MOOC on Sustainable Management of Critical Raw Materials

• Research unit: SERI
• Project number: 23.00147

Abstract (English)

Critical raw materials are materials that are needed for current and future products and technologies, but face now or soon a significant risk of not being sufficiently available. This can be for a variety of reasons: e.g. they are scarce in the Earth’s crust, some stakeholders are opposed to their extraction, they are only available in conflict regions, price volatility makes them at times unaffordable, environmental legislation constraints, etc. These materials often have special properties that make them important for modern applications such as electronics or new energy technologies, and are often difficult to substitute. We establish a free online course, which can be attended by anyone interested in Critical Raw Materials and on how to manage them in a sustainable fashion. Participants can check their progress through exercises, and they can obtain a certificate at the end of the course if they want. A summer and a winter school will provide the opportunity to learn in a group and discuss with the experts face-to-face. Also, we will educate teachers on how to use this course in their own teaching, combining participating in the online course with classroom Q&A, hands-on exercises and discussions of current cases.