| Unit name | Environmental Research: A Journey Across Disciplines |
|---|---|
| Unit code | GEOG10011 |
| Credit points | 10 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52) |
| Unit director | Dr. Thomas-Hughes |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
The unit is suitable for those studying at undergraduate level 5 and 6. |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None. |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None. |
| School/department | School of Geographical Sciences |
| Faculty | Faculty of Science |
Why is this unit Important?
Climate change, biodiversity-loss, environmental degradation and change represent some of the biggest challenges humankind have ever faced. This course will take you on a whistlestop tour of where and how interdisciplinary research is creating opportunities to intervene in the environmental crisis. From contemporary debates around social justice, to flood modelling, from sustainable energy policy to plant and animal health as part of food systems, this course will enable you to learn about environmental research in its varied forms through engagement with the current research of the Cabot Institute.
This three-week summer school will be organised around of the Cabot Institute for the Environment’s research themes. In each theme you will take a deep dive into a selection of current or recent research projects, considering the different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, methods, and approaches, as well as learning about how and where these projects have made impact; with specific consideration for the challenges of communicating climate and environmental research to different audiences.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study
This programme is open to international students from any academic discipline who want to be empowered to understand different approaches to environmental research and their impact on the real world.
An overview of content
Theme 1: Tacking Environmental Challenges through Research. How does expertise across multiple disciplines come together to provide the evidence base and solutions to tackle the world's most pressing environmental challenges?
Theme 2: Water in a changing world. Including a ‘dip’ into hydrology, biogeochemistry, and contemporary debates in water resources; exploring hydrologic models on local and global scales; monitoring the environment from flooding to water shortages.
Theme 3: Just Transitions. How does research inform the development of sustainable energy policy and technologies? What can this mean for safe, reliable, and low-cost energy supplies for our growing global population? Including thinking about energy system, from generation and storage to regulation and end-user demand.
Theme 4: Planting to Feed. Considering plant and animal health in the confluence between climate change, flood, and drought events. Examining the fundamental advances in understanding plant-soil interactions, plant pathogens and the effect of climate change on plant physiology. Drawing on perspectives from food production practitioners, from Somerset farmers to UK (United Kingdom) poverty experts to global development agents.
Theme 5: City Futures or The Future of Cities: How does research support cities to better understand the complex challenges they face, and support their transition to becoming sustainable, resilient and inclusive places with a high quality of life for all?
Theme 6: Weather, Hazards and Extremes: Exploring research-based solutions and adaptations to Global natural hazard - flooding, volcanic risk, eruptions, landslides, tsunamis and extreme weather. How we can fuse complex quantitative models with a deep understanding of how societies work through asking questions about how culture, local history, and understandings of resilience can impact disasters. Finding ways for researchers, scientists, and communities to co-produce solutions to mitigate disasters.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit?
We hope to inspire the next generation of environmental researchers. Through a deepened understanding of a wide-range of current environmental research and different research-approaches, the course will support your ability to critically engage in discussions, debates, and challenge misinformation about environmental change in your own lives..
Learning Outcomes
After studying this course, you will be able to:
Full length lectures will be combined with seminars which include short lectures and seminar round-table discussions with a range of ‘active’ teaching methods, this can enhance the efficacy of the lecture as a teaching tool (Burke & Ray, 2008; Johnson & Percival, 1976). Deliberative dialogical learning activities, as part of guided small-group work, will be used to develop understanding and practices for nuanced collaboration across differences (Wahl, 2019).
Given that summer schools involve intense teaching blocks the aim is that the above teaching methods will be incorporated into a ‘microburst model’ which can enhance attention and motivation amongst learners in long teaching sessions (Vaughn et al., 2001).
Assessment for this summer school will be through a series of critical commentaries which will be submitted for feedback at the end of each thematic ‘deep dive’ before being collated by students into a final report which will include a reflexive narrative. Commentaries can be in the form of a written report, recorded presentation with slides, or in a relevant creative format.
Critical commentaries will focus on one of the research projects presented as part of the thematic ‘deep dive’, or on another project, identified by the student, which should be of interest to them personally and focused on environmental or sustainability research linked to the thematic area. Students will be required to discuss one research example focusing on either theory, methods or approach, and making consideration of 1) any ethical issues the project faced, and 2) any challenges the project might face in communicating their research findings to different audiences.
Students will have the opportunity to receive feedback on each commentary in a written or orally recorded format over the course of the three-week programme.
Assessment will be pass/fail but with an ‘indicative mark’ using the UoB marking criteria to indicate level.
Students will have a chance to resubmit a failed commentary within 48 hours of feedback, but will not receive another set of feedback until the final report.
The final summative assessment will take the form of a report which will include all commentaries and should also include a reflexive account from the student on where and how the learning from the summer school might inform their own studies, career and research going forwards.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
At the end of the first two weeks students will take part in mini assessments for which they will receive feedback:
Week 1: Group mini presentation in response to prompts linked to themes of the week (can be individual on request).
Week 2: Speed-dating mini-debates on research ethics (rapid, rotating small groups in which students briefly present) in which students prepare a brief based on one of their week 1 or 2 commentaries (aim to build connections between people and ideas, increasing both academic creativity and cohort belonging - Muurlink & Matas, 2011).
Early in week 3 students will have access to a 1-2-1 ‘supervision’ with the course tutor to answer any questions they might have about their final reflexive report.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Reflexive report.
When assessment does not go to plan
Students will have the opportunity to resubmit the assessment within the timelines outlined by the summer school team. NB: Summer Schools do go through exam boards for approval but can be out of sequence and approved through chair’s powers or virtual board
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. GEOG10011).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
