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Interdisciplinary CSL course 2: addressing challenges through transdisciplinary research

The interdisciplinary CSL 2 course welcomes Master's students from any disciplinary background to engage in inter- and transdisciplinary knowledge co-creation, and experience real-life research. You will be challenged to step out of your bubble and collaborate across and beyond the campus. You will become part of a cross-disciplinary student team, but also work together closely with communities, companies, organisations, and governments.

About the course: addressing challenges through transdisciplinary research
The Interdisciplinary Community Service Learning 2 (iCSL2) course is a part-time course, spread out over a 21-week period (6 ECTS). In the course you address challenges related to:

  • Sustainability
  • Citizen Science
  • Inclusive city making

What will you do in this course?
You will be part of an interdisciplinary team of students and interact with societal partners. Each member of the team tackles one aspect of the larger challenge, using their own disciplinary knowledge, insights, experiences, and methods.

You will meet periodically with your interdisciplinary team to integrate the insights from all projects, and consider the wider implications on the level of the overarching societal problem. At the end of the course, you deliver an interdisciplinary report and present your findings back to both a scientific and a societal audience, during a public dialogue event (part of the NWO-funded project Science with Society)

What will you learn?
By reporting the outcomes back to the societal actors, you contribute to actual societal impact and drive positive transformations in society. After this course, you will be able to integrate knowledge and insights from different disciplines in order to produce results, insights, and solutions for various complex societal challenges that transcend disciplines and organisational barriers. You will develop (global) citizenship skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving and cultural understanding.

For more information register for one of the Q&A sessions here

Register for iCSL2

Course code: AM_1253
Period 4-6: February - June

View the full iCSL module

Read about the overarching module and the iCSL1 course

Exchange through public dialogue

"one of the most interesting aspects of co-creation is the engagement, where all the citizens, the political actors, and the administrators can be involved together with the students and experts from the universities"

Two highlighted projects from a previous edition

Meet the societal partners and students of two of last years' projects!

ICSL2 brings together students from diverse academic and cultural backgrounds to co-create solutions to real community challenges. This video highlights two projects from 2024 to 2025: one in Amsterdam Nieuw-West focused on sense of belonging, and one with the Green Hub in Amsterdam Southeast exploring sustainability and community-driven change. 

More information

  • Admission

    Every Master's student is eligible to take part in this course. We have students from many different universities, a large variety of disciplines and all kinds of Master's programmes. 

  • Period

    This course runs in period 4-6: from February till June. It is a is a part-time course, spread out over a 21-week period.

  • ECTS

    Completing this course results in 6 ECTS credits.

    If your own programme’s curriculum and exam board allow, you can include this course in your study plan as an elective. If not, then you can take this course extracurricularly. In either case you will receive credits upon the successful completion of the course, and the course can be added to your Master's diploma. Contact your own programme’s coordinator or study advisor to discuss the possibilities.

  • Enrollment

    VU Master's students can enrol via VU.nl. Find the course in the study guide (AM_1253).

    If you are from another university and you would like to enrol in this course, please contact course coordinator Frederique Demeijer.

Questions?

Come to a Q&A session a or contact us

Athena Institute, Faculty of Science
Main Building (HG-0E), ground floor, wing E

Contact

  • Dr. Frederique Demeijer
  • Assistant professor transformative learning for inter- and transdisciplinary education
  • f.a.demeijer@vu.nl
Frederique DeMeijer

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