Towards a safe and just operating
space for EU agriculture

Master's Module on AgEcon Modelling

Research institutions developing and maintaining simulation models in agricultural economics and environmental sciences face difficulties in recruiting young researchers with the necessary methodological and computational skills. A significant challenge is that students pursuing agricultural economics degrees often receive little to no exposure to modelling before beginning their doctoral studies.

To address this gap, BrightSpace partners have explored ways to integrate modelling into academic curricula. Discussions held during the project’s kick-off meeting in The Hague (November 2022) and the first annual meeting in Prague (October 2023) led to a proposal to support modelling-focused content in lectures and seminars within master’s and doctoral programmes.

In this context, the AFEPA – European Master’s programme in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Policy Analysis  is a joint programme co-financed by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union for students interested in the economic analysis of agricultural and environmental policies. AFEPA offers a joint curriculum by four main partner universities: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC) in Italy, University of Bonn (UBonn) in Germany, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Sweden and Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) in Belgium.

Of the AFEPA hosting institutions UCSC and UBonn being part of the BrightSpace consortium have engaged other project partners in contributing to the AFEPA programme’s curriculum. The overarching goal of the BrightSpace project is to establish a specialised track in Economic and Integrated Assessment Modelling for Policy Impact Evaluation within AFEPA.

The period for applications for the AFEPA master’s programme for 2025 closes on 15th of February 2025.

Information on application and admission requirements can be found here.

 

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