PSIE consists of seven courses, arranged as 11 events distributed over 2 years. Each course provides 7.5 ETCS credits and consists of lectures, class exercises, assignments, and a case study or paper. Several courses require dedicated computer exercises with scientific software.
The courses will be conducted either in two one-week modules, with the projects completed in the period between the two modules, or in one two-week module, with projects completed after the course. Students may use their own Ph.D. work as a basis for course projects.
The theory and concepts of the events 1 and 3 form the basis for the methods taught in events 2, 4-6. Ecological design builds on Life-Cycle Analysis (course 2), whereas Sustainable Production (course 6) and Sustainable Consumption (course 7) build on both Life-Cycle Analysis and Material Flow Analysis (courses 2 and 5). Sustainable Production (course 6) is an illustration of how to apply Industrial Ecology to a specific industry sector, combining the developed methods in Industrial Ecology with those of engineering and process planning. Sustainable Consumption (course 7) develops the methodology to combine Industrial Ecology with Sociology and Psychology, and apply it to a specific problem, using life-cycle assessment and value-chain thinking on households.
