'Human Development in Landscapes' (GSHDL) is an interdisciplinary graduate school at the Christian-Albrechts-University in which 15 institutes from five faculties, the Leibniz-Institute for Science Education (IPN), and the State Archaeological Museum of Schleswig-Holstein (Schloss Gottorf) work together. More than 30 well-known national and international institutions, among them the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), are linked with the GSHDL as partners.
The Graduate School was created within the German 'Excellence Initiative' in 2007, the first doctoral students started in early 2008.
The school’s aim is to educate highly qualified experts with a broad understanding of past human and environmental interactions. Its focus centres on covering the complexity of natural, social, and cultural phenomena involved in the human development in landscapes. The spectrum of PhD projects ranges from the domestication of pigs in Europe and maritime logistics in the Age of the Northern Crusades to the experience of landscape in World War I.
A main focus is on archaeology and neighbouring disciplines, such as archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, and environmental archaeology.
The post grade programme balances individual research and graduate inter-disciplinary courses within three thematic clusters, each of them focusing on different issues. Education and research in the clusters is supported by three platforms providing a broad range of resources, training, and additional expertise to the School. The working language is English.
