The Erasmus Mundus Joint programme in Global Environment and Development (MERGED) is a leading international two-year master. The language of instruction is English.
All students study together for the first year at the University of Copenhagen. In the second year, you move to study in either Milan or Warsaw, depending on specialisation:
The choice of specialisation is made at the time of application and is binding. We accept up to 40 students each year, distributed equally between the specialisations.
The first year focuses on obtaining interdisciplinary knowledge and skills, including supervised data collection in the field and in-depth knowledge preparing you for your specialisation.
In the second year, the first semester is dedicated to coursework and the second semester to the thesis. The programme ends with a two-day End of Programme Employment Workshop.
This year provides knowledge and experience of interdisciplinarity, a thorough and broad introduction to environment-development issues, and preparing you for your second-year specialisation while also developing your generic skills and academic potential. More specifically, the first year:
- provides you with an understanding of the principles and processes that underpin environment-development challenges and solutions, with particular importance assigned to interdisciplinarity
- provides you with methods to collect primary data in the field, then takes you to the field (at various global destinations) to practice these methods
- prepares you for your second-year specialisation
- develops your intellectual, practical, numeracy, communication, information and communication technology, interpersonal/teamwork, self-management, and professional development skills
- inculcates the values of scholarship: inquiry, reflection, integrity, open-mindedness, evidence-based thinking, and collegiality
First-year programme overview
In Copenhagen, there are four blocks (each is nine weeks) of teaching each year. Each block is 15 ECTS, with 1 ECTS equivalent to around 28 work hours. The elective courses are entirely free – you can choose what you want. The restricted elective courses must be selected from the specific list of courses (see below) for your line of specialisation.
The following programme overview is for students with study start in September 2025. If you are already a MERGED student, please find your programme overview on UCPH Study Information.
Compulsory courses: 30 ECTS
Restricted elective courses: 15 ECTS
Elective courses: 15 ECTS
| Year | Block 1 | Block 2 | Block 3 | Block 4 |
| 1 | Global Challenges in Environment and Development | Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Environment and Development | Practicing Interdisciplinary Field Research on the Environment | Elective course |
| 1 | Restricted elective course | Restricted elective course | Practicing Interdisciplinary Field Research on the Environment | Elective course |
The restricted elective courses (a total of 15 ECTS) must be chosen from the list below. Click on each course for a detailed description:
| Course Title | Block | ECTS |
| Tropical Crop Production | 1 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Advanced Crop Production | 1 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Experimental Soil Analysis | 1 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Tropical Forest Restoration | 1 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Life Cycle Assessment within Biological Production Systems | 1 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Agroforestry | 2 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Applied Insect Ecology and Biological Control | 2 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Applied Agrohydrology | 2 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Global Environmental Governance | 31 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Plant Ecophysiology in a Changing Climate | 31 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Land Use and Environmental Modelling | 31 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Environmental Impact Assessment | 4 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Entrepreneurship and Innovation | 1+4 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Agricultural Value Chains in Developing Countries | 4 | 7.5 ECTS |
The restricted elective courses (a total of 15 ECTS) must be chosen from the below list. Click on each course for a detailed description:
| Course Title | Block | ECTS |
| Applied Ethnobotany | 1 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Political Ecology | 1 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Land Use Transitions in the Global South | 1 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Applied Econometrics | 1 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Global Forests and People | 1 | 7.5 ECTS |
| People, Poverty and Environmental Change | 2 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Participatory Natural Resource Governance | 2 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Globalisation and Dynamics in Global Value Chains | 2 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Environmental Justice | 2 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Global Environmental Governance | 31 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Human Adaptation to Climate Change and Variability | 31 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Rural-Urban Transformations in the Global South | 4 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Critical Development Studies | 4 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Agricultural Value Chains in Developing Countries | 4 | 7.5 ECTS |
| Gender, Environment and Sustainable Development | 4 | 7.5 ECTS |
The second year specialistion in Milan is on Agricultural Development. The compulsory modules continue the agricultural development specialisation commenced in the first year (with emphasis on plants), focusing on livestock, water management, and mechanization. The main aims are to:
- develop students’ understanding of the principles and processes that underpin sustainable agricultural development
- develop students’ abilities in the use of information technology, teamwork, communication skills and time management in an agriculture and development context
- provide students with knowledge and skills needed by commercial companies, NGOs, and governments responding to current challenges to agricultural systems
- equip students for a career in sustainable agricultural development and allied professions requiring an ability to synthesise concepts and ideas and to take a holistic view
Second-year modules on the Milano natural science mobility track, compulsory modules are shaded
For further info about elective courses, please refer to the MERGED webpage at the University of Milano: https://www.unimi.it/it/corsi/laurea-magistrale/global-environment-and-development
The second-year specialisation in Warsaw is on Sustainable Environmental Development. The compulsory modules focus on studying environment and development issues in relation to contemporary social challenges. The main aims are to:
- develop students’ understanding of the principles and processes that underpin sustainable development and enable them to apply these principles to environmental development
- develop students’ abilities in the use of information technology, communication skills, and time management in an environment and development context
- develop students’ abilities to use methods, assess data, and design feasible environment-development interventions
- equip students for a career in sustainable development and allied professions requiring an ability to synthesise concepts and ideas and to take a holistic view
Second-year modules on the Warsaw social science mobility track, compulsory modules are shaded
1 Each student chooses at least 11 ECTS from the nine modules: 1. Innovations and Knowledge Transfer (4 ECTS), 2. Global Justice and Human Rights (6), 3. Challenges of the Social Dimension of Sustainability (3), 4. Research Study (8), 5. International Environmental Law (8), 6. Entrepreneurship, Leadership & CSR (3), 7. Reclamation, Remediation and Renaturalisation of the Environment (2), 8. The World at the Crossroads (2), 9. Communication, Education and Cooperation (3), or 10. Climate Change (3).
Thesis
The MERGED Programme includes a thesis corresponding to 30 ECTS, including an intra-semester workshop (3 ECTS). The thesis must be written within the academic scope of the programme. The thesis must be based on empirical field work. The fieldwork can be combined with an internship at international organisations, NGOs, universities, or similar. The thesis is submitted and examined.