General provisions

The course is compulsory for students admitted to the Master's program in implementation, transformative learning and sustainability, but can also be given as a stand-alone course.

Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university. Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students are expected to be able to:

• Describe the concept of equity in health and well-being, placing it in context of relevant theoretical debates and in relation to international discourses on sustainability.
• Analyse equity issues in health and sustainability actions, including explain their origin, underlying drivers and possible resolutions.
• Apply relevant theories and methods to evaluate the role of multistakeholder and learning processes to address implementation dilemmas in health and sustainability transformations.
• Critically reflect on how equity-centred interventions in policy, practice and research can be designed and facilitated in context of health and sustainability.

Content

This course focuses on the role of social equity in integrated health and sustainability transformations, particularly in contexts where stakeholder and learning processes are applied as policy instruments to address implementation dilemmas. It provides actionable understanding of how actors, such as governments, companies, and communities can contest, deconstruct, and reconstruct new visions and agendas for the implementation of sustainability actions and health for all. This involves respectful but critical engagement with diverging interests and views in transformative dialogue, drawing on science and other forms of equally legitimate knowledge.

The course draws on a wide range of critical social theory, including radical democracy, critical institutionalism, political ecology, critical systems thinking, rights-based approaches, feminist theories, decolonization, and Indigenous scholarship. Through the teaching it seeks to inspire students to take active part in social change that aims to correct inequities, advancing an agenda inspired by participatory and action-oriented research. A central issue addressed during this course is how transformative dialogue and co-learning for more equitable health and sustainability outcomes can be achieved, despite disabling political structures and entrenched power imbalances.

The course is organized in three interlinked themes:

i) Understanding equity issues in health and sustainable development;

ii) Implementation of stakeholder and learning processes in health and sustainability transformations;

iii) Facilitating equity-centred interventions in policy, practice and research

Instruction

The course consists of a series of lectures, literature studies, seminars and group and individual assignments and presentations. Sessions are interactive and students are encouraged to draw on their own experiences and apply learnings to own fields of interest. Language of instruction is English.

Assessment

Assessment is based on a final written examination and active participation in mandatory seminars and group exercises. To pass the course, the candidate must pass the examination, seminars and group exercises. If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make anexception 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. All examinations are in English.