Course

From Research to Environmental and Climate Action

Organised by	WIMEK
Date	Mon 3 November 2025 until Wed 5 November 2025
Duration	November 3-5, 2025, Come back days December 8, 2025 and March 3, 2026

Scope

Environmental events such as droughts, floods, fires and biodiversity loss can make you feel the need to take action now rather than wait until you have all the results from your PhD research. But it can be challenging to think about where to start and what sort of action to take. What type of action will fit you as a person and as a researcher?

This inspiring and interactive PhD course empowers you to move from knowledge to action, in addressing environmental and climate challenges. Through critical reflection, strategic planning, introduction of tools that enable you to take hands-on steps, you'll develop a personalized action pathway that fits you as a person and in your role as a scientist.

During this course you will gain a community of fellow researchers to support you in taking action. The community will get together during 2 comeback sessions to reflect on and learn from each other’s progress, challenges and successes.

Learning goals

After this course you will be able to:

Critically reflect on your role as a scientist and the types of actions that suit that role
Formulate concrete steps that bring you closer to your intended action, including how to engage stakeholders
Identify which stakeholders to engage during which steps of the developed plan of action
Explain the logic behind your intended action
Adapt your plan of action based on lesson learned
Monitor your progress by use of indicators
Reflect on intended and unintended outcomes of your chosen action

Assumed knowledge

No specific content expertise required. But this course is intended specifically for people who already have the drive to take action in their domain of research expertise, have a preliminary idea of what they would like to do, and are looking for the best way to take the first concrete steps.

Outline of the course

Day 1: Defining environmental actions, inspirational speaker 1
Day 2: Planning your action, inspirational speaker 2
Day 3: Tools for stakeholder analysis, monitoring, and reflection
Comeback Days: Reflection on progress & adaptation of plan

Lecturers

List of lecturers with link to their bio:

Tossa Harding Learning Design Advisor
Thirze Hermans Wageningen Environmental Research
Nina de Roo Wageningen Environmental Research

Activities

Lectures, inspiring guest speakers, practical and reflective exercises, and discussions with your peers will help you refine your vision and develop a theory of change, map out key stakeholders, and take tangible first steps—learning, adapting, and strengthening your approach along the way.

General information

Location

Wageningen Campus

Selection of participants

N/A

Registration

Opening: 01-05-2025, Deadline: 03-10-2025

Registration form

Course duration

2.5 full days and 2 half days (total: 3.5 days)

Credit points

1 ECTS

Language

English

Group size

15-25 people

Fee

Role	Early EUR (before 3rd of June 2025)	Regular EUR (Between 4 June and 3 September)
WUR PhDs with TSP	260	300
EngD candidates	260	300
SENSE PhDs, WIMEK postdoc's and WIMEK staff	540	590
Other academic staff	560	600
Other PhDs	560	600
Others/non-academic	600	640

The course fee includes lunches during the full days and coffee and tea on all other days

The fee does not include accommodation, breakfast or dinner. Accommodation is not included in the fee of the course, but there are several possibilities in Wageningen. For information on B&B’s and hotels in Wageningen please visit proefwageningen.nl/overnachten. Another option is Short Stay Wageningen. Furthermore, Airbnb offers several rooms in the area. Note that besides the restaurants in Wageningen, there are also options to have dinner at Wageningen Campus.

Cancellation conditions

Up to 10 (ten) weeks prior to the start of the course, cancellation is free of charge.
Up to 6 (six) weeks prior to the start of the course a fee of 25% will be charged.
Up to 4 (four) weeks prior to the start of the course a fee of 50% will be charged.
Up to 2 (two) weeks prior to the start of the course the full fee will be charged.
If a cancellation comes between Friday 15:00 and Monday 10:00, we treat it as if it was sent on Monday 10:00.

Note: If you would like to cancel your registration, ALWAYS inform us. By NOT paying the participation fee, your registration is NOT automatically cancelled (and do note that you will be kept to the cancellation conditions).

Also note that when there are not enough participants, we can cancel the course. We will inform you if this is the case a week after the registration deadline. Please take this into account when arranging your trip to the course (I.e. check the re-imburstment policies).