Sustaining a growing population on our dynamic planet requires deep understanding of geological and geophysical processes within the Earth, and of how they interact with the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biota.

The Master's Programme in Geology and Geophysics trains you to address pressing questions concerning our home planet's evolution, its role as the source of raw materials needed by modern civilisation, and environmental issues.

Key questions include:

• How can we decode Earth’s rock record to reveal the evolution of Earth’s crust and mantle over billions of years?
• How do we make natural resource exploration and extraction more sustainable and environmentally friendly?
• What can the Earth’s history tell us to help us forecast the impacts of climate change?
• Where can we safely construct power plants or store nuclear waste?

Why Geology and Geophysics?

Upon completion of the programme, you will have gained expertise in a number of scientific and professional skills, including, depending on your specialist option:

• Assessment of geological materials (minerals, rock types, bedrock, groundwater)
• Understanding the genesis and sustainable use of mineral commodities
• Sustainable use of the environment from the Earth Science perspective
• Palaeontology and modelling global change using the geological record
• The physical evolution of the Earth (plate tectonics, interplay of the mantle and crust)
• Independent and team-driven project research
• High-level scientific writing (M.Sc. thesis and related work)
• Presentation of scientific results to scientists, students, and the general public

Courses and teaching:

Studies are planned to be taken in two years. The MSc thesis work is scheduled so that all projects start with the Conducting scientific research (CSR) course, which is organized annually in the spring semester (periods 3 and 4). The CSR is suggested to be taken in the spring of the first study year.

The compulsory internship is usually taken in the summer between the first and second study years and the Scientific engagement course is planned to be done over the course of the entire two years. Otherwise the order of taking the courses is free, but subject to availability and may contain interdependent pre-requisite requirements. Most important courses that form pre-requisites for other courses are usually organised annually.