A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At
Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively on major societal themes. Our focus is on the Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Sustainability.
Utrecht University's Faculty of Geosciences studies the Earth: from the Earth's core to its surface, including man's spatial and material utilisation of the Earth - always with a focus on sustainability and innovation. With 3,400 students (BSc and MSc) and 720 staff, the Faculty is a strong and challenging organisation. The Faculty of Geosciences is organised in four Departments: Earth Sciences, Human Geography & Spatial Planning, Physical Geography, and Sustainable Development.
The Department of Earth Sciences is the largest academic earth sciences institute in the Netherlands and among the larger ones in Europe. The department conducts education and research across the full range of the solid Earth and environmental Earth sciences, with activities in almost all areas of geology, geochemistry, geophysics, bio geosciences and hydrogeology. The department hosts an international tenured staff of over 45 scholars and more than 110 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. Our research programme spans four intertwined themes: Climate & Life, Earth interior, Earth Materials, and Environmental Earth Sciences. The educational programmes in Earth Sciences are offered in a joint effort with our sister department of Physical Geography.
Utrecht’s Geolab houses a wide variety of analytical and experimental facilities, including well-equipped stable isotope and organic geochemical laboratories and the porous media lab. The micro-analytical facilities include, among others, a nano-SIMS, a laser-ablation ICP-MS system, electron microprobe, micro-XRF, AFM, Raman and IR spectroscopy instruments. The adjacent new Earth Simulation Lab houses our High Pressure & Temperature and Tectonics laboratories, as well as several microscope facilities. Moreover, the department also has a world-class Paleomagnetic laboratory, several flume facilities, as well as excellent High-Performance Computing facilities.