Master Elective

You learn to: 

• analyze societal challenges from multiple perspectives; 

• apply systems thinking and make connections visible; 

• collaborate in transdisciplinary teams with real stakeholders; 

• develop societal agency and action-driven frameworks  

• design solutions that are not only clever, but also feasible, sustainable, and relevant; 

• reflect on your own role in complex processes of change; 

• explore your own talents and where your passion lies. 

You experience firsthand why changing the world is so difficult: through uncertainty, interdependencies, conflicting interests, and system dynamics. And you learn how to act effectively within that reality. 

What are you developing? You build skills that are becoming increasingly important: 

• clearly defining complex problems 

• systems thinking and modelling 

• collaborating across boundaries 

• managing complexity and uncertainty 

• developing your professional identity and leadership 

Why participate? Because organizations are looking for people who not only come up with solutions but understand how systems work and how to change them. In a Learning Community, your work doesn't end up in a drawer. You build on what others have done, contribute to real challenges, and present your results to the parties involved. 

You earn credits through a free elective course or project — or, from 1 September 2026 onwards, through the dedicated LC course "Engineering for Sustainable Innovation (15 ECTS)" — but above all, the experience of working on sustainable impact in the real world is what will be most valuable for your future. 

Learning goals: 

• Analyze the complexity of a real-life challenge through the lens of systems thinking and sustainability  

• Demonstrate knowledge and understand the interdependencies between sub-problems and broader societal challenges, and explicitly represent these relationships in a systems model 

• Redefine the scope of your project by means of joint problem framing, and transdisciplinary co-creation 

• Showcase sensitivity to uncertainty and how to manage context-specific dynamics in multi-stakeholder environments 

• Integrate knowledge and lessons learned from previous iterations as collected in the learning community, and apply the acquired insights and reflections throughout the course of the project 

• Demonstrate an open and academic attitude, characterized by accuracy, integrity, critical reflection, and curiosity 

• Collaborate and engage with a variety of stakeholders across the quintuple helix (knowledge institutions, public sector, private sector, civil society, and environmental partners) 

• Synthesize various knowledge domains and practice-based perspectives into concrete societal interventions or impact pathways 

• Demonstrate professional, transferable skills such as project management, professional presentation and intercultural communication 

• Develop a comprehensive group report and boundary object that includes implementable and insightful recommendations to address the specific problem as formulated by the learning community 

• Reflect critically on the barriers to transformation and ethical constraints related to finding equitable solutions to socio-technical challenges 

• Reflect critically on their own role throughout the process of the course and consider their contribution to the learning community. Understand their personal and professional growth in terms of strengths, weaknesses, or hidden skills.   

Apply through the pre-enrollment link (we will notify you when the official enrollment opens):
Pre-enrollment elective 'Sustainable Engineering for Societal Innovations' (IFM4045) – Fill out form