Applied Sustainability Studies

About the course package

This spring semester course package of 30 credits offers you the choice of the following courses:

Actors and Strategies for Change – Towards Global Sustainabilities 7.5 credits
With a growing number of unsustainable environmental, economic and social trends, how can different actors work for sustainable alternatives? How can we develop capacities, strategies and tactics that achieve lasting and real changes in the local and global world?

To achieve a more vibrant and participatory sustainable development there is a need for great changes, both on the systemic and individual level. These changes can take the form of fast-moving revolutions, but can also be more reformist initiatives as social entrepreneurship in businesses or taking part in local politics. In the course different actors and their strategies for change, globally and locally, are critiqued and analysed through discussions with guest lecturers and in workshops with fellow students. In the last part of the course students work on a concrete change project, which builds on the discussions and insights gained during the first part of the course.
Read more »

Sustainable Design – Ecology, Culture and Human Built Worlds 7.5 credits
How can an interdisciplinary approach to design unlock new creativity and beauty? How can different design solutions in nature serve as a model for new human made designs? And what are the limits of human ingenuity and creative design?

This course looks at design from an interdisciplinary, critical and philosophical perspective, with focus on different theories and models that turns present conventions of design on its head. With inspiration from ecology and nature, and in-depth discussion of how cultural conditions define human perceptions of the environment, the course tries to reach practical conclusions on how creative design can contribute to a sustainable and better world. The course combines interactive workshops with inspiring guest lectures.
Read more »

Climate Change Leadership – Power, Politics and Culture 15 credits
Climate change leadership is often mentioned in both news media and by politicians themselves, but what does it really entail? What kind of knowledge and skills define a climate change leader and how can they be learned? What kind of political, cultural and psychological resources are lacking in present initiatives?

This course discusses the fundamentals of an effective and functioning climate change leadership in a global perspective. Starting out from an analysis of how the climate has changed during the planet’s long geological history and how it plays a central role in the life of the biosphere, the course looks at why there is such a comparatively few effective responses to the issues we are facing. Then the societal and cultural effects of climate change are discussed, looking at how the use of fossil fuel has transformed modern societies and cultures and taking into account broader perspectives such as ethics, justice or gender. With the knowledge gained during the first part of the course, a framework for a working climate change leadership is critically looked at from a political, power and societal perspective. The final part of the course is devoted to applying this framework in case studies, with the focus on both a global and local level, trying to identify different strategies for mitigation and adaptation in terms of a functioning climate change leadership.
Read more »

Sustainable Development – Project Management and Communication 15 credits
Do you want do a sustainability project, reach others and change the world? Then this is a course for you!

The students carry out a local project in international and interdisciplinary groups that in one way or another aims to contribute to sustainable development. The students come up with a project idea that is shaped in lectures, workshops and seminars and is further developed through peer review and feedback sessions. When the project proposal has been accepted, the students run their project with the support of the course coordinators and CEMUS as a resource base. The project is ultimately presented in a project report, and in an outreach context at CEMUS Sustainability Festival at the end of each semester. The project should combine theoretical and practical skills with method knowledge – all of which are practiced throughout the course. Focus is put on critically discussing and presenting the project results in both writing and speech. While there are some individual assignments, the main focus is on group work and assignments.
Read more »

Spring 2016

This course package at CEMUS, a part of Uppsala Centre for Sustainable Development, CSD Uppsala, gives you the opportunity to study and discuss the greatest challenges of our times in a creative and inspiring setting. Course info such as schedule, literature and examination can be found on course pages below:

Contact us with your questions at daniel.mossberg@csduppsala.uu.se