Teaching & education
Teaching
For more than fifteen years I taught sustainability, energy and physics — to students from secondary school to postgraduate level, most of it at Leiden University College The Hague. I’m not teaching a university course at the moment, but I expect to return to it, and in the meantime I’m always glad to give educational talks and guest lectures.
Free online course
The Great Sustainability Transition: Global Challenges, Local Actions
★ Rated 4.9 / 5 · thousands of learners worldwideWith Thijs Bosker at Leiden University, I created a free online course (MOOC) on sustainability. It explains how today’s environmental crises — biodiversity loss, climate breakdown and pollution — are connected, why the great transitions in energy and food are needed, and how anyone can take meaningful action in their own community.
A textbook for the classroom
I co-wrote Food and Sustainability (Oxford University Press) with Thijs Bosker and David Ehrhardt — an interdisciplinary introduction aimed at first-year undergraduates, written to support teaching on food, agriculture and the environment. One reviewer called it “the most compelling and accessible textbook on the subject to date.”
Courses I’ve taught
Across three universities I’ve convened and taught more than 100 EC of courses, from statistics and physics to energy science and sustainability, at every level from late secondary school to postgraduate. Student evaluations have averaged around 4.75 out of 5 — in the top decile — and I was named Physics Teacher of the Year at the University of Auckland. I hold Dutch university teaching certification (BKO, 2015). I’ve also supervised more than 15 PhD candidates, over 20 Master’s students and more than 30 undergraduate honours theses, several of which became published papers.
Leiden University College The Hague · 2014–2024
- Sustainability: Fundamentals & Challenges Upper-level honours course; from the fundamentals of sustainability to working with stakeholders on real challenges.
- Alternative Energy Strategies Convenor. What it takes to decarbonise modern society, and future energy scenarios.
- Energy Science Convenor. The scientific foundations of energy generation, from fossil fuels to renewables.
- Global Challenges: Sustainability Convenor. Defining and measuring sustainability and the changes affecting our life-support systems. (The basis for the online course.)
- Physics Convenor. The laws of physics taught through film, television and everyday examples.
- Statistics & Mathematics Introductory courses; helped develop the materials used across the teaching team.
University of Auckland, New Zealand · 2010–2011
- Science and Technology of Sustainable Energy Co-convenor. The physics behind sustainable energy.
- Mechanics, Waves & Wave Propagation Co-convenor and instructor, from introductory undergraduate to postgraduate level.
- Stage One & Two Physics Laboratories Instructor; tutoring students in physics experimentation.
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand · 2013
- Physics of the Earth and Planets Co-convenor. Celestial mechanics, the solar system and fusion.
- Thermodynamics Instructor. Macro and micro thermodynamics.
Grinnell College, USA · guest mini-course
- Energy Futures Visiting mini-course in energy physics and alternative energy futures.
Invite me to give an educational talk
I’m not teaching a university course right now, but I regularly give lectures, keynotes and educational talks for schools, universities, companies and the public — and I expect to return to teaching in future. You can see a selection of my talks and lectures, or get in touch to discuss an event.