Fieldlab Leadership for Circular Transition(s)
Become a change agent to lead companies and other stakeholders in the transition to a circular economy. In this minor+, you work on circular challenges with the professorship circular economy and various organisations in a multidisciplinary setting. The minor+ wishes to contribute to systems change and seek students who wish to be part of this. You want to develop your leadership skills, are driven and take responsibility for your own learning process. You like to delve into a real client's problem and come up with solutions based on your discipline. You also recognize and use the knowledge and skills of other students who come from both the business and technical domains. Together you are strong and creative! The minor is offered in an all-English and a hybrid version, whereby the theory is offered in Dutch, while the projects, coaching and project deliverables are in Dutch.
Relevance of the minor
An economy built on the principles of take-make-waste is no longer tenable. From an economic perspective, we encounter more frequent shortages of critical resources. From an environmental perspective, the mountains of waste pollute our planet and are poisoning our food system. The production system contributes to global warming due to its dependency on fossil energy sources. From a human perspective, the current economic system is hazardous to our physical and mental health. Climate change poses the biggest threat to our livelihood, and simultaneously it is the most significant business opportunity of our time.
The circular economy is more restorative by design and aims to keep products, components and materials at their highest utility and value throughout their life cycle. A world without waste, with all of us living within the boundaries of our planet, is the ultimate goal.
The Fieldlab Leadership for Circular Transition(s) aims to develop transition agents to help design and validate innovative solutions from a multidisciplinary perspective. Students can participate by either following the Minor+ program or participating in the graduation 2.0 projects.
In this Fieldlab, you will work with the professorship circular economy, work field partners, and students, lecturers and researchers from the technical and economic domain.
Field projects are aligned with the research agenda of the professorship circular economy, which identifies three general research themes:
- Changing the behaviour of consumers and entrepreneurs
- sustainable business models
- innovating the value chaing
The Fieldlab minor has two main goals:
- Personal transformation by learning skills to deal with a complex problem and developing yourself into a ‘responsible leader’ who wishes to inspire others for change.
- System transformation by applying circular economy principles, frameworks, theories and tools to complex problems using methods such as design thinking, systems thinking, transition theories and theories of change.
Projects
- In this minor you will get the chance to collaborate intensively with a client. You will receive a real challenge that needs to be researched and solved in order for the client to meet its circular ambitions and objectives. You will work at location of the client but also in Blue City. Students collaborate in this minor with the students of the minor Circular Maker from the technical domain on making an impact on: Greening of the laboratory of Erasmus Medical Centre
- Reducing textile waste in residual bins involves stakeholders from the Rotterdam Municipality, textile collectors, waste collectors and citizens.
Program overview
The minor will start every year in September and in February, taking 20 weeks to complete, including the resit, which is scheduled at the end of the minor program (see Figure 1).
The program draws from different methodologies, namely design thinking, systems thinking, and transition theories.
The students and the groups receive coaching throughout the process. There are four dedicated coaches. However, for specific expertise, other coaches may come to the fore.
Learning phase 1
In the first week, full emersion works from the inside out. Students learn about themselves, the students in their groups, the coaches and coaching style, the methodologies used and the project they will be working on.
At the end of this week, students will have a learning agreement and have decided which of three key themes of the professorship (changing behaviours, business models/concepts, or transforming the value chain) for their respective theme they wish to focus on, and formulate initial learning questions.
In the first 9 weeks, students are offered a wide range of workshops and master classes that allow them to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. They select a minimum of 8 workshops appropriate to the project and fitting their own interests. The workshops are jointly offered by the minors Circular Economy and Business Innovation, Leadership for Circular Transition(s), Circular Maker (Technical domain) and Circular Built Environment (Institute for the Built Environment).
Learning phase 2
In this phase, students develop ideas to transform the system, develop prototypes and validate these in practice. They also work on an individual project, continuing to build their skills and knowledge base. This may be a workshop, an e-book or literature review, a podcast or a short documentary or a circular product. All results are shared and disseminated at the Circular Harvest.
Weeks 5 and 14 are spent on reflections, both on the work done for the system transformation and the personal transformation. Students receive feedback on activities, products, processes and progress.
Weeks 9 and 18 are reserved for the assessment of work completed for system and personal transformation.
Throughout the program, students will work with a variety of stakeholders who have an interest in the themes the Fieldlab is working on.
LinkedIn Fieldlab Circular Economy
Software tools
- Reference manager ENDNOTE – free licence available via the library of RUAS.
- SPSS – purchase at Surfnet (www.surfspot.org) for Euro 10, using your HR registration details
- LCA tool – CCALC2 http:www.ccalc.org.uk/ccalc2.php (For Windows only)
- Agent-Based Modelling - Wilensky, U. (1999). Netlogo. Evanston, IL: Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University. Retrieved from http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/.
Leerdoelen
At an individual level, the minor:
- Aims for students to discover their full potential as a human being and as a responsible, global citizen who is aware of the boundaries of our planet.
- Act as change agents for a zero-carbon economy and a safe space for humanity within planetary boundaries.
- Make a visible impact by making small contributions to complex challenges and wicked problems on the local and the global level.
More generally, the student:
- Has demonstrable knowledge and understanding of a discipline that builds on and exceeds the level achieved in secondary education; usually operates at a level where, with the support of specialised manuals, there are some aspects that require knowledge of the latest developments in the field of expertise (knowledge and insight).
- Is able to apply his knowledge and insight in such a way that it shows a professional approach to his work or profession and has competencies for drawing up and deepening arguments and for solving problems in the field of expertise (applying knowledge and insight).
- Is able to collect and interpret relevant data (usually in the field of expertise) with the aim of forming an opinion that is partly based on weighing relevant social, scientific, or ethical aspects (making judgments).
- Is able to communicate information, ideas and solutions to an audience consisting of specialists and non-specialists (communication).
- Has the necessary learning skills to enter a follow-up study or enter a job that presupposes a high level of autonomy (learning skills).
Ingangseisen
The minor is open to all year 4 students meeting the minor entrance requirements of the university. Students from different backgrounds contribute to the transition from their discipline.
Literatuur
- Reference manager ENDNOTE – free licence available via the library of RUAS.
- SPSS – purchase at Surfnet (www.surfspot.org) for Euro 10, using your HR registration details
- LCA tool – CCALC2 http:www.ccalc.org.uk/ccalc2.php (For Windows only)
- Agent-Based Modelling - Wilensky, U. (1999). Netlogo. Evanston, IL: Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University. Retrieved from http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/.
Toetsing
Click here for the assessment overview