Field lab Samsø and Aalborg University

Purpose and description:

With 20 years of development and Samsø as a “field lab,” we’ve gathered experience within energy planning and optimization based on the Danish transition of phasing out fossil fuels, leading to far more sustainable development in Denmark.

Practical experienced-based courses. Aalborg University (AAU) Department of Planning (PLAN) builds on positive experience from previous years’ partnership between Samsø Energy Academy and the university, with the goal of strengthening their educational cooperation.

Two lectures are being prepared for the spring of 2019 for AAU’s Sustainable Energy and Planning Management program, where Samsø Energy Academy is developing Local Pioneer course material in order to increase student understanding of citizen-driving planning. In addition, the Energy Academy is available to support lectures at the Environmental Management & Sustainability Science (EMSS) program; Cities and Sustainability (CiSu) program; and the Urban, Energy & Environmental Planning (BEM) program.

There will be an annual spring workshop, where university students from Aalborg and Copenhagen will gather on Samsø. Students will be taught about local action, based on the university curriculum and developed together with teachers from both Aalborg and Copenhagen.

Samsø Energy Academy is working on establishing 2-3 fall-semester internships for AAU students (PLAN’s Master programs SEPM, Urban Planning and Management/UPM, EMSS, and potentially CiSu in Copenhagen). The goal is to offer these internships annually.

Partners:

AAU supports The Smart Islands Declaration, and participates in Samsø Energy Academy’s membership of the EU’s Smart Islands Initiative, strengthening AAU’s network in researching island societies.

Samsø Energy Academy CEO Søren Hermansen is an adjunct professor at AAU, and gives lectures at universities around the world. He is also often on radio and TV, both in Denmark and internationally.