This course will teach you to explain the multifaceted and interdisciplinary nature of environmental risk assessment and management and to analyse the different meanings and roles of risk assessment, risk evaluation, risk management and risk governance, as well as to describe the relationship between these concepts. You will also assess similarities and differences in risk assessment and risk management among important environmental issues such as climate change, chemical pollution, and impacts on biodiversity. You will also learn to analyse the implications of complexity, uncertainty and socio-political ambiguity for the assessment and management of environmental risks and to motivate and specify the need for integrating social and natural science based approaches.

Course design

These learning objectives are synthesised in a supervised case study project, in which you will analyse the assessment and management of a specific environmental risk issue and compare it to other environmental risks. As far as possible, the case study will be linked to current research. The course also includes lectures, seminars and presentations of case studies, and grades are awarded on the basis of the case study, oral presentations, peer review and seminar attendance.