Graduate studies of global change at the University of Latvia

Abstract

In 2008 the University of Latvia (UL) completed an 18-month project of innovation – design, preparation and pilot-test of a 4-semester programme of trans-disciplinary graduate studies in “science, global change, and technologies for sustainable development” based on the experience the project team had acquired during 1997–2006 endorsing studies in “physics and technologies for sustainable development” and organizing two international conferences on “integrative approaches towards sustainability”. Within the project activities 25 members from faculties of natural sciences of the UL prepared and tested innovative courses of a 2 semester pilot programme comprising 4 modules, the audience being a multidisciplinary group of graduates and postgraduates. The 4 modules included geophysics, biophysics, environmental physics, chemistry, global change, closed production cycles and other technologies, corporate responsibility, and research methods. The paper provides details of information and knowledge on climate change considered within the programme, experience acquired during the project activities, and future prospects including the mission of the project team in raising the general public's awareness about the science of climate change. For the long-term efforts, the project team was awarded the national prize of ENERGY GLOBE 2007 on sustainability in the category “YOUTH” by the EU Parliament in Brussels on 26 May 2008.