Environmental Humanities

The minor in Environmental Humanities introduces you to a vibrant interdisciplinary field, which explores urgent questions relating to sustainability, biodiversity, the climate crisis, and the role the Humanities can play in facilitating fair transitions.

Number of EC

30 EC

Start

Study period 1

Coordinator

Dr. Flora Roberts 

For study period 1 and 2 you can register between 2 June and 20 June 2025.

Content

What does it mean to be human in a time of environmental crisis? How are ecological realities tied to political, social, and economic systems? How can culture, science, and the arts foster sustainable transitions? These pressing questions are central to the Environmental Humanities, an emerging field that addresses the intertwined challenges of climate change, inequality, and ecological degradation.

This minor offers four interdisciplinary courses that examine the Anthropocene through the lenses of history, sustainability ethics, narrative and imagination. Themes such as representation, rhetoric, and the role of science are explored across disciplines in a collaborative, engagement-driven format.

The program draws on expertise from the Faculty of Humanities and Faculty of Geosciences, united in the Network for Environmental Humanities. (NEH). NEH offers a platform for connection and enrichment through events, screenings, and excursions. 
The minor takes particular care to foster a supportive and engaged community, through a range of regular, optional meetings for enrolled students, including Biophillia lunches (a student-led project for a greener, wilder library courtyard), Ecogame and eco-film nights.

Matching Bachelor programmes

This minor represents a useful addition to almost every BA imaginable: it is open to all students who want to be involved in imagining sustainable, just and inclusive solutions, different to prolonged policies and economies that tend to focus on the next ‘technological fix’ of a broken, extractive system. 

Curriculum

This minor consists of 4 compulsory courses.

Note for students in the BA Literary Studies/ BA Literary Studies taking the Literature across Borders specialisation: 
In Block 4, instead of the course Critical Ecologies, you must take the course Political Ecologies: Nature, Humans and Non-Humans.

Interested in these Masters?

The minor provides substantive preparation for the Master's programmes listed below. It does not guarantee admission, so always check the entry requirements. 

Register

First, check whether you meet the entry requirements. How you register next depends on whether you are already a student at Utrecht University or not.

Contact

With questions or for more information about the registration procedure, please contact the Humanities Student Information Desk.