Towards a sustainable future – education across disciplinary boundaries
Multidisciplinary education plays a key role in achieving a sustainable future and planetary well-being. Current challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, do not adhere to the boundaries of individual scientific disciplines. Understanding these issues requires a simultaneous natural scientific, social, economic, and cultural perspective. Multidisciplinary education helps us understand how different systems interact and strengthens the skills needed to create sustainable solutions: cooperation, creative problem solving, and the ability to bring together different types of information and methods.
A wide range of independent online courses open to all are available for degree students and lifelong learners. Degree students also have access to a unique multidisciplinary basic study module on sustainability transitions (25 credits) and the opportunity to earn credits by participating in sustainability events. Degree students can also complete a wide range of sustainability-related courses offered by other higher education institutions through the Climate University network and the Sustainability Studies network.
Planetary Well-Being courses: these four online courses offer a comprehensive understanding of the state of the world and introduce the concept of planetary well-being: what it means, why it is needed, and how to move towards it. You will learn about natural and social systems and their relations to sustainability, cultural perceptions and conceptions of a good life and how they affect the realisation of planetary well-being, and means of promoting the sustainability transition.
Find the Planetary Well-Being courses
Nature Under Threat courses: these two courses give insight into how and why species and ecosystems are increasingly becoming threatened, how threat status is assessed, and what are the causes behind the ongoing biodiversity loss.
Find the Nature Under Threat courses
To see more courses in Finnish, switch to the Finnish webpage via the main menu.
The 25-credit basic studies module provides students with concrete skills for promoting sustainability transitions. Basic multidisciplinary studies in sustainability transitions - module introduces students to the needs, barriers and opportunities of sustainability transitions from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Sustainability transitions will be examined from perspectives such as technological solutions, social governance systems, cultures and behaviours.
A particular focus will be on enhancing students' interdisciplinary understanding of the challenges and solutions to sustainability transitions: the courses will define sustainability transitions as complex processes that require multi-level approaches combining expertise from different disciplines in order to understand and manage them. The module is open to all JYU students.
Multidisciplinary sustainability discussions
Students may gain credits by participating in JYU.Wisdom events. Register on the course Multidisciplinary sustainability discussions, participate in the events announced on the course page, and complete 1-3 credits at your own pace. By participating in JYU.Wisdom events, students gain up-to-date research information, broaden their understanding of sustainability challenges from different perspectives, and develop their critical analysis skills.
Seminar course for doctoral students
Sustainability Transformations is a multidisciplinary seminar course designed for doctoral students in the University of Jyväskylä whose work engages with questions of sustainability in any field. The course provides a collaborative and peer-supported learning environment where participants develop both research-related competencies and broader transferable skills essential for academic and societal engagement.
Cooperation is at heart of sustainability thinking, and Finnish universities are doing great work on sharing their sustainability education. Climate University and the Sustainability Studies Network offer many opportunities for students to improve their sustainability skills. JYU.Wisdom coordinates the participation of JYU in these networks. The courses of he sustainability studies network are open for all degree, doctoral and exchange students of the member higher education institutions. A student has an opportunity to broaden their knowledge on environmental and sustainability themes by studying courses through the network.
Check out what the networks can offer:
