Teaching

Ecotoxicology and environmental risk assessment

Teaching and supervision at RWTH Aachen, and previously at the University of Gothenburg, from bachelor foundations to doctoral research. I teach ecotoxicology and environmental risk assessment as working methods rather than finished facts: how to design an experiment, read messy environmental data honestly, and reason about the risk of chemicals when the evidence is incomplete. Much of the learning happens in discussion, in the lab, and in the supervision of students' own projects, where the questions rarely have a single clean answer.

Now — RWTH Aachen

MSc specialisation: Ecotoxicology and Environmental Sciences
- Concepts in Environmental Science
- Data Science
- Advanced Topics in Ecotoxicology
BSc specialisation: Environmental Sciences and Ecotoxicology.
BSc Basic Education:
- Applied ecology
- The process of scientific knowledge accrual and fake science
- Scientific facts, knowledge and personal values
- AI in science, teaching and research

Previously — University of Gothenburg

Coordinator, International Master's Programme in Ecotoxicology (2006 – 2023).
Course leader, Fundamentals in Ecotoxicology, and Chemical Risk Assessment.

Supervision

I have supervised more than a dozen doctoral projects on the ecotoxicology and risk assessment of chemical mixtures, pharmaceuticals, and nanomaterials, and roughly fifty MSc theses and examination projects. I regularly serve as examiner or opponent on doctoral committees across Europe and beyond.

Prospective students: if you are interested in a thesis or doctoral project in ecotoxicology or chemical risk assessment, please get in touch at thomas.backhaus@rwth-aachen.de.