Humanity has become the major driver of regional and global change in the Anthropocene. While we face planetary constraints regarding resources, climate and ecological resilience, rapid transformations are taking place from local to planetary scales.

The M.Sc. Global Change Geography at Humboldt-Universität aims at providing a broad understanding of these processes from a physical geography perspective.

Programme summary

Master students of the M.Sc. Global Change Geography will gain profound knowledge of current research questions, approaches and insights regarding the interactions between environment and society in the context of global change. Therefore, the programme aims at providing knowledge on scientific methods and findings from physical geography, in particular biogeography, climatology, hydrology, remote sensing, sustainability sciences, and geoinformation science.

Students learn to integrate scientific theories, findings, and procedures for analysing and modelling human-environmental systems. In addition, the specialization of scientific key skills such as scientific writing and presenting, the analysis of primary literature as well as special language skills in English is a major qualification goal. The competencies for dealing with questions of global change and sustainable transformation are provided by applying a wide range of teaching and assessment modes such as classical classroom teaching, virtual lessons, research guided project work, intense research seminars and field work. The study programme qualifies students for a wide range of professional fields, such as employment in science, planning, consultancy, nature conservation, development cooperation, specialized media or international organizations.

Programme organization

The M.Sc. Global Change Geography is a two-year master programme. Year one consists of compulsory and elective modules. The modular structure of year two with flexible and research oriented specialization modules enables students to tailor the programme around individual interests and career goals. All courses are taught in English. See overview below for details.