CAS Circular Economy for Laboratories, Hochschule für Life Sciences FHNW

On successful completion of this CAS programme you will be able to:

• Transform laboratory environments: Evaluate resource flows and identify opportunities to transition into circular systems while maintaining compliance, safety and quality standards.
• Implement circular strategies: Develop and implement Circular Economy strategies that reduce resource consumption, minimise waste, and support organisational sustainability and ESG objectives.
• Master data-driven decisions: Apply tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and laboratory-specific sustainability metrics to back your evidence-based decisions with solid data.
• Develop business cases: Quantify potential environmental benefits, financial payback, resource efficiencies and operational impacts to justify suitable investments to financial decision-makers.
• Lead interdisciplinary collaboration: Align and coordinate diverse stakeholders - including scientific, procurement, facility management, sustainability leads and finance - to drive successful transformation initiatives.
• Deploy your circular transition plan: Design a practical, ready-to-use sustainability blueprint for your own organisation, using models such as shared laboratory infrastructure to optimise resources and reduce operational costs.

Assessment

• Practical-based group project: You will work in a team of 3-4 peers to solve a real-world laboratory challenge, developing a pitch-ready business case.
• Oral examination: A structured discussion/oral examination to reflect on your project outcomes and verify your expertise.

This programme is designed for those driving sustainability and circular transformation in life science laboratory environments.

• Lab operations & management: You manage laboratory operations or operational excellence and want to improve resource efficiency, sustainability and performance in a systematic way.
• Sustainability & procurement experts: You work in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), sustainability or procurement, and are looking for actionable, data-backed strategies to implement circular solutions in practice.
• Planners & facility managers: You are involved in laboratory planning, engineering, operations or modernisation, and want to align sustainability with compliance and business objectives.
• Life science sector: You operate in the pharmaceutical, biotech, medtech, healthcare or research sector and want to lead the transition towards more sustainable laboratory systems.
• Industry providers & consultants: You support laboratories as a consultant, specialised planner, manufacturer or service provider; you want to develop circular products, services and innovative business models.

From foundational concepts to hands-on implementation, this programme equips you with the knowledge and tools to drive circular transformation in your lab. Three modules connect theory with practice, along with industry visits to inspire solutions which you can implement.

• In Module 1, you will build a strong foundation in Circular Economy principles for laboratories and learn how to measure sustainability using tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and lab-specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). You will learn how to turn sustainability data into clear decision-making tools and business cases, including business models for shared laboratories and equipment.
• In Module 2, you will focus on laboratory infrastructure and design and translate sustainability insights into infrastructure solutions. You will learn how to develop circular, flexible and resource-efficient lab environments, including energy systems, utilities and digital tools such as BIM and digital twins, all while ensuring compliance and operational reliability.
• In Module 3, you will move into implementation and daily operations. You will learn how to manage circular resource flows, redesign procurement and supply chains, and drive behavioural and organisational change to make circularity part of everyday lab practice.

Across all modules, you will work on real-life cases from the life sciences sector and continuously develop your own Circular Transition Plan, which you will apply directly to your organisation.

This programme was developed in collaboration with Go Circular in Life Sciences (GCiLS) as part of our joint work to develop the Center of Excellence for Circular Economy in Life Science.

The following programme admission requirements apply:

• Tertiary A: Higher education qualification (at least a Bachelor's degree) and at least 2 years’ practical experience relevant to the programme,
• Tertiary B: Colleges of Higher Education Diploma (HF), Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education (HFP) or Federal Diploma Higher Education (BP), and at least 5 years’ practical experience relevant to the programme,
• Individuals without a Tertiary A or B qualification may be admitted if they cumulatively meet the following admission criteria:
• at least 10 years’ professional experience in a field relevant to the programme, of which at least 5 years in a managerial or senior specialist role
• additional qualifications (various non-formal, extensive further training courses or partial completion (>50%) of a tertiary qualification)
• evidence of knowledge of academic work or a willingness to acquire this in advance.