Baltic Sea Region Climate Change Curriculum
A climate change education project
July 2019 – August 2021
Baltic Sea Region Climate Change Curriculum (BSRCCC) was an 18-month long project aiming to develop a course module with teaching materials focusing on the climate change in the Baltic Sea Region.
Background
The Baltic University Programme (BUP) has the aim to support the key role that universities play in a democratic, peaceful and sustainable development of our region. Since 1991, we have been working promote regional cooperation in research and education for sustainable development. With an increasing threat from climate change, there is an increased need for educating students and civil society in the risks and solutions of climate change. Our project group was funded to answer to that growing need of a regionally based climate change education.
The first step was taken in January 2019, when the project group was formed. The project later received seed funding from Swedish Institute in June 2019 and the project will have its official start in September 2019.
During 18 months, the project partners worked to develop a holistic, scientifically backed and regionally based climate change course module, free for any academic institution, organization or person to download and use.
Aim
The aim was to develop a holistic, scientifically backed and regionally based climate change course module, for universities, NGO’s and other institutions to use when teaching climate change. The material includes a curriculum, teaching materials, such as slides, online text books, exercises and workshops. The long-term aim is to strengthen the Baltic Sea Region resilience to climate change, by increasing students and the public awareness of the risks and solutions of a warming planet.
Timeframe
July 2019, project start
November 2019, module development
April 2020, review of first draft
August 2020, early publication of the course module
December 2020, project implementation extended.
Spring 2021, content cretation, MOOC, Textbook, etc.
August 2021, project intitation ended.
After August 2021 the project continues within the other BUP project Digital at Home, with new funding and other goals.
Funding
The project was funded by “Seed funding for cooperation projects in the Baltic Sea region” from the Swedish Institute.
Partners
The project was hosted by the Baltic University Programme’s coordinating secretariat at Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Below are our core partners listed.
- Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
- Turku University, Turku, Finland
- Russian State Hydrometrological University, Sankt Petersburg, Russia
- EKAPREKT NGO, Minsk Belarus
- Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus
- Hochschule Zittau /Görlitz, Zittau, Germany
- Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas, Lithuania
- Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Kyiv, Ukraine
- WSB Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland
- University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Kaliningrad State Technical University, Kaliningrad, Russia
Updates
November 2019 - The project had its first meeting in Kaunas, Lithuania. There we developed a general curriculum and and outlined 15 chapters to be included in the course module. Each chapter got one or more authors designated to them in accordance with their expertise.
Photo: Alex Gert via NASA
Most of the BSRCCC project group at the 1st project meeting in Kaunas, Lithuania. Photo: Pontus Ambros
March 2020 - Start of a series of online meetings, cooperating over the development of the materials. Materials are internally peer-reviewed and progress of continued project funding is started. More authors are added to the chapters and the number of contributors are close to 30.
