Master in Leadership for Sustainability
Malmö, Sweden
Master degree
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
15 Jan 2026*
EARLIEST START DATE
31 Aug 2026
TUITION FEES
SEK 100,000 **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* first admission round; we recommend international students apply in this round
** full tuition fee
Key Summary
This multidisciplinary one-year master’s programme provides students with an understanding of organisation and leadership theory in the context of sustainability. Students will acquire a critical understanding of sustainable development and sustainability leadership. Furthermore, they will learn research methods for exploring and analysing sustainable challenges using leadership and organisation theory. This education provides a foundation for those seeking to lead and/or manage sustainable initiatives, in research and practice, that bring about change in the workplace, community, and the world.
The master’s degree programme is grounded in four core premises:
- Sustainability requires new forms of organising, especially when it comes to a project-based organisation involving diverse stakeholders
- Organising and leading sustainability requires new and diverse leadership and organising skills, understanding, and knowledge for managers and leaders of sustainable projects
- Organising and leading sustainability requires a new way of thinking about sustainability within and between organisations. Current research on social entrepreneurship and social innovation can reveal new methods and strategies for this
- Methodological and methodical knowledge and understanding are needed to enable leaders to make sustainable decisions
Based on these four premises, the programme bridges the fields of organization theory, leadership, project management, social innovation, and social entrepreneurship, so that new ways of organizing and leading sustainability can be created. This will enable students to rethink common perceptions of leadership and organisational development.
A unique programme for future sustainable leaders and social entrepreneurs
In this programme, students are taught to reflect upon organisational and leadership challenges linked to organisational development and sustainability. This programme provides students with the knowledge and critical understanding of current research in the fields of leadership and organisation, project management, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation in the context of sustainability and sustainable development.
This master's programme is also focused on action and doing via diverse projects and thesis work. This is a way to develop students’ professional, conceptual, and interpersonal skills so that as future sustainable leaders and social entrepreneurs, they will drive sustainable changes and have the capacity to make informed decisions about organisational and leadership issues in the management of sustainable organisations and projects.
Organisation
The master's programme “Leadership for Sustainability” is a multidisciplinary master dealing with the issues of organising and leading organisational development to reach sustainability. The standpoint of this master's is that sustainability requires new forms of organising, especially project-based organisations involving diverse stakeholders. Organising and leading sustainability thus requires new and diverse leading and organising skills, understanding, and knowledge of project managers and leaders.
It also requires a new way of thinking about sustainability within and between organisations. This new way is to be found in contemporary and ongoing research in the fields of social entrepreneurship and social innovation. The master's programme provides methodological and methodical knowledge, understanding, and skills of research to enable sustainable decision-making in organisations.
Teaching methods
Lectures, seminars, and workshops enable interaction in small and large classroom settings. Group work is used to generate discussions about sustainability, especially while doing case studies. Study visits and guest lectures connect learning with practice. Individual papers, individual studies, and thesis work focus on in-depth knowledge and mastery of a specific subject.
Contents
Autumn 2025 - Semester 1
- Organising and Leading Sustainable Organisations (OL641E), 7.5 credits, compulsory
- Leadership and Organisation for Sustainability - Research Methods (OL652E), 7.5 credits, compulsory
- Project Management and Sustainability (OL643E), 15 credits, compulsory
Spring 2026 - Semester 2
- Sustainable Development: Individual, Organisational, and Network Perspectives (OL644E), 7.5 credits, compulsory
- Social Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation and Sustainability (OL645E), 7.5 credits, compulsory
- Master's Thesis with a focus on Leadership and Organisation for Sustainability (OL646E), 15 credits, compulsory
Knowledge and understanding
After successful completion of this programme, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate insight into current research in the fields of leadership and organisation, project management, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation in the context of sustainability and sustainable development.
- Acquire a critical understanding of the fields of leadership and organisation, project management, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation in the context of sustainability and sustainable development.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the challenges involved in organising and leading sustainable development, as well as organisational development and project management.
- Acquire and develop a set of perspectives and tools for approaching the challenges of organisational development and particularly different approaches to project management and demonstrate an understanding of how these tools relate to creating and sustaining a coalition of stakeholders.
- Demonstrate knowledge of several different models and techniques for broad stakeholder involvement.
- Discuss basic values underpinning social entrepreneurship and sustainability.
- Acquire a critical understanding of philosophical, methodological, and ethical approaches in research focused on leadership and organisation.
Skills and competencies
After successful completion of this programme, the student will be able to:
- Find, evaluate, and synthesise current research in the fields of leadership and organisation, project management, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation in the context of sustainability and sustainable development.
- Identify and assess ethical issues in balancing the interests of different stakeholders with an end toward creating sustainable development.
- Critically reflect on the roles of leaders and social entrepreneurs as change agents, as well as on the roles of followers in the context of sustainable development and thus reflect on their future role in sustainable development.
- Develop organisations and leadership processes following scientific methodological and methodical standards in leadership and organisation studies.
- Make informed decisions on choices of organisational and leadership models and strategies in the management of sustainable projects.
Judgment and approach
After successful completion of this programme, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate the capacity to critically use his/her understanding of the current research in the fields of organisation and leadership, project management, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation in the context of sustainability and sustainable development to identify a problem, analyse it, and solve it via the generation of new alternatives/knowledge.
- Develop a multi-frame set of mind to address sustainable development in the context of organisation and leadership.
- Assess challenges in a sustainable project or organisational development and be able to reflect on the leadership role in areas suited to his/her competencies.
- Argue for an approach to organisational development based on a developed understanding of its implications for sustainable development.
- Critically and reflexively relate to contemporary research in the fields of leadership and organisation, project management, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation in the context of sustainability and sustainable development.
This programme lays a solid foundation for those seeking to work as key players in project management and organisational development environments, and where the broader issues of societal development are important. The skills acquired during the programme will be relevant for managers in local, national, and international governmental bodies, the private and non-profit sectors, and consultancy work.
The entrepreneurial content of the course is designed to stimulate and encourage students to initiate projects, businesses, or organisations to work towards sustainable development.