Environmental Sustainability Science (BSc)

In the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, we encourage a friendly and informal approach to teaching and learning using student-staff interactions including fieldwork. You will be taught and supported by lecturers who are experts in their research field and facilitators who are experts in developing learning.

Student-centred learning opportunities are created using a variety of methods: 

• problem-based learning (50% of this programme)
• lectures 
• seminars, tutorials, supervisions or other small-group formats 
• directed self-study, reading and library use 
• laboratory practical classes, including the use of scientific laboratories and advanced computer facilities 
• fieldwork, both taught and self-organised 
• a range of student-centred learning opportunities, which might include virtual learning environments, self-directed study, teamwork and work-based learning 
• e-learning and information technology practical sessions. 

The programme emphasises your engagement with, and ownership of, your own learning programme and the development of ‘learning how to learn’ essential for a sustainable approach to lifelong learning.

We use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to form Grand (societal or global) Challenges which are the focus of the programme. Through these Grand Challenges you will work collaboratively to address three real-world problems: clean water, land degradation and climate action.

The focus on real-world problems provides an authentic form of motivation for the work, encouraging you to build a deeper engagement with the subject with less focus on assessments. The Grand Challenges do not have any defined solution, so you will be required to define the problem and apply novel thinking to develop and contest propositions.  

The Grand Challenges break down the traditional disciplinary boundaries enabling you to actively engage with and integrate knowledge from across disciplines and perspectives. This approach provides the opportunity for you to engage in critical thinking beyond the capacity of a single discipline.

The programme uses problem-based learning (PBL) which is highly suited to collaborative and inter-disciplinary learning, likely to expand beyond subject boundaries to tackle the Grand Challenges.

PBL is all about you. You work in small tutorial groups, collaborating with your peers to engage in hands-on training and education, attending comparatively fewer lectures to a traditional lecture-based course. PBL is an active way of learning that gives you better retention of knowledge, enhances your motivation and encourages you to develop skills that are essential in a wide variety of roles.  

How will I be supported?

Support

The Grand Challenge module in each year will provide a base for your course. You will be allocated a personal tutor who will guide you through the Grand Challenge providing academic and pastoral support. The module will also develop peer-group support networks.

As you progress through the course, academic support will be replaced with peer-group support. Pastoral staff support will continue throughout the year. The level of support that you receive will be reset each year so that you begin each new year with the same level of support as you did in the previous year.

We recognise that more support may be needed in Year 1 than in subsequent years and more support may be needed by some students. Additional staff support is available if you need it.

Facilities

We have a Learning Central website where you can access videos, images, presentations, lecture handouts, bibliographies, links to further reading, electronic exercises and discussion circles. Where possible, lectures will be recorded so you can watch and study in your own time.

The Learning Central website also has a ‘Personal Development Planning’ module that supports you in regularly assessing your progress and meeting your development needs.

Support services

The University offers a range of services including the Careers Service, the Counselling Service, the Disability and Dyslexia Service, the Student Support Service, alongside excellent libraries and resource centres.

Diversity

We aim to create an inclusive, supportive and welcoming environment that respects the dignity of staff and students of all ages, ethnicities, disabilities, family structures, genders, nationalities, sexual orientations, races, religious or other beliefs, and socio-economic backgrounds. Read about our commitment to the Athena SWAN principles and our Bronze status.

How will I be assessed?

Modules will be assessed  through:

• practical assignments 
• essay assignments 
• fieldwork 
• oral presentations 
• dissertation 
• formal examinations. 

Formative assessment is used widely across the School to provide feedback for you to develop learning and understanding. Formative assessment is typically used prior to summative assessment. Summative assessment is used for quality assurance and audit to demonstrate achievement at appropriate levels.

Peer assessment is also used on some assessments to help self-assessment as a vehicle for reflection. By judging the work of others, you will gain insight into your own performance.

You will receive written feedback for written coursework assignments and oral feedback for oral presentations.

What skills will I practise and develop?

Knowledge & Understanding:

On successful completion of the entire Programme you will be able to demonstrate the following:

• A systematic understanding of the United Nations environment-related Sustainable Development Goals and specifically the underpinning targets on Clean Water, Life on Land and Climate Action.  Also, the supporting understanding of spatial and temporal environmental processes and their inter-relationships between environmental, chemical and physical systems across scales;
• A broad understanding and knowledge of environmental resource management and specifically the global challenges of Clean Water, Life on Land and Climate Action, including approaches to their governance;
• A systematic knowledge of the multi-disciplinary nature of environmental sustainability science, methods of scientific investigation and philosophical approaches, and a practical understanding of the need for integration of knowledge from cognate sciences, including those related to Earth System, ocean, atmospheric, physical and Geography;
• Ability to work across environmental sustainability science to link knowledge and experience from allied sciences to understand a range of environments including their relationship with society.

Intellectual Skills:

On successful completion of the entire Programme you will be able to demonstrate the following:

• The ability to debate, interpret and explain the causes, scales and impacts of environmental sustainability science issues and specifically the Grand Challenges of Clean Water, Life on Land and Climate Action whilst critically applying relevant ideas, concepts and methods;
• The ability to collect, collate, synthesise and evaluate critically environmental sustainability science data and information, drawing from relevant approaches in cognate areas of Geography.

Professional Practical Skills:

On successful completion of the entire Programme you will be able to demonstrate the following:

• Critical analysis and interpretation of different types of environmental data as part of research to investigate topical issues and theoretical concepts including Grand Challenges of Clean Water, Life on Land and Climate Action.
• Planning, designing and executing research related to environmental sustainability science, critically using a range of qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. This may be based on fieldwork, offshore or laboratory investigations or desk-based studies
• The use and evaluation of methods to acquire geospatial data and represent such data in appropriate cartographic and graphic formats. The use of appropriate platforms, including GIS
• The ability to conduct environmental sustainability research involving the integration and analysis of diverse and often incomplete and uncertain data using appropriate qualitative and quantitative methodologies and approaches
• The use and evaluation of practical skills in information technology, geographical information systems, cartographic, statistical and other data analytical techniques
• That you can conduct environmental sustainability science research safely by planning the organisation and logistics of data gathering and evaluating the risks, limitations and ethical issues of data gathering in various environments.

Transferable/Key Skills:

On successful completion of the entire Programme you will be able to demonstrate the following:

• Effective communication of knowledge, ideas and arguments in a variety of formats using oral, written, and visual media to both specialist and non-specialist audiences
• Working with others to achieve common tasks, taking responsibility for group and individual roles, managing resources and assess behaviours.
• Problem definition, solution and tackling of complex often intractable Grand Challenges within a range of environmental sustainability research and specifically Clean Water, Life on Land and Climate Action
• That you can undertake effective project management and organisational skills through independent working and teamwork
• The ability to conduct independent study and personal scholarship, fostered through enhanced personal responsibility, initiative and self-learning experiences
• The ability to set goals for academic work and the development of skills and competencies needed to secure employment and / or support ongoing professional development
• Responsibility for own learning and development using reflection and feedback to analyse your own capabilities, appraise alternatives and plans and implement actions. Set criteria for and be effective in professional and interpersonal communication in a wide range of situations.