Starting on 4 March 2011, the University is now offering a course on exploring challenges of sustainable development. The course, entitled ‘Science and citizens meet challenges of sustainability’, is open to the public and students from all degree programmes.

The lectures will be held in English, however, the lecturers are multi-lingual and can interact with the participants in German and French.

All applications must be sent to sustainability@uni.lu by 20 January 

Participation in the course means joining a diverse learning community with representatives of firms, NGOs, government, students and fourteen lecturers from diverse disciplines such as ecology, political science, physics and psychology. The course will address questions on agro-food production (how fair is safe enough) and on sustainable energy production and use ( technologies and cultures).

The aim of the course is to build skills that allow to put different interests and disciplines in perspective and to develop one’s own stance on the meaning of sustainable development facing trade-offs and conflicting interests.

The course includes external expertise contributions from the Universities of Trier and Saarbrücken, the Max Planck Gesellschaft, Eurostat, the Centre de Recherche Public Gabriel Lippmann and the Luxembourg Assessment, Development and Training Centre (ADT).  ‘To contribute to sustainable development, universities need to combine the insights and methods from diverse disciplines with the knowhow of practitioners. This new course aims at building required skills and competences.’ says Rolf Tarrach, president of the University of Luxembourg.

The course is organised by the University of Luxembourg’s Cell for Sustainable Development. Enrolled participants gain a certificate or credit points towards their degree. A public lecture series is organized in conjunction with this course. The course and public lectures will take place on Friday afternoons on Campus Limpertsberg throughout the summer semester 2011.

Further information and programme on www.uni.lu/sustainability/education

Contact : Ariane König, Université du Luxembourg, ariane.koenig @ uni.lu, T. + 352 46 66 44 6233