Find the programme structure that fits your year of admission on your Study Information.
Programme Structure
When you enroll in the Climate Change programme, you must choose between two specialisations in either Impacts, Mitigation and Adaption or The Physical Climate System. Read more about each specialisation at the bottom of the page.
All students, regardless of their specialisation, begin the programme by following a larger compulsory course, providing a broad overview of both the natural and the social science aspects of climate change. In addition, you follow 1-2 compulsory courses, depending on your specialisation.
During the programme you can select from a wide range of restricted elective and elective courses. All in all this enables you to emphasize the natural science or social science aspects of climate change. You may also use your elective courses to follow other MSc-level courses of relevance, or you can do a project in practice or study abroad.
You will encounter a wide variety of teaching methods. Courses will include web-based learning, lectures, exercises, seminars, excursions and group/project work, and your teachers will be researchers of high international standing within a range of disciplines. A mixture of Danish and foreign students and lecturers on the programme ensures an international focus on climate change.
Master's Thesis
The last two blocks (thesis 30 ECTS) or three blocks (thesis 45 ECTS) are reserved for thesis work. The thesis can focus on wide range of different climate related topics, such as climate impacts, mitigation, adaptation, biodiversity, economics, sustainability, education or ethical aspects of climate change.
Thesis supervision can be undertaken from any department at the Faculty of Science. It is also possible to carry out the thesis project with an external partner, for example a company, an NGO, or the public sector/municipalities and governmental institutions.
Specialisations
The programme has two specialisations:
The specialisation is highly interdisciplinary, focusing on both social and natural science aspects of climate change.
45-60 ECTS of restricted elective and elective courses allows you to shape the programme in the direction of your own interests. You can combine courses at different degrees of specialisation with project-oriented work, collaboration with external partners, innovation, and hands-on activities.
The specialisation can be structured in two different ways, depending on the size of your thesis:
Programme Overview, Thesis 30 ECTS
Compulsory courses: 30 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 37.5 ECTS
Elective courses: 22.5 ECTS
Master's thesis: 30 ECTS
Block 1 | Block 2 | Block 3 | Block 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Year 1 | Climate Change – an Interdisciplinary Challenge | Restricted elective course | Restricted elective course | |
Climate and Society | Elective course | Elective course | ||
Year 2 | Elective course | Restricted elective course | Thesis | |
Restricted elective course | Restricted elective course |
One block each year equals nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS.
Programme Overview, Thesis 45 ECTS
Compulsory courses: 30 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 30 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
Master's thesis: 45 ECTS
Block 1 | Block 2 | Block 3 | Block 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Year 1 | Climate Change – an Interdisciplinary Challenge | Restricted elective course | Restricted elective course | |
Climate and Society | Elective course | Elective course | ||
Year 2 | Restricted elective course | Thesis | ||
Restricted elective course |
One block each year equals nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS.
Restricted Elective Courses
Choose your restricted elective courses from the list below. Click on each course for a detailed description.
- Paleo-Climatology
- Ethics, Environment and Society
- Entrepreneurship and Innovation (block 1 or 4)
- Earth and Climate Physics
- Climate Change and Water Resources
- Climate Change and Biogeochemical Cycles
- Climate Solutions (15 ECTS)
- Geopolitics of Climate Change
- Climate Change and Land Use
- Climate Models and Observations
- Environmental Justice
- Problems and Promises of Big Data Analysis
- Climate Change Mechanisms and Tipping Points
- The Economics of Climate Change
- Global Environmental Governance
- Motivation and Pro-Environmental Behaviour – Managing Change
- Introduction to Data Science
- Geoengineering
- Human Adaptation to Climate Change and Variability
- Energy Systems and Climate Mitigation
- Climate Change and Biodiversity
- Climate Change and the Law
The Physical Climate System-specialisation touches on all aspects of climate change, but your main focus will be on the physical climate system and climate modelling.
45-60 ECTS of restricted elective and elective courses allows you to shape the programme in the direction of your own interests, for example towards data science, computational climate science, or IPCC related climate modelling.
The specialisation can be structured in two different ways, depending on the size of your thesis:
Programme Overview, Thesis 30 ECTS
Compulsory courses: 30 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 37,5 ECTS
Elective courses: 22,5 ECTS
Master's thesis: 30 ECTS
Block 1 | Block 2 | Block 3 | Block 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Year 1 | Climate Change – an Interdisciplinary Challenge | Restricted elective course | Restricted elective course | |
Earth and Climate Physics | Climate Models and Observations | Elective course | Elective course | |
Year 2 | Elective course | Restricted elective course | Thesis | |
Restricted elective course | Restricted elective course |
One block each year equals nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS.
Programme Overview, Thesis 45 ECTS
Compulsory courses: 30 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 30 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
Master's thesis: 45 ECTS
Block 1 | Block 2 | Block 3 | Block 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Year 1 | Climate Change – an Interdisciplinary Challenge | Restricted elective course | Restricted elective course | |
Earth and Climate Physics | Climate Models and Observations | Elective course | Elective course | |
Year 2 | Restricted elective course | Thesis | ||
Restricted elective course |
One block each year equals nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS.
Restricted Elective Courses
Choose your restricted elective courses from the lists below. Click on each course for a detailed description.
- Paleo-Climatology
- Ethics, Environment and Society
- Entrepreneurship and Innovation (block 1 or 4)
- Scientific Computing
- Climate Change and Water Resources
- Climate Change and Biogeochemical Cycles
- Climate Solutions (15 ECTS)
- Geopolitics of Climate Change
- Climate Change and Land Use
- Applied Statistics: From Data to Results
- Problems and Promises of Big Data Analyses
- Climate Change Mechanisms and Tipping Points
- The Economics of Climate Change
- Global Environmental Governance
- Introduction to Data Science
- Geoengineering
- Energy Systems and Climate Mitigation
- Climate Change and Biodiversity
- Computational Atmosphere and Ocean Dynamics
- Advanced Computational Geophysics
Curriculum
Learn more about the programme in the Curriculum for MSc in Climate Change.
Shared section of the curriculum for all programmes at the Faculty of SCIENCE.