Applied Earth Sciences in its current form has its roots in 1905, when the TH Delft and with it the department of Chemistry and Mining were founded. In 1912 Mining became an independent department with its own accommodation at the Mijnbouwstraat 120.
Since that time a lot has changed. The main focus of the study has continually shifted; from exploitation and processing of solid ores in the beginning, to the exploration and production of petroleum and natural gas since the 70’s. Since 1975 there have been five different Master’s tracks which still exist: Resource Engineering, Petroleum Engineering, Applied Geophysics, Geoscience & Remote Sensing and Engineering Geology. Even the name has continually changed: from ‘Mining’ in the beginning, to ‘Mining and Petroleum Engineering’, to the current name ‘Applied Earth Sciences’. Additionally, there have been significant changes in recent years to the educational program, such as the implementation of the bachelor-minor structure, the ‘harde knip’ (bachelor before master rule) and binding recommendation on continuation of studies for the first year students.
However, the most substantial change has undoubtedly been the move, in january 2007, from the old building at the Mijnbouwstraat. This meant that a lot of the history attached to the old building had to be left behind. Nevertheless the unique atmosphere has remained even in the new building at the Stevinweg.
This section offers all sorts of AES-related information. For the most current information you can always look on the website. For more details regarding various aspects please click the buttons below.
The TU Delft uses the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). This means that every bachelor programme consist of 180 ECTS, 60 ECTS per year. The regular programme consists of 150 ECTS and the minor consists of 30 ECTS. After completing the bachelor programme, you will receive the BSc diploma, Bachelor of Science. Most students continue with a master programme after their bachelors. You can find more information about master programmes here. Want to know more about the bachelor programme? Click here. You can find more information about the courses at studiegids.tudelft.nl (English page is available).
This is an overview of the bachelor programme:
The first year is meant to gain a good view of what Applied Earth Sciences is all about. Students will have a few introduction courses, for instance Introduction to Minerals, Mining & Geo-Engineering, where all the master programmes will be discussed. During the ‘Nuldejaarsexcursie’ in August, every new student will be able to visit some companies. This excursion is organised by the MV and its purpose is to make sure that every new student will get a good impression of the subjects in our BSc degree and career options. More information about this excursion? Mail to mv@tudelft.nl. During the first year students have several practicals about minerals and rocks and chemistry. It also consists of a few courses about geology and in the 4th period, students will go on fieldwork to the Eifel and the Ardennes to learn more about geology. Of course, like every other TU Delft programme, the programme consists of many technical courses like mathematics, mechanics and even chemistry. Here, you can find more information about the courses in the first year.
At the end of the first year, students will receive a binding recommendation on continuation of studies (BSA). This means that you will have to gain a minimum of 45 ECTS during your first year of studies in order to be allowed to proceed to the second year. Which is 3/4 of the total number of credits you can achieve during the first year.
Would you like to learn more about the bachelor Applied Earth Sciences? The TU Delft organises some information activities for new students.
Courses in de second year go more into detail of the area of the study. This means there are more advanced courses about mathematics and mechanics, like Signals & Systems with Python and Soil Mechanics. Besides the technical courses, there are also a few more geological courses like Sedimentology & Reservoir Geology and the Geological Fieldwork to the Southern of France.
Here, you can find more information about the courses in the second year.
In the first half year every student can expand their knowledge with subjects that are not taught as part of your own study programme. The TU Delft offers several minors and electives for this part of the programme. It is also possible to do a minor at another University or to study abroad for half a year.
The second part of the year consists mostly of advanced courses in petroleum engineering and mining engineering and a Field Exploration Project. The final step in the programme is the Bachelors Thesis.
Here, you can find more information about the courses in the third year.
To complete the bachelor programme, students have to do a project of approximately seven weeks. At the end of this project the student writes a bachelor thesis report and gives a oral presentation. The subject of the project can be almost everything in the field of study. Teachers from our department are willing to help the students, but students can also do a project at a company or research institution.
For minors on other faculties, you can find more information at minors.tudelft.nl. You have to register if you want to participate in a minor. In April, there is a information event organised by the TU Delft. This event is about TU Delft minors, for information about minors on other universities, you need to visit their websites.
You can also do your minor abroad. If you are interested in doing your minor abroad, then we recommend visiting the study advisor.
Applied Earth Sciences has five different master directions. After completing the bachelor programs, most students continue studying one of the five master directions within AES. The MV also organizes activities for master students, such as the company visits.
Every master program has slightly the same schedule: in the first year students take the specialized courses and in the second year students will work on their Master Thesis, this Thesis is worth around 40 ECTS. There is also room for electives.
There are 5 master directions:
Here you can find the programme for the latter four directions. For the programme of geophysics, please go the section below.
You can find more information about the programme at the TU Delft website.
The Applied Geophysics track is mainly about exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon or technical research. Graduates work in a wide range of companies and government institutes in the petroleum and civil engineering industry, such as oil and gas companies, contracting firms, IT companies, engineering companies, operators and financial institutions. Some sign up for PhD research programmes in various parts of the world. Others find employment outside geophysics in, for example, consultancy agencies. The programme is in three different European universities: half a year at the TU Delft, half a year at ETH Zürich and half a year at RWTH Aachen. Then students start working on their masterthesis, this can be done at one of the three universities or other research organisations.
The complete study programme can be found here.
For more information contact Dr.ir. E.C. Slob:
E.C.Slob@tudelft.nl.
In this discipline, you will study physical phenomena in the earth system that vary from weather time scales to climate time scales. You will be trained to analyse the complex processes, such as:
You will use modelling and observational techniques to analyze and quantify these processes, and apply those techniques to monitor, understand and predict phenomena that have a strong impact on daily life (storms, rainfall and flooding, droughts and heat waves). With the knowledge and skills acquired during this discipline, you will contribute to solving one of the largest challenges faced by our society: the prediction, mitigation and adaptation to extreme weather and climate change.
For more information you can contact MSc-AES@tudelft.nl
Our Earth is changing due to the natural geophysical processes, climate change, land use, growing population and urbanisation. In this discipline, key questions are: how to improve our understanding of the underlying processes and how to make the right decisions for the future? In order to answer these questions, you will learn about advanced remote sensing technologies, together with innovative data science and modelling techniques. Measurement techniques of interest include imaging radar (including interferometry), optical and multi-spectral imaging, gravimetry, radiometry, altimetry, LiDAR, sonar, GNSS, electromagnetic exploration methods, and seismic exploration methods. You will learn about measurement principles, sensors, and data acquisition techniques, as well as how to design and apply geo-data analysis methods and to exploit the data to address scientific and societal challenges related to for example geohazards and climate change.
For more information you can contact MSc-AES@tudelft.nl
With a rise in the worldwide standard of living and a growing world population, the use of the deep subsurface is becoming more intense. At the same time, society requires an accurate estimate of the risks and environmental impacts involved with subsurface engineering. Geo-Energy engineers are fully equipped to address these challenges. They have a thorough understanding of the rocks and structures and rock-fluid interactions in the subsurface which enables them to simulate, predict and monitor processes of deep-subsurface use and to design interventions minimizing the economic and environmental risks in a responsible manner. Geo-Energy Engineering combines multiple disciplines in a single coherent program, which makes it unique in The Netherlands.
For more information you can contact MSc-AES@tudelft.nl
This is a Master Discipline designed to provide a solid understanding of the global mining industry and takes a life-cycle approach by covering the entire mining value chain. It offers a state-of-the-art technical basis in resource modelling, mine design, and economic evaluation. Technical knowledge is also supplemented with topics on business economics, ethics, environmental engineering, and a clearly defined and structured programme for the management of health safety and environment.
Learn more about the MSc programme Resource Engineering? You can contact MSc-AES@tudelft.nl.
The MV also assists in the tutoring the first year students. In the beginning of the year, students are assigned to a mentor group. This group is guided by a second or third year student. In the first few weeks, the mentor meetings will be every week and during these meetings the tips and tricks of every course are discussed. During these meetings, students also learn how to work with programmes such as Brightspace and osiris. The commissioner of Education of the MV, the teachers and staff of the faculty try to solve every problem and complaint that comes up during these meetings.
The mentoring system is important for our students, also because of te Binding recommendation on continuation of studies. Students need to gain a minimum of 45 out of 60 ECTS in the first year if they want to continue their bachelors.
Since September 2013, the new bachelor programme has started for the first year students. For the second and third year, it started since September 2014. This means that students who started in the old bachelor, but still have to finish their bachelors, need to do the courses of the new bachelor. In this document, students can find out which courses they have to take in order to finish their bachelors. If students have questions about this, they can always come to the MV room or send an e-mail to onderwijs-mv@tudelft.nl. If necessary, the MV, together with the faculty, will organise a meeting where these arrangements are explained.
During the year the MV and Education and Student Affairs (ESA) organise several informative meetings. The following events take place:
• A general informative event in the beginning of the year
• Two events where students are informed about the possible consequences of a moderate or bad study success. This is after the first and second period.
For second year students there is a minor- and a master event. During these events, students are informed about their options in the minor- and masterprogrammes. The events are:
• A general master event in the second period, this is on our own faculty (CEG) and this lasts two weeks. Every master programme is presented during these two weeks. This is a perfect opportunity for students to learn more about every master programme.
• An event about the minor at the TU Delft and within our own faculty.
• An excursion for the second year students of the MV. During this excursion the students will visit several companies and every master programme is represented by one or more companies. This way students can find out which company they find most interesting and which master programme is the best option for the student. Another excursion which is organized by the MV is the Bachelor Excursion for third year and older bachelor students. This excursion holds the same aim as the second year excursion, however other companies are visited and the excursion is further away. Countries that have been visited with the Bachelor excursion include Norway, Italy and Germany.
Study progress is getting more important, especially when students are interested in working in committees or a board. The Bachelor-before-master rule and the recommendation on continuation of studies (BSA) do not increase the accessibility of activities such as committees and boards.
The TU Delft works with a Graduation Support Scheme. Students who carry out administrative activities, receive a financial compensation. This is because the TU Delft considers it important that students are active besides studying. If a student gets sick, the same compensation is available.
The compensation is not the same for every committee, if a committee is more intensive and takes more time, the compensation will be higher. The Half Lustrum committee receives more compensation than the Yearbook editorial board. A compensation for the board of the MV is also a compensation available. To receive this compensation, students need to meet some requirements.
Almost every organisation within our faculty is under the supervision of the dean, except the board of examiners. This board consist of teachers of several sections and they are responsible for all the official exam related matters. The board of examiners determines the exam results, handles every individual request about the study programmes and handles situations where teachers and students are not on the same foot. The board of examiners is working on the rules and guidelines for exams, they determine the fail and succes guidelines of exams, they determine the rules of the with distinction-predicate and they handle complaints from teachers and students.
The board of examiners consist of:
| Chairman | Dr. E.Mostert |
| Vice-Chairman | Dr. V.L. Markine |
| Members | Dr. P.G. Ditmar |
| Dr. ir. S. van Nederveen | |
| Dr. A. Straub | |
| Dr. ir. X. Jiang | |
| Dr. ir. S. van Cranenburgh | |
| Dr. B.M. vam Breukelen | |
| Drs. J.C. Blom | |
| Dr. ir. N. van Oort | |
| Prof. dr.ir. W.S.J. Uijttewaal | |
| Dr. ir. P.C.J. Hoogenboom | |
| External Member | Dr. ir. E. van Kampen |
| Secretary | B. Zaaijer, LL.M |
The rules and guidelines are public and everyone is able to download them.
The master programmes takes two years and students finish it with a thesis. This thesis is worth of 40 to 44 ECTS, this differs per master programme. The last 9 months of the master programme, students will work on their thesis. Teachers can help the students find a subject or a company where the thesis can be about.
Before September 2008, every students was aloud to start working on a thesis if they have a maximum of 15 ECTS left of courses to finish. Now the board of examiners has changed the rule and since September 2008, students can only start working on their thesis if they have no more than 10 ECTS left of courses to finish. A few years ago, students were also not aloud to start working on their thesis if they still have to finish their bachelors, but after the bachelor-before-master rule, this should not be a problem. Students can not finish their thesis if they still have not finished every course.
You can find more information in the Rules and Guidelines of the board of examiners.
Brightspace is the most important communication system between the faculty, bachelor- and master programmes and the students. Both students and teachers use Brightspace to exchange information. Every course has its own page on Brightspace, where information is provided and where reports can be handed in. This is why it is important to enroll yourself on Brightspace for every course, because this way every student knows what is going on in the course. There are no other official channels where information is provided, so the TU Delft expects you to keep an eye on Brightspace.
To visit the Brightspace webpage, go to brightspace.tudelft.nl. To sign up for a course, you need to go to the tab ‘Courses’ and then type the name of the course or the course code in ‘Course Search’. After finding the right course, you can click on ‘Enroll’. After enrolling, you can find all the information, such as PowerPoint Presentations, readers or old exams.
Besides the course enrollment, Brightspace has more functions. At ‘My TUDelft’ you can find an overview of every course in which you are enrolled, but you can also find general announcements or announcements about the programme. At ‘My Content’ you can store files up to 200 MB. At ‘My StudentInfo’ you can find a weblink to your personal schedule, a digital dictionary (woordenboek.tudelft.nl), you can download software and you can order your readers.
You can also enroll for the exam archive of the MV. Here you can find old exams and solutions, you can use these to prepare for your exam. You need to me a member of the MV to enroll for this course page.
You can find more information about Brightspace under the ‘My TUDelft’ tab, here you can download several manuals and introduction presentations.
When you are officially a student of the TU Delft, you will have your own NetID. You will need this username and password for almost every ICT facility from the university. Webmail, Brightspace, log on at the TU Delft-server, printing, copying, scanning, log on to the TU-internet at home: for all these facilities you will need your NetID. If you are a new student, you will receive your NetID and password by mail. Normally, your NetID consist of the first letter of your name and your surname.
For every exam and for some practical sessions, you need to register on the internet. This has to be done at least 14 days before the exam or practical session (including the weekends), otherwise you can be excluded from the exam or practical session. Deregistering for an exam is possible until 3 days before the exam. On MyTUDelft, you are able to register and unregister. You can find a weblink to MyTUDelft on Brightspace. After logging on, you can click on ‘register’, then you can click on ‘test’. Select your study program and then you can register for your exams. On MyTUDelft, you can find information about your exam, such as the date, time, location and results.
Have you forgotten to register for your exam? You can submit a participation request for an exam from 14 until 3 calendar days before the date of your exam via MyTUDelft. Your name will be on a waiting list and if there is a place for you in the exam room, you will receive an exam ticket. This will be one day before the exam. Your last resort is reporting to the invigilater, 15 minutes prior to the start of your exam. Starting from 30 minutes after the exam has begun, you will be granted access to the exam hall by the invigilator. The 30 minutes you will have missed will not be compensated.
As a TU student, you also have access to your own TU Delft e-mailaddress at the TU server. Normally, such an address looks like this: your initials + surname, seperated by points, @student.tudelft.nl.
Just like Brightspace, Webmail is an official communication tool of the TU Delft. On your webmail you will receive important messages, announcements and newsletters about your study program. It is important that you frequently check your webmaill. You can log on to your e-mail addres by the following website: webmail.tudelft.nl.
Some people might find it handy to link their TU Delft e-mail address to their personal e-mail address. This is possible, the only thing you have to do is go to e-service.tudelft.nl, log on with your NetID and change your personal settings. Here is an option to link your TU Delft e-mail to your personal e-mail. On this page, you also have the option to receive your exam results on your e-mail, so you will be notified when a new grade is added in OSIRIS.
On the campus are several places where you can print, copy and scan. For scanning, you can log on to a printer with your NetID, this is also possible by scanning your campus card. The scanned documents can be send automatically to your TU Delft e-mail or you can send it to your personal e-mail address. If you want to scan every page in one PDF document, you have to select the ‘Batch mode scan’ option. After you are done, you can log out and the documents will be send to your e-mail or it will be placed in your personal folder at the server (this is the ‘My Documents’ folder when you are loggen on the TU Delft network).
For printing and copying, you can use this link. You need money on your account. If you are logged on at the network, you can see how much money you have on your account. The TU Delft will give you €15,-, when all the money is spent, you can upgrade your printing balance on the same website.
Sometimes there are no computers available at the faculty, but you still want to work with some TU Delft software. You can still use these programs at your own computer. Log on at weblogin.tudelft.nl with your NetID and then you can choose which program you want to work with. This way you can work with every program on your own computer, not only when you are on the internet of the TU Delft, but even at home. This is free of charge.