Syllabus for Climate Change Leadership in Practice

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• account for climate variations over time, key climate science concepts and the most important conclusions of different research areas;
• account for climate change and leadership from an environmental history perspective;
• summarise and critically relate to different perspectives, central theories and concepts regarding climate change and leadership;
• account for and problematise current issues, research and scientific debates within the climate change leadership field;
• describe climate change and leadership from a justice, power and gender perspective;
• identify, analyse and critically relate to power relations, ethical dilemmas and conflicts which may occur in the work within the field;
• use various communicative strategies and methods regarding climate change and leadership;
• design a practical specialisation within the climate change leadership field;
• apply relevant methods and lead a work in the climate leadership field;
• author an interdisciplinary text within the climate change leadership field;
• in an interdisciplinary and popular scientific manner communicate the results of work within the climate change leadership field.

Content

The first part of the course gives a broad orientation and deals with a number of central concepts, theories and perspectives (climate change, leadership, psychology, anthropology, history, ethics, justice, power, gender) as well as current research in related fields. The main focus is on analysing the complexity of the questions, how the students can work with these questions in different contexts and how leadership can play a crucial role in the work for a sustainable development. Different methods and tools with relevance for the practical work are also introduced. The initial part is concluded with the students formulating and delimiting a practical specialisation within the field. The practical part of the course focuses on, in a local context, to lead and organise change work for mitigation, climate adaptation and/or other related work. A broad approach means that everything from more technically innovative solutions to organisational analytical studies to field work based specialisations is possible to choose. The work is done in close collaboration with local actors and contacts. The course is concluded with an interdisciplinary and popular scientific report back where the student's experiences and conclusions are discussed.

Instruction

The teaching consists of lectures, seminars, workshops and supervision. The lectures are given by guest lecturers from various academic disciplines and relevant areas of society. Ample opportunities are provided for active student participation and critical reflection. Participation in seminars and workshops is compulsory. Non-compulsory study visits or equivalent may occur.

Assessment

The student is examined through written preparation for (3 credits) and active participation in seminars and workshops (2 credits), continuous report back (5 credits), and through written documentation (18 credits) and oral presentation (2 credits) of a larger developed project.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.

Other directives

The first four weeks of the course are given in Uppsala. The practical specialisation within the field is carried out in Uppsala, Sweden or internationally. Interdisciplinary and popular scientific communication of the practical work is done in the middle of December in Uppsala.

Active participation is reassessed through a re-seminar. If a student after having been offered a re-seminar still does not meet the requirements to pass the active participation elements the examiner can choose reassessment by another method.