The European Workshop is an intensive, 8-week, consultancy-style master course at Wageningen University that applies challenge-based and experiential learning to real-world environmental problems. Each year, there are two iterations of the course, in periods September-October and May-July, with four workshops in total. 30 master’s students from a wide range of disciplines and cultural backgrounds collaborate in a workshop, working on a complex, environmentally-related challenge commissioned by a real external client outside the Netherlands.
Course Design and Approach
The course is structured around this challenge provided by the external client in the form of a Terms of Reference (ToR) about a wicked problem, ensuring strong societal relevance and practical impact. Students work in a highly interdisciplinary setting and self-organise into complementary 5-person expert groups (thematic or disciplinary expertise) and geo groups (context- and location-specific analysis). This matrix structure maximises research breadth, cross-group communication, and knowledge integration, enabling a holistic and systems-oriented approach to problem solving.
This eight-week course is structured with weeks 1 – 3 as the preparation phase – understanding the ToR, contacting relevant stakeholders and creating an action plan. Weeks 4 – 5 are dedicated to intensive fieldwork at the client’s location outside the Netherlands, grounding the research in the local context, using stakeholder perspectives and having a stronger connection to the case as they collect data. Weeks 6 – 8 are back at campus, analysing the collected data and writing the reports. Supervisions during these 8 weeks develop from more to less, from lecture-based to coaching and student-led.
Learning Outcomes and Deliverables
Through close collaboration with one another, immersion in the field, and an iterative action plan, students develop advanced skills in group dynamics, boundary crossing, stakeholder engagement, and transdisciplinary research. The course culminates in a set of professional deliverables for the client and relevant stakeholders, including one integrated synthesis report, five geographically focused reports, and a creative output tailored to support communication and impact.
Educational Value
By bringing together diverse disciplines, perspectives, and educational experiences, the European Workshop fosters inclusive teamwork and collective learning. Students learn to navigate complexity, self-organise effectively, and co-create actionable knowledge—preparing them for professional environmental, governance or sustainability roles at the interface of science and policy.
Challenges and Opportunities
A key challenge for the European Workshop lies in further strengthening co-learning among students and stakeholders. While collaboration with the commissioner is central to the course, the emphasis has been on the students addressing the client’s problem explained in the ToR. To create opportunities for co-learning we will plan additional interactions between students, teachers, the client, and stakeholders and to facilitate a dialogue among these parties.
