Applicants must possess a first, higher education qualification (Bachelor’s Degree) in Geography or a related/comparable professionally certified study programme. Out of all higher education qualifications earned (Bachelor’s, Master’s, additional academic coursework, etc.) the majority of the attended courses (reflected in your transcripts) must be related to the three following areas:

1. Human Geography and Social Sciences with a focus on spatial patterns, society, development;
2. Science methodology and empirical research methods;
3. Physical Geography, Geosciences and Environmental Sciences with a focus on Earth System Science.

A strong motivation to contribute to the area of human security and management of risks related to environmental change is a prerequisite to study in this Master’s Programme. Applicants should be highly motivated to learn in a multicultural and interdisciplinary environment.

Non-native English speaking applicants must prove proficiency in the English language.

For further details on the application requirements, please consult the FAQs.

UNU-EHS and the Geography Department of the University of Bonn welcome applicants who possess a first degree (Bachelor’s) in a higher education programme in Geography or a related discipline. The ideal candidate has a strong interest or experience in working in the field of human-nature relations and risk governance in the Global South. Applicants from developing countries are strongly encouraged to apply.

The Joint Master’s Programme has an annual intake. The next programme will start in October 2020. Applications are accepted during the application period from 15 September 2019 to 15 December 2019.

In order to apply for our programme, please fill in the following online application, and send us your documents via e-mail to master-georisk@ehs.unu.edu.

Please make sure that the information provided in the online form is accurate! The provided data will be directly entered in our Application Database and will be used for your assessment during the Selection Process.
You can submit the online application form only once! Please make sure that your application packet/s is/are complete and correspond/s to our requirements (see FAQs for applications 2019/2020 – “How to apply to this Master’s Programme & Epos scholarship?”).

After filling in the online form, you must send us your application packet/s via e-mail in 2 (if applying for Epos, in 3) PDF files – including the required (merged) documents – accordingly:

1. Master’s Programme application packet
2. Academic writing sample
3. Epos scholarship application packet (if applying).

Each file should not exceed 8 Megabytes (MB). Send your application packet/s online to: master-georisk@ehs.unu.edu.

A complete application packet consists of the following documents:

1. Completed, signed and dated Joint MSc GEO RISK Application Form 2020
2. A signed resume/CV
   • An up to date Résumé or CV including a chronological listing of employment and other significant activities must be submitted with your application. Make sure your CV information corresponds precisely to the certificates and letters of recommendation attached to your application!
3. Letter of motivation
   • A written statement, one to two pages in length, describing motivation, area of proposed research, background, past work in the intended field of study, plans for further postgraduate study and any other information that is relevant. Applicants who are currently registered in a postgraduate programme at another university should explain why they wish to change programmes.
4. Official transcripts reflecting the courses and grades achieved per each year and semester
   • Applicants must submit an official transcript from each college or university in which they were enrolled for any period of time, showing all courses, grades and degrees received;
   • Only transcripts that have been certified by the university where the degree was awarded will be accepted;
   • Additional Certified Transcripts in cases where additional academic credits were earned outside of Degrees awarded, or in case of courses attended within exchange programmes (i.e. Erasmus, student exchange etc.);
   • In cases where the transcript is written in any other language than English, a certified translation of the transcript into English is also required. Translated versions can be certified either by the originating university or an official national or international institution.
5. Bachelor’s and, if applicable, Master’s Degree Certificate in English
6. Certificate of English language proficiency; please check the language requirements
7. A sample of academic writing written as part of the fulfillment of the first degree (preferably in English)
   • any academic writings (Essay, Research paper, published academic article etc.) written as part of the fulfillment of your university studies;
   • an Essay related to GeoRisk topic;
   • Bachelor’s Thesis or its extract
8. Recommendation letters from your current and/or previous lecturers (these must be signed, dated, stamped, and on a letterhead); any other relevant documents – optional
9. If the candidate wishes to be considered for the EPOS funding by the DAAD the candidate should submit in a separate PDF file the following documents (all REQUIRED):

• DAAD application form
• CV / Résumé signed and dated
• Motivation statement
• Bachelor’s and, if applicable, Master’s Transcript of Academic Records reflecting the courses and grades achieved per each year and semester
• Bachelor’s and, if applicable, Master’s Degree Certificate in English
• Certificate of English language proficiency (check the language requirements)
• Academic Recommendation Letter/s from your current and/or previous lecturers; these must be signed, recently dated, stamped, and on a letterhead
• Professional Recommendation Letter/s from your current and/or previous employers; these must be signed, recently dated, stamped, and on a letterhead
• Work certificate/s from your current and/or previous employers
  • Must reflect the period of the mandatory min. 2 years professional experience after Bachelor’s studies;
  • These must mention the period of employment, must be signed, dated, stamped, and on a letterhead;
  • The certificates must correspond chronologically to the info reflected in your CV/ Résumé.

All application documents for the Master’s Programme must be sent in one PDF (merged), and Epos scholarship application documents in another PDF file (merged). If the academic work is exceeding the accepted size, the applicant may submit it in a separate PDF file as well. Each file should not exceed 8 Megabytes (MB). Send completed application packet/s exclusively online to: master-georisk@ehs.unu.edu

Only digital versions sent via email will be accepted. We do not accept applications sent via post.

Completed application packets must be received before the application deadline = December 15th, at 23:59 CET (Central European Time) for Bonn, Germany.

All candidates get a notification on their application status by mid May 2020.

For additional questions that are not covered by the FAQ, please contact: master-georisk@ehs.unu.edu.

This Joint Master’s is part of a selected group of international postgraduate programmes that benefits from the EPOS funding scheme offered by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). We will be able to offer a certain number of fully-funded scholarships to students from “developing countries” for the student intake from 2017 onwards.

Eligible candidates should fulfill the following requirements in addition to the general eligibility criteria for the Master’s programme:

• Being a candidate from an eligible Developing Country (check the list on DAAD website);
• Having at least 2 years of work experience after the Bachelor’s and before applying for Epos programme (i.e. with an NGO, GO, or the private sector);
• Having graduated from their Bachelor not more than 5 years ago;
• Having completed no other Master in a similar field of studies;
• Wishing to apply the post-Master knowledge in career as practitioner (not in an academic area/PHD) further contributing to development;
• Being ready to fully commit to start with the Joint Master Programme once accepted by Joint Master’s selection committee and for funding through Epos

Students wishing to be considered for these scholarships need to apply for the programme as well by submitting a separate application pack (see APPLICATIONS section, requirement no.9); acceptance to the former does not guarantee acceptance to the latter.

The selection process for the EPOS funding among shortlisted candidates will happen between February and April each year.

Candidates that do not fulfill the EPOS requirements but wish to benefit from financial support during their studies are invited to apply individually and early to other available funding programmes in Germany.

A list of available programmes can be found here.

The international MSc-Programme is taught equally by members of staff from the department of geography at the University of Bonn and researchers from the Institute for Environment and Human Security at the United Nations University. Fields of expertise include Vulnerability Assessment, Ecosystem Services, Sustainable Development, Disaster Management, Climate Change Adaptation, Human-Nature Relationships, Science & Technology Studies, Development Geography, Geomorphology, Socio-Hydrology, Future Studies, GIS and Remote Sensing. The Programme consists of 11 modules of which nine are taught in the first three semesters, followed by a compulsory internship and the independent work on the Master’s thesis.

Fields of study include:

• Geographical approaches to risk, vulnerability and resilience
• New approaches to development geography
• Earth system science.
• Qualitative & Quantitative Methods, as well as GIS & Remote Sensing
• Social-ecological systems, Risk & Technology.
• Risk management and governance, forecast & prediction.
• Disaster management, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and humanitarian response.

For an overview of the Modules please click here.

2017 rules and regulations (for students starting after Oct 2016)

University of Bonn rules and regulations 2017 (913.4 KB PDF) UNU-EHS rules and regulations 2017 (1,019.4 KB PDF)

2013 rules and regulations (for students who started before Oct 2016)

University of Bonn rules and regulations 2013 (172.6 KB PDF) UNU-EHS rules and regulations (1.1 MB PDF)

Curriculum overview 2017/2018

Curriculum overview 2017/2018 (972.7 KB PDF)

Call for Applications 2019/2020

Call for Applications 2019/2020 - Joint MSc Geography of Environmental Risks and Human Security (708.6 KB PDF)

Joint MSc GEO RISK Application Form 2020

Joint MSc GEO RISK Application Form 2020 (130.2 KB DOCX)

FAQs for applications 2019/2020

FAQs for applications 2019/2020 (2.3 MB PDF)