Industrial Ecology is a modern interdisciplinary framework for tackling the environmental problems of today. The starting point is the insight that a sustainable development on earth can only be reached when technical, economic and social development is performed within the boarders of the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. Applications for the thesis project (strategies, tools and methods) in the area of Industrial Ecology is foremost in areas such as environmental system analysis, risk assessment, environmental management, environmental consequences, environmental technology and applications of sustainable development on technical development and technical systems.
The course is based on project work, either individually or in groups of two students. Suitable projects are supplied by the examiner. Project suggestions are discussed in cooperation with the student during the autumn period of the 3rd year. The project can be in cooperation with the industry but the academic work is mainly done at KTH. Each project is allotted to a supervisor from the department. The work shall be presented in the form of a written report. Usually it is written in Swedish with an English abstract; however it is allowed to write the report in English. Problem formulation, “Mid-term seminar” and “End seminar” are compulsory parts of the course. At the end seminar the student should be, except for presenting her/his own result, also make an opposition on another project report