Access requirements

The school is open to participants from governmental, non-profit and academic institutions who wish to further their skills in understanding, modelling and managing ecosystem services.

Regardless of disciplinary background, each prospective candidate should possess the basic skills outlined below:

Necessary qualifications

The school is technical in nature and is intended for skilled, active practitioners of the environmental science and modeling. In addition, the modeling platform used in the school is highly innovative and sophisticated. Candidates with a special interest in the fields of ecoinformatics and integrated computer modeling are encouraged to contact the school by e-mail to discuss the fit of the school to their interest. Contact

Not-for-profit Software

All software skills and materials obtained during the school will remain available to participants indefinitely for-not-for-profit use. Prospective participants from corporate and consulting businesses are welcome to apply, but should contact the school by e-mail before application to discuss potential limitations. Contact

Skills

A good understanding of the basics of environmental modeling is a prerequisite to be able to benefit from the course.
Conversant in the mainstream literature on coupled human-environmental systems and have basic experience and a good understanding of the field.
We expect most participants to be actively working in the field of ecosystem services and to be able to formulate a problem, collect basic data and evaluate results at the time of application.
Robust mathematical and statistical skills.
Basic geographic information system (GIS) skills.
Familiarity with open source packages (e.g. Quantum GIS) is an added value.
Knowledge of methods such as system dynamics, integrated assessment modelling, agent-based modelling, etc. is an added value.
As academic titles do not always indicate experience levels in the field, we do not impose academic degree requirements. However, we expect most participants to hold degrees at M.Sc. level or above.
Because we teach a highly interdisciplinary field, qualified applicants from diverse quantitative disciplines (environmental science, engineering, computer science, economics, policy sciences, social science) are expected and encouraged to apply.
The course will be held in English and full language proficiency (spoken, understood, read and written) is expected. All teaching and assistance during the course will be conducted in English.

Must bring to the school

Participants must bring a recent laptop running a 64-bit operating system (Windows, Macintosh or Linux) with good disk storage and RAM (4GB minimum, more preferred) and Ethernet connector. The software used in the school is not compatible with a 32-bit architecture.

Participants should have administrator rights to the computer they are bringing.

Please contact the school by e-mail with any questions on the adequacy of the hardware. Contact