Biobased Sciences (MBS) / MSc

Profile

Meeting the material and energy needs of a growing world population will increasingly require resources of biobased origin, whilst at the same time, these resources are needed to supply food for humans and feed for animals. Efficient and effective use of these biobased resources is already challenging and will be an increasingly important societal challenge for the next century. This transition to a more biobased society does however also offer new economic opportunities, for the existing agri-food and chemical industries, but also for innovative crossovers between different industries.
Addressing the challenges of the development towards a more biobased society requires an interdisciplinary mindset. Primary biomass production, bio refinery, various conversion strategies as well as socio-economic aspects have to be included.

Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of this MSc programme graduates are expected to be able to:
- understand basic concepts in biobased disciplines;
- apply advanced knowledge of one of the biobased disciplines: biomass production and carbon capture, biorefinery and conversion, or biobased and circular economy.
- design a new biobased concept, research, product, or process within an international or global context that meets the objectives and demands of an interested party, and judge to what extent a petrochemical application can be replaced by biobased technology.
- cooperate in an interdisciplinary team (including planning activities, assuming responsibilities and motivating co-workers) on a biobased-oriented research question, design problem, or development problem.
- assess technological, ethical, societal, and economic consequences of changes in the design of a biobased concept, product, or production process, and integrate these into scientific work within an interdisciplinary and international context.
- demonstrate an academic attitude by: (a) generating creative ideas, (b) recognizing the limits of scientific knowledge, and (c) logically and abstractly reason in discussions with both experts and non-experts.
- communicate verbally and in writing about the results of learning, experiments, and project work with colleagues and non-colleagues.
- reflect upon personal knowledge, skills, attitudes, and functioning, both individually and in discussions with others (including the interested party and experts), and design and plan their own learning path.
- develop a research plan, in which research question, hypothesis, (experimental) set-up and data analysis are described in relation to relevant literature.
- execute research set-up / experiments including practical experiments for the specializations biomass production and carbon capture and biorefinery and conversion, test hypotheses and analyse and interpret their own data and/or data presented in literature and on internet, in order to meet the objectives of the biobased research and development project.

Specializations

- Biomass Production and Carbon Capture
- Biorefinery and Conversion
- Biobased and Circular Economy

Programme Director

Dr. S. Isken
Phone: 0317-(4)82241
Email: sonja.isken@wur.nl

Study Adviser(s)

Ir. B. Lubbes, appointment via outlook agenda (preferred)
Phone: 0317-(4)80904
Email: brigitte.lubbes@wur.nl

Programme Committee

Vacancy

Language of Instruction

English