SAS Circular Laboratory Operations & Resource Management, FHNW School of Life Sciences

After completing the SAS, you will be able to:

• Understand how Circular Economy strategies can be integrated in daily laboratory operations to drive a compliant and efficient organizational transition.
• Optimise resource flows, procurement processes, and material supply chains by advanced vendor selection and green purchasing protocols.
• Apply circular R-strategies and advanced logistics to laboratory waste management, consumables lifecycle, and take-back systems while maintaining full regulatory compliance.
• Develop practical change management approaches and nudging campaigns to foster an organisational sustainability culture and overcome traditional mindsets.
• Use laboratory KPIs, dashboards, and benchmarking methods to measure progress and support continuous institutional improvement.

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 systematically improve resource efficiency, sustainability, and performance.
• 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 the planning, engineering, operation, or modernization of laboratories and want to align sustainability with compliance and business objectives.
• Life Science Sector: You operate within the pharmaceutical, biotech, medtech, healthcare, or research sector and want to actively lead the transition towards more sustainable laboratory systems.
• Industry Providers & Consultants: You support laboratories as a consultant, specialized planner, manufacturer, or service provider and want to develop circular products, services, and innovative business models.

This intensive 5-day SAS-program focuses on the “Human Factor” and operational integration, serving as the final component of the CAS Circular Economy for Laboratories and includes an excursion.

This module shifts the focus to daily laboratory routines, resource cycles, and human factors. You will learn to manage real material flows, optimize the scientific supply chain, and implement circular strategies at the lab bench without compromising biosafety or data quality. By combining smart corporate procurement, compliant waste logistics, and behavioural changes, you will acquire the leadership tools to guide laboratory teams through a successful cultural transition.

• Smart & Sustainable Procurement: Establish green supplier qualification protocols, eco-label evaluations, and logistical order consolidation frameworks.
• Regulated Waste Cycles: Implement safe, compliant R-strategy logistics under biosafety levels and hazardous chemical waste regulations.
• Material & Consumable Evaluation: Set up product take-back programs and run technical trade-off analyses between reusable systems and single-use disposals.
• Behavioural Change & Nudging: Lead actionable cultural campaigns, such as “Shut the Sash” energy initiatives and “Cold Storage” optimization.
• Operational Governance Tools: Deploy real-time KPI performance dashboards and master international laboratory standards like the My Green Lab benchmarking framework.
• Operational Site Excursions: Analyse real-world circular operations on-site through dedicated technical visits to leading pharmaceutical and academic laboratory complexes.

At the end of the module, a multiple-choice questionnaire (pass/fail) is available, if you would like to receive ECTS credits. The module can be allocated to the CAS Circular Economy for Laboratories within three years. If you have successfully completed all SAS of this CAS programme and wish to receive the Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS), please contact us for the final assignments. ​

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.