Many resources are becoming increasingly scarce, while some are essential for technology or other industries. The circular economy as a proposed solution is finally becoming more important on the political agenda.

The Dutch government has set the goal of having a circular economy in the Netherlands in 2050, but they have not set short-term goals. While many start-ups show the world what needs to be done, the major players follow slowly. We will reflect on these developments and form our vision about the ‘next big transition’.

We will start by observing the current, linear economy and its current state. We will try to identify the effects and externalities of this economy that influence the world around us.

After looking at the status quo, we will study the circular economy as a proposed solution in detail. In addition, we look at other proposed solutions such as doughnut economics and the biobased economy, and we identify the differences between them.

Finally, we will look at the steps that different stakeholders can take to go toward a more sustainable or circular economy.

Coordinator

Mr Tim Bulters MSc.

Timetable

You can find the timetable on Datanose.

Entry requirements

Open for second-year and third-year Bachelor's students and other interested parties, such as contract students or students from other Dutch higher education institutions. Master's students can only participate if there are still spots available.

Registration

UvA Bachelor's students can register from 19 to 26 June 2023 in the GLASS registration rounds. Master’s students can send a short motivation to keuzeonderwijs-iis@uva.nl.

‘Bijvak’ students and contract students can register until one week prior to the start of the course, by completing the online registration form.

If you have any trouble while registering, please contact us at keuzeonderwijs-iis@uva.nl

Please note: as a contract student you can choose to participate either including or excluding assessment. If you choose the latter, you only have access to the seven lectures of the course. If you also wish to attend the seminars, please choose 'including assessment'.

Costs

Prices can be found on the IIS website.

More information

SDGs in education

The IIS strives to reflect current societal issues and challenges in our elective courses, honours modules and degree programmes, and attempts to integrate the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in this course. For more information about these goals, please visit the SDGs website.