This course is only for students in the Systems Analysis track of the Master Energy Science
The consultancy project is a training for doing research on sustainable energy and materials. The main objective of this course is acquiring skills to be able to carry out research work independently and apply them to a project assignment within the consultancy project. After the completion of the course, the student:
- is able to carry out research independently
- has learned to rapidly familiarize himself with a new research topic
- is able to present academic research both orally and in a written report
- possesses project management skills
- has learned to work in a team.
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The consultancy project is a training for doing research on energy and material systems. You will acquire the proper skills to carry out a research project independently. This course is the link between the cursory education of the first year of the Energy Science master and the research project in the second year of the master.
The course consists of two parts: a general methodological part and a consultancy assignment.
In the first part, students gain knowledge on project management and research skills in general, including:
- project management (general theory and overview of approaches)
- working in a team (including team roles, meeting skills, conflict management and a game to test your abilities to work together as a team)
- defining a research question and develop a research plan (incl. time schedule)
- choosing the right research methods and the level of detail needed
- finding (and evaluating) data in scientific and grey literature
- generating own research data e.g. setting up interviews,
- presenting your work in public
- writing a scientific report.
For the second part, students will work on a real consultancy assignment. In the consultancy project the students will work in groups of approximately 5-6 students to solve a concrete problem on energy and/or material use. The projects are carried out for real clients. Examples of past assignments are making an energy plan for drugstore chain Kruidvat, or investigating the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency improvement options throughout the entire coffee supply chain of Sara Lee. In a typical assignment, groups will carry out a technical and financial assessment, may investigate the possibilities for renewable energy production, energy saving potentials and other means to reduce GHG emissions, use materials more efficiently etc. In other words, the students will apply skills mainly acquired during the AEA course, but also other courses of the first year of the ES master.
It is crucial that students subscribe in time for the course (i.e. in February) so that sufficient projects can be prepared. The annual projects will be made available two weeks before the start of the course, so that students can indicate their preference.
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