Groundbreaking master's programme exceeds expectations

Clara Baumgarten almost has to pinch herself during the kick-off event for TRACEE 2026 at Stockholm University's Frescati campus. TRACEE stands for Transdisciplinary Studies of Climate, Environment, and Energy, and is a groundbreaking master's programme designed to prepare students for the complex challenges of today's world. Exactly one year ago Clara was one of thirteen students to start its first semester ever.

First semester at Stockholm University

Originally from Germany, she did her bachelor’s degree in Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies at Stockholm University and could easily be mistaken for a Swede due to her impeccable Swedish pronunciation.

“I first found out about this new master's programme in a newsletter from the university”, she explains. “It immediately caught my interest as it focusses on climate change and the environment. These are issues we need to deal with.”

TRACEE is a joint initiative between eleven leading research universities in the European alliance CIVIS. The first semester is the same for all the students and spent at Stockholm University. After that they go off to other universities in the alliance, depending on their chosen study track. Clara is specializing in Environmental Humanities and Law and did her second semester at the University of Salzburg. The third one will take place at the University of Bucharest.

“Apart from myself there were seven other students on the programme who went to Salzburg in the spring”, Clara says. “First, you get settled here in Stockholm for one semester and build a community with the other TRACEE students. Then you head off to another university in a different country and start studying with a lot of new people. It's a great adventure.”

Despite the fact that the TRACEE students disperse after the initial semester, Clara and her fellow programme students formed a tight bond from the start and have managed to maintain it by keeping in touch online and visiting each other in their different locations. This is something that thrills the teachers and initiators of the programme.

“They've done everything we'd hoped for”

Kevin Noone, Professor Emeritus of Chemical Meteorology at Stockholm University, cannot praise the TRACEE students enough.

“I’ve been teaching for years and this group of students are extraordinary. I feel blessed to be their professor. They’ve done everything that we’d hoped for, and more, in creating this community and really caring for each other. This is not something that can be forced; it needs to happen naturally. I really hope the new bunch of students will do the same.”

The new group consists of seventeen students from across the world, ready to embark on the TRACEE adventure. Clara and a couple of other TRACEE 2025 students have joined the kick-off event to help welcome and support the newcomers. After an information-packed morning the students, teaching and admin staff are all invited to what could best be described as a rite of passage: kayaking on the nearby lake Brunnsviken.

Caring about the future of the planet

Alasdair Skelton, Professor of Geochemistry and Petrology at Stockholm University, one of the programme’s initiators and an avid kayaker, is delighted with the way TRACEE is going.

“The first year has been wonderful. It’s a great group of young people who want to make the world a better place. We have the privilege to help out a little bit.”

What is the key factor behind the success so far?

“The programme has been developed by a bunch of academics who were given the freedom to create something they saw as meaningful. Dedicated coordinators and administrators have also played a big part in the success. It’s all worked out because we have the same vision: every single one of us working on TRACEE cares about the future of this planet. I’m absolutely delighted to have this kick-off for the second time today”, Alasdair says before heading off to supervise the inflating of the kayaks on the large lawn on campus.

“It’s easier to carry them to the lake if you inflate them first”, he explains while the participants try to figure out which part of the kayak is supposed to be above water.

A master's programme with many options

Thomas Jung is one of the TRACEE 2025 students and clearly impressed with Alasdair’s teaching.

“I really like a challenge and the idea of going out of your own discipline. With Alasdair I get to see things from a geologist’s eye. My study background is in Sustainable Science and Business. I was born in Chile but lived in France when I applied for TRACEE.”

“If you’re thinking of studying this master's programme I would do it 100 per cent”, Thomas continues. “It's wide enough for you to be able to do a variety of things. Since I became a TRACEE student my confidence has grown a lot and my grades have improved. We can all be a little bit scared at times but I know I’m not a dumb person and I feel confident in what I know.”

Educate people to go into decision-making positions

Sophie Haslett, a Stockholm University researcher focusing on the composition and impacts of aerosol particles and also a teacher on the programme, says:

“Everyone has got expertise in different ways. I’ve been very much involved in the creation of TRACEE, both the teaching and the administrative parts. I really like the fact that people come from different backgrounds and faculties.”

She adds that a strong motivation behind TRACEE is to educate people to go into positions where they can make decisions. Once they graduate they won’t be limited to one narrow subject but will have gained the complex knowledge and skills needed for future global leaders.

“We want TRACEE to be in touch with the so-called real world”, Sophie says with a smile.

Wants the students to have fulfilling careers

Her colleague Todd Ehlers, Professor and Head of School of Geographical & Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow, is another one of the initiators and driving forces behind TRACEE.

“When we started out we had a vision for how to save the world and how to train the students for it. We were a group with just the right chemistry of people which is probably the main factor why TRACEE materialized in the end. I’m thrilled to see all the students here today. In the future I’d like to see even more students on the programme, ideally twice as many as today.”

He goes on to stress that what he really wants is for the students to be trained for the jobs that they really want.

“I want them to have fulfilling careers and to be able to do things that they couldn’t have done before they came to us. The success of educators is measured by the success of their students. I really hope they will fulfill their goals, both professionally and personally.”

Meet some of the TRACEE 2026 students