Please find additional information on current courses in the university's course directory. The directory includes an archive of courses from previous terms.

Course material is provided on ADAM, the University of Basel’s official learning platform.

The faculty's external lecturer directory can be found here.

The range of our courses addresses both students from the degree course “Sustainable Development” and those studying economics and business. Our current courses include:

10160-01 - Lecture: Environmental and Resource Economics | Bachelor | 6 CP

This lecture is tought by Rebecca Lordan-Peret in SS2023.
After taking this course you will know how to analyse environmental policy using the tools of economics. You will know economic concepts for understanding the causes of environmental degradation and for setting the objectives of environmental policy. You will be able to apply microeconomic theory to analyze the mechanisms via which different policy instruments influence the environmental behavior of firms. At the example of exhaustible and renewable resources, you will have learned how to analyze cases where present actions have long-lasting environmental consequences. Course directory

50399-01 - Colloquium: Introduction to Ongoing MSD Master's Thesis | Master | 1 CP

Within the study program of MSD, students have to register 3 times in a 'master's thesis colloquium'. This colloquium 50339 on "ongoing master's thesis" is the first one to be attended (= colloquium A). The participants learn to understand the presented research designs, pose questions, and learn to give feedback. Course Directory

52317-01 - Colloquium: Presentation of Concepts of MSD Master's Thesis | Master | 1 CP

Within the study program of MSD, students have to register 3 times in a 'master's thesis colloquium'. This colloquium is the second one (= colloquium B). The participants present the research questions and the research design used in their master's theses. They prepare their presentations in a way that is accessible to an interdisciplinary audience, focus on the relation of their research questions to sustainable development and the fit between these questions and the research design. Course Directory

53982-01 - Colloquium: Presentation of Results of MSD Master's Thesis | Master | 1 CP

Within the study program of MSD, students have to register 3 times in a 'master's thesis colloquium'. This colloquium is the third and last one (= Colloquium C). The participants present the results of their master's theses. They prepare their presentations in a way that is accessible to an interdisciplinary audience, focus on the relation of their research questions to sustainable development and the fit between these questions and the results of their theses. Course Directory

49078-01 - Course: Research Design Master’s Thesis | Master | 3 CP

Writing a master's thesis on a sustainability relevant topic is the masterpiece of the MSD study program. Students are expected to use productively their acquired knowledge (in terms of methods and sustainability related content) for analyzing a specific topic. However, developing a research design that copes with scientific scrutiny and accuracy is by far not an easy endeavour. More

50729-01 - Project: Training for Sustainabilty Research | Master | 6 CP 

Participants will work in small, interdisciplinary groups on pre-selected topics of sustainability research. Typically, the topics will be linked to on-going research projects of the research groups supervising this course. The group work will mainly build on existing studies; the student groups will assess and link scientific literature from the different disciplines and combine these studies to a consistent interdisciplinary review on a given topic. The emphasis is thus on combining disciplinary approaches. To this end, participants will get both a joint supervision focusing on how to combine disciplinary approaches and a group-specific supervision focusing on the topic set for the group. Course Directory

65774-01 - Lecture: Digitalization and Sustainability: Friends or Foes? | Master | 2 KP

In the last decade of the 20th century, many early enthusiasts of the emerging digitalization process regularly emphasized a positive side-effect of this transformation: digitalization, they argued, would allow for a more sustainable, less resource-hungry form of social and economic development. In the past twenty years, this optimistic discourse has given way to a much grimmer picture. Overuse of raw materials to produce digital devices, new forms of precarious labor, social fragmentation, spread of false information as a result of fake news and political polarization: all these phenomena and many more have now turned into standard headlines. Digitalization in its current form, on the one hand, and sustainable development, on the other, do not seem to necessarily belong together after all. But is a combination of these two goals really out of the question? If not, what should be changed in the digitalization process to make it more sustainable? In this lecture series, we will hear twelve experts in their field present their views on the challenge posed by digitalization to sustainable development, as well as on how to render these two processes more compatible than they seem to be now. Course directory

14255-01 - Lecture: Environmental Economics | Master | 3 CP

This course addresses topics from current research in environmental economics. The focus is on designing environmental policy with most applications stemming from climate and energy policy. The course will cover three important elements of designing environmental policy:
1) The ability to cope with complications in the short run, such as missing information about costs and benefits, market power or imperfect compliance;
2) The influence of policy on technological change in the long run;
3) The evaluation of policy targets: How to set policy targets under uncertainty about costs and benefits.
 Course directory

48953-01 - Core Lecture: Sustainable Development: Introduction into Topics and Approaches | Master | 3 CP

In this introductory course (core lecture), participants are familiarized with the topic of sustainability from scientific perspectives. In this lecture, a first insight into the background, the history, and the important concepts of SD will be provided. An overview on the important current topics in sustainable development and their peculiarities will be given. As well, the political and the societal meaning and the scientific approaches towards SD will be discussed. Course directory

50399-01 - Kolloquium: Introduction to Ongoing MSD Master's Thesis| Master | 1 CP

Within the study program of MSD, students have to register 3 times in a 'master's thesis colloquium'. The participants learn to understand the presented research designs, pose questions, and learn to give feedback (using a special feedback form). Course directory

52317-01 - Kolloquium: Presentation of Concepts of MSD Master's Thesis | Master | 1 CP

Within the study program of MSD 2017, students have to register 3 times in a 'master's thesis colloquium'. This colloquium is the second one (= colloquium B). The participants present the research questions and the research design used in their master's theses. They prepare their presentations in a way that is accessible to an interdisciplinary audience, focus on the relation of their research questions to sustainable development and the fit between these questions and the research design. Course directory

53982-01 - Kolloquium: Presentation of Results of MSD Master’s Thesis | Master | 1 CP

Within the study program of MSD 2017, students have to register 3 times in a 'master's thesis colloquium'. This colloquium is the third and last one (= Colloquium C). The participants present the results of their master's theses. They prepare their presentations in a way that is accessible to an interdisciplinary audience, focus on the relation of their research questions to sustainable development and the fit between these questions and the results of their theses. Course directory

49078-01 - Course: Research Design Master’s Thesis | Master | 3 CP

Writing a master's thesis on a sustainability relevant topic is the masterpiece of the MSD study program. Students are expected to use productively their acquired knowledge (in terms of methods and sustainability related content) for analyzing a specific topic. However, developing a research design that copes with scientific scrutiny and accuracy is by far not an easy endeavour. More

49078-01 - Course: Sustainability in Practice | Master | 2 CP

Visits of institutions and organizations in the region, which are active in research, development of management solutions, knowledge transfer or application of scientific knowledge in the field of sustainable development. Projects will be presented and discussed. The visits will be complemented by presentations of selected experts at the University of Basel. Course directory

53713-01 - Seminars: Environmental and Energy Economics | Master | 6 CP

The course will cover current topics in environmental and energy economics, ranging from water pollution, climate change, promotion of renewables to new designs for electricity markets.
Students will choose their individual topic from a supplied list and work individually on their seminar thesis. However, they will be required to connect their work to the general topical clusters of the seminar and to discuss the work of other students.
During the first weeks, some training on presentation skills and on providing constructive feedback will be given. Course directory

Master thesis

For general information about the master's thesis programs, please visit the website of the Dean of Studies' office. (German only).

If you are interested in writing a master's thesis in environmental economics, please contact Frank Krysiak via e-Mail.