Master students in Biotechnology could take a course on bioeconomy in summer term 2016 for the first time at the department of biology (Münster University). While containing mostly contents from biology, the integration of political and economic inputs gave the course interdisciplinary character.
Bio-economic processes do not only provide opportunities for resource-saving and therefore more sustainable production in the field of agriculture and in the food industry, but potentially could have the same effects in the car industry and the energy sector, according to course instructor Prof. Bodo Philipp.
The compatibility of sustainability and economic growth is one of bioeconomy’s great promises that was scrutinized due to the interdisciplinary approach of the course. ZIN spokeswoman Prof. Doris Fuchs and her research associate Carolin Bohn critically challenged this promise during a session on political science’s perspective on biotechnology and further elaborated on questions of acceptance and corporate power in the biotechnological sector.
The value added by this integration of contents from outside the field clearly showed in the multi-faceted projects developed by the students during the course. While addressing the questions on the sustainability of biotechnological procedures previously raised by the political scientists, the projects offered a deeper look into the scientific side of biotechnology for the ZIN-members at the same time. The cooperation with the ZIN will continue in the winter term 2017/18, according to lecturer Dr. Stephan Jekat.

A detailed contribution on the new course “Bioeconomy” can be found in the current issue of the university newspaper wissen|leben, Page 8.

[Source: WWU Münster (ed.) (2017): Innovative Ansätze für geringere Güllemengen. Studierende aus dem Fachbereich Biologie haben im neuen Kurs Bioökonomie eigene Lösungen entwickelt, IN: wissen|leben 11 (6): 8.]

[Picture: Judith Kraft | WWU Münster]