Food, Animals and the Environment wins special Sustainability edition of UvA Create a Course Challenge

Caatje Kluskens, a 22-year-old student Media and Culture at the University of Amsterdam, convinced the jury with her pitch for the course 'Food, Animals and the Environment: The relationship between humans, non-humans and the environment' that an interdisciplinary elective course can be created around the theme of humans and animals, in light of the climate crisis. The jury, consisting of Rick van der Ploeg, professor of Environmental Economics at the UvA and Oxford University, Lucy Wenting, director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS), and Rosa van der Laag, student Future Planet Studies and co-plaintiff in the climate case against Shell, had a difficult decision to make. The five ideas for a new, interdisciplinary elective course at the UvA all appealed because of their societal relevance and the different perspectives on sustainability. However, the jury decided that Caatje's course is the most accessible to a broad audience. Rosa, one of the jury members, explains: "It is an introductory course, which also appeals to students who may not initially be interested in sustainability. It also looks at environmental issues from various disciplines, such as ethics, media studies, environmental studies, political science and many more. The way we treat food, animals and nature are important topics that have not been linked together in a course before.