Admission requirements
This course is a specialisation module of the MSc Industrial Ecology (joint degree TU Delft and Leiden University).
MSc IE students should have attended and successfully completed the course Methods: Analysing Physical Processes (4413MAPPT).
Description
This course teaches students the fundamental methods of material flow analysis (MFA). Students learn the basic principles of three major types of MFA – static, dynamic, and economy-wide. The learning is reinforced by readings and exercises on the different approaches, and a group case study using static MFA. Students that take this course are highly encouraged to continue to the course MFA 2 that focuses on dynamic MFA in greater depth, and/or to the course “Spatial analysis in Urban Regions” that focuses on material stocks with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Together these courses provide a comprehensive up-to-date knowledge of Material Flow Analysis.
Course objectives
After completing the course, the student is able to:
Comprehend the fundamental principles of different types of MFA (economy-wide, static, and dynamic).
Demonstrate advanced knowledge of MFA terminology and concepts.
Collect, interpret and use data for MFA studies.
Design MFA research questions, apply MFA in a case study to answer these and transparently report the findings.
Identify which type of MFA is applicable to research different sustainability questions.
Understand links between material flows, service provision and environmental impacts.
Timetable
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.
MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).
For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable.
Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.
Mode of instruction
Weekly lectures, discussions, and in-class exercises.
Weekly self-study through individual and group assignments.
Tutoring sessions regarding the individual and group work.
Students are expected to attend all lectures and tutoring sessions.
Assessment method
Assessment
Several smaller individual assignments throughout the course.
Individual assignment; critical reading and interpretation of an MFA study.
Group assignment; conducting a static MFA case study.
Weighing
The final course grade is established by the weighted average of the individual assignments (50%) and the groups assignment (50%).
Final course grades are expressed by means of a figure between 1 and 10, rounded to the nearest half. The grade 5,5 cannot be granted. Grades between 5,01 and 5,49 are rounded to 5,0 and grades between 5,50 and 5,99 are rounded to 6,0. The rounding process is done, only at the end, for the final calculation. The partial grades (of individual and group assignments) will keep two digits after the decimal point. The minimum pass grade is 5.50 for both the individual critical reading assignment and the group assignment.
Resit
A retake is possible for the individual critical reading assignment and the group assignment, but not for the smaller individual assignments. The maximum grade to be obtained for the retake is 6.
Inspection and feedback
An inspection and feedback session is offered on the student’s request.
Registration
Every student of all years must enroll via MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you will see step by step how to enroll in courses in MyStudyMap. Note that your enrollment is only completed when you submit your course planning in the 'Ready for enrollment' tab by clicking 'submit'.
There are two registration periods per year: registration for the fall semester opens in July and registration for the spring semester opens in December. Please see this page for more information.
Please note that it is compulsory to register for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam. Keep in mind that there are enrollment deadlines, see this page for more information.
Extensive FAQ on MyStudymap can be found here.
Contact
Coördinator: Peter Berrill and Ingeborg Kluts
Other teachers involved: Tomer Fishman and guest lecturers
Remarks
MSc Industrial Ecology students can register for the course and exam via MystudyMap. Other students need to contact the study advisors of the programme via studyadvisor-ie@cml.leidenuniv.nl