consists mainly of compulsory courses, practicals and a ten-day fieldwork, and concludes with a research proposal you develop for a real issue arising from the fields of science, government or industry.

Summary

In the specialisation Earth System Dynamics you study the processes at work in all of earth's spheres, and the interactions between them. You will work along three interrelated themes:

  • Climate and carbon cycle: the physical, chemical and biological processes linking land surface, ocean, atmosphere, land use and the carbon cycle, from days to millions of years, and from the local to the global scale. You will combine observations, modelling, proxy-based reconstructions and remote sensing to understand past, present and future climate.
  • Geohazards: the processes behind floods, landslides, wildfires, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, their spatial and temporal scales, and their cascading interactions, risks and impacts on people and land use.
  • Earth's interior and resources: the processes controlling the deep earth from core to crust, and how they shape the raw materials, geothermal energy, and storage capacity that the energy transition depends on.

Alongside these, a fourth learning path, grounded in the VU's state-of-the-art experimental and analytical infrastructure and its staff expertise, builds your methods and skills: fieldwork, laboratory work, numerical modelling, spatial analysis and GeoAI, and Earth observation. In the first year you take the foundational course of each theme, so you leave with a genuine overview of the system before choosing where to further specialise.

Study guide
To learn more about the new curriculum of 2027-2028 please refer to this document. Current students can find the complete course overview for this year in the study guide.

Contact information
For further questions, please send your email to: masterearthsciences.beta@vu.nl

Compulsory courses

The compulsory courses provide advanced insights into climate dynamics, mantle and Crust Dynamics, and the dynamics and impacts of Earth System hazards. Furthermore, you develop advanced skills in spatial analysis and GeoAI, the use of isotopes in Earth Sciences, laboratory skills, and advanced modelling skills. You can choose between a geology focused and a hazard focused fieldwork and complete the first year with a course that provides a state-of-the-art overview of GeoSolutions in cooperation with experts from the field and the development of a research proposal.

Summary

GECP looks at global earth and environmental systems and the societies entangled with them, addressing international challenges such as climate change, the energy transition, sustainable development, natural hazards and biodiversity loss. We bring together climate studies, environmental sciences, geography, economics and policy. You will work along three interrelated themes:

  • Hydrological systems: processes in the hydrological cycle across scales, their links to the climate system, and the societal risks that follow.
  • Energy transition: the challenges of the energy system under climate change, including the role of geothermal and mineral resources in mitigation.
  • Land systems: land use and land cover change as both driver and consequence of global change, and their impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services.

In the first year you study the climate system, environmental economics, and environmental policy and governance, and you learn the methods of interdisciplinary research. International fieldwork lets you apply your skills to real-world challenges and work with local communities. You will develop skills in stakeholder analysis, GIS and Python, remote sensing, modelling, and policy analysis.

For whom?
This specialisation is for students who want to go beyond understanding the Earth System and instead contribute to sustainable solutions by analysing the social, political and economic dimensions of global environmental change. Our students are highly motivated, interested in interdisciplinarity, focused on solutions rather than limitations, and equipped with a critical and analytical mind.

Study guide
To learn more about the new curriculum of 2027-2028 please refer to this document. Current students can find the complete course overview for this year in the study guide.

Contact information
For further questions, please send your email to: masterearthsciences.beta@vu.nl

Compulsory courses

The compulsory courses provide advanced insights into climate dynamics, land use, economics, policy, and the dynamics and impacts of natural hazards. Furthermore, you develop advanced skills in spatial analysis and GeoAI, impact assessment, and advanced modelling skills. You go on a hazard focused fieldwork and complete the first year with a course that provides a state-of-the-art overview of GeoSolutions in cooperation with experts from the field and the development of a research proposal.

  • Earth System Dynamics

    Summary

    In the specialisation Earth System Dynamics you study the processes at work in all of earth's spheres, and the interactions between them. You will work along three interrelated themes:

    • Climate and carbon cycle: the physical, chemical and biological processes linking land surface, ocean, atmosphere, land use and the carbon cycle, from days to millions of years, and from the local to the global scale. You will combine observations, modelling, proxy-based reconstructions and remote sensing to understand past, present and future climate.
    • Geohazards: the processes behind floods, landslides, wildfires, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, their spatial and temporal scales, and their cascading interactions, risks and impacts on people and land use.
    • Earth's interior and resources: the processes controlling the deep earth from core to crust, and how they shape the raw materials, geothermal energy, and storage capacity that the energy transition depends on.

    Alongside these, a fourth learning path, grounded in the VU's state-of-the-art experimental and analytical infrastructure and its staff expertise, builds your methods and skills: fieldwork, laboratory work, numerical modelling, spatial analysis and GeoAI, and Earth observation. In the first year you take the foundational course of each theme, so you leave with a genuine overview of the system before choosing where to further specialise.

    Study guide
    To learn more about the new curriculum of 2027-2028 please refer to this document. Current students can find the complete course overview for this year in the study guide.

    Contact information
    For further questions, please send your email to: masterearthsciences.beta@vu.nl

    Compulsory courses

    The compulsory courses provide advanced insights into climate dynamics, mantle and Crust Dynamics, and the dynamics and impacts of Earth System hazards. Furthermore, you develop advanced skills in spatial analysis and GeoAI, the use of isotopes in Earth Sciences, laboratory skills, and advanced modelling skills. You can choose between a geology focused and a hazard focused fieldwork and complete the first year with a course that provides a state-of-the-art overview of GeoSolutions in cooperation with experts from the field and the development of a research proposal.

  • Global Environmental Change and Policy

    Summary

    GECP looks at global earth and environmental systems and the societies entangled with them, addressing international challenges such as climate change, the energy transition, sustainable development, natural hazards and biodiversity loss. We bring together climate studies, environmental sciences, geography, economics and policy. You will work along three interrelated themes:

    • Hydrological systems: processes in the hydrological cycle across scales, their links to the climate system, and the societal risks that follow.
    • Energy transition: the challenges of the energy system under climate change, including the role of geothermal and mineral resources in mitigation.
    • Land systems: land use and land cover change as both driver and consequence of global change, and their impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services.

    In the first year you study the climate system, environmental economics, and environmental policy and governance, and you learn the methods of interdisciplinary research. International fieldwork lets you apply your skills to real-world challenges and work with local communities. You will develop skills in stakeholder analysis, GIS and Python, remote sensing, modelling, and policy analysis.

    For whom?
    This specialisation is for students who want to go beyond understanding the Earth System and instead contribute to sustainable solutions by analysing the social, political and economic dimensions of global environmental change. Our students are highly motivated, interested in interdisciplinarity, focused on solutions rather than limitations, and equipped with a critical and analytical mind.

    Study guide
    To learn more about the new curriculum of 2027-2028 please refer to this document. Current students can find the complete course overview for this year in the study guide.

    Contact information
    For further questions, please send your email to: masterearthsciences.beta@vu.nl

    Compulsory courses

    The compulsory courses provide advanced insights into climate dynamics, land use, economics, policy, and the dynamics and impacts of natural hazards. Furthermore, you develop advanced skills in spatial analysis and GeoAI, impact assessment, and advanced modelling skills. You go on a hazard focused fieldwork and complete the first year with a course that provides a state-of-the-art overview of GeoSolutions in cooperation with experts from the field and the development of a research proposal.

Continue with the chosen specialisation

In the second year you deepen your chosen theme, broaden into a second one, or reach into related programmes. The year concludes with the 30 EC Master's thesis, which can be conducted externally at a company, knowledge institute or government body.

Summary

You complete at least one of the three learning paths with two advanced courses, and use your elective space either to complete a second learning path or to broaden and deepen in another direction. You might, for example, take water-related risk courses from the Master's programme Hydrology, follow governance courses from the Master's programme Environment and Resource Management, or from the Global Environmental Change & Policy specialisation. A final methods and skills course precedes the thesis.

Summary

Having built a broad foundation in the first year, you now deepen one of the three themes (hydrological systems, energy transition, or land systems) through electives, or combine courses across themes to design a profile of your own. Electives are drawn from the Master's Environment and Resource Management, the Master's Hydrology, and the Earth System Dynamics specialisation. The year concludes with the Master's thesis.

  • Earth System Dynamics

    Summary

    You complete at least one of the three learning paths with two advanced courses, and use your elective space either to complete a second learning path or to broaden and deepen in another direction. You might, for example, take water-related risk courses from the Master's programme Hydrology, follow governance courses from the Master's programme Environment and Resource Management, or from the Global Environmental Change & Policy specialisation. A final methods and skills course precedes the thesis.

  • Global Environmental Change and Policy

    Summary

    Having built a broad foundation in the first year, you now deepen one of the three themes (hydrological systems, energy transition, or land systems) through electives, or combine courses across themes to design a profile of your own. Electives are drawn from the Master's Environment and Resource Management, the Master's Hydrology, and the Earth System Dynamics specialisation. The year concludes with the Master's thesis.

Internships

You can spend time working on an external research project or traineeship under supervision of our staff, who have excellent contacts in both national and international companies and universities. This hands-on experience is a great way to prepare for, and familiarise yourself with, the labour market.

If you think a career as a teacher might be for you, you can take up the opportunity this programme offers with its “teacher’s variant”..

You can also attend national ‘career days’, organised on campus by the VU’s study association GeoVUsie. These will help you get a better idea of the different career paths open to you. You can also attend seminars, organised throughout the year.

Change your future with the Earth Sciences programme

With your VU Amsterdam MSc degree you will have great career prospects. You could for example work in an environmental consultancy company or in a governmental institution, as a geothermal energy researcher or a minerals surveyor. Urban and rural planning companies also have their fair share of Earth Scientists.

A lot of our graduates continue their academic careers, either staying in academia or taking up a position in Research and Development. And of course you can stay in education by becoming a teacher in secondary school.

Explore your future prospects
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