Health responsible green transition – exploring interdisciplinary problems and solutions
PhD School at the Faculty of SCIENCE at University of Copenhagen
This is a specialised course where 50% of the seats are reserved to PhD students enrolled at the Faculty of SCIENCE at UCPH and 50% og the seats are reserved to other applicants.
This course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School). All other participants must pay the course fee (except if you are a master’s student from a Danish University).
Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list.
Aim and content
The aim of this course is to contribute to the understanding of the nexus of health, climate and environment and present interdisciplinary inspired solutions to how global health, one health and health promotion initiatives can be brought together in ways that ensure just green transitions.
The health of humans, animals, plants and the state of the environment are inextricably interlinked. Climate change can impact human health in many ways for instance by worsening air quality, increase spread of disease and altering the frequency or intensity of extreme weather events. As environmental exposure and climate change disproportionally and adversely impact poor people throughout the world, social and economic factors also affect ability to prevent and cope with environmental exposure and climate change hazards. This calls for interdisciplinary collaboration.
Participants will be presented to three topics: Green dietary transition, Emissions and exposures, and Urban planning, through interdisciplinary, interactive lectures, discussions, and group work. Participants will be encouraged to contextualise their own research. Subsequently they will explore and identify barriers and enablers to sustainable solutions based on a Solution Matrix and will collaboratively develop suggestions for sustainable and fair solutions. Throughout the course, there will be a strong focus on interdisciplinarity. The course includes a guest lecturer who is Co-chair of the EAT-Lancet 2.0 Commission, and the last day participants will be given feedback to their solutions from a broad panel of external stakeholders.
Learning objectives
Knowledge
• Understand the interconnections between green, sustainable transitions and health promotion
• Recognize how human-built environments and activities can increase the risk of zoonotic disease transmission
• Comprehend how exposure to environmental toxins – through air, water, and food – negatively impacts human health
• Understand the psychological and emotional impacts of climate change, including climate anxiety
• Understand the links between access to green spaces, infrastructures for physical activity and human health
• Understand the relationship between sustainable dietary habits and the promotion of public health
• Understand the relation between the human right to life and health, environmental injustices, and green transition
Skills
• Operationalize interdisciplinarity approaches in development of health responsible green transition initiatives
• Explain how health promotion and green transition are mutually reinforcing
• Relate individual and collective concerns to climate change, including coping mechanisms and strategies for resilience
• Identify and propose strategies to reduce harmful environmental toxic exposures
• Explain the relationship between human activity and emergence of zoonotic diseases
• Interpret the complexity and interaction in achieving just green transition
Competences
• Innovate and apply creative approaches to developing health-responsible green transition solutions
• Integrate interdisciplinary perspectives to support just green transitions that align with the principles of One Health
• Critically reflect on current health and environmental practices, policies, and regulations
• Conceive and formulate actionable, health-oriented solutions to address complex global environmental and public health challenges
Participants
PhD students from all disciplines at Danish and international universities working with scientific questions relevant to health-related issues in relation to green transition.
Language
English
Form
Participants will learn by contextualising their own research, and by hands-on experience in collaborative and interdisciplinary development of solutions based on the Solution Matrix.
The course will apply a mixture of (interactive) lectures, instructed theoretical exercises, group work and feedback from course facilitators and external stakeholders.
Course director
Inge Tetens, Professor, Nutrition, Exercise, and Sports
Dates
20-21 November 2025
Course location
The PhD teaching room R56 and R59 at Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871 Frederiksberg
Registration
Please register before 9 September 2025
Cancellation policy
• Cancellations made up to two weeks before the course starts are free of charge.
• Cancellations made less than two weeks before the course starts will be charged a fee of DKK 3.000
• Participants with less than 80% attendance cannot pass the course and will be charged a fee of DKK 5.000
• No-show will result in a fee of DKK 5.000
• Participants who fail to hand in any mandatory exams or assignments cannot pass the course and will be charged a fee of DKK 5.000
Course fee and participant fee
PhD courses offered at the Faculty of SCIENCE have course fees corresponding to different participant types.
In addition to the course fee, there might also be a participant fee.
If the course has a participant fee, this will apply to all participants regardless of participant type - and in addition to the course fee.