Dr. Ad van Dommelen

About Ad van Dommelen

Dr. Ad van Dommelen represents the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) at the PhD Workshop China Dutch Virtual Event.

About the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM)

‘Leading in Sustainability Science’

IVM’s mission is to contribute to sustainable development and to care for the environment through excellent scientific research and teaching. A unique feature of the institute is our capacity to cut through the complexity of natural-societal systems through novel interdisciplinary approaches.

Being the oldest environmental research institute in The Netherlands (est. 1971), IVM is currently one of the world's leading institutes in sustainability science. With 100 employees (staff, PhDs and Postdocs), IVM has been rated with the highest scores on scientific excellence, and each year we receive over 140 MSc students and we host over 50 PhD students in our teaching programmes.

Combining scientific excellence and societal engagement.

Impression of research groups/perspectives

The four main departments of the IVM are:

• Environmental Economics,
• Environmental Geography,
• Environmental Policy Analysis, and
• Water and Climate Risk.

Each department has a clear focus in its research themes, but the departments also conduct joint research projects through IVM's Integrating Themes: climate, water, energy and ecosystems. The department staff closely collaborate in the BSC, MSc and PhD programmes, together with other research groups within the VU Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

IVM is also closely affiliated with the department Environment and Health.

Education possibilities

Why study at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is located in a lively and multicultural city; it has the largest concentration of students in the Netherlands and English is its second language. Science for sustainability is one of the four key strategic themes of VU Amsterdam, in which we have a clear vision and set of ambitions. We rank among the 10 most sustainable universities worldwide and was chosen as the most sustainable university of the Netherlands in 2020. We also rank second among universities worldwide for taking climate action. Therefore, VU Amsterdam is a highly international place to study, ranked among the world’s best and always tries to look beyond boundaries of each research field, culture and traditions.

Why study at the Institute for Environmental Studies?

IVM is based within Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. It is the oldest environmental research institute in the Netherlands (est. 1971) and is one of the world’s leading institutes in sustainability science. With the aim of contributing to sustainable development and raising awareness of current environmental changes, IVM offers a variety of high-level graduate programmes in the field of environmental sciences, integrating physical, social, economic and governance systems through its interdisciplinary research and teaching.

Read more about education possibilites at IVM.