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:

Knowledge and understanding

• Describe and critically reflect upon the concept of planetary health
• Describe and critically discuss the ways that health is undermined by accelerating global environmental changes across a range of examples

Competence and skills

• Identify and critically evaluate responses, solutions and co-benefits to promote planetary health

Judgement and approach

•  Evaluate how disruptions in planetary health disproportionately and unjustly impact certain groups of people and regions

Content

This course explores planetary health, an emerging area of research and practice focused on promoting the health of human communities and all life on Earth while staying within the just and sustainable limits of the planet. Anthropogenic pressures including climate change, deforestation, pollution and mismanagement of freshwater and oceans are damaging the functioning of Earth's life supporting systems, undermining health in unprecedented ways. This course will provide a foundational understanding of how these disruptions and their complex interactions impact health across a range of themes including water and food security, infectious diseases, mental health and other non-communicable disease. The course will encourage students to critically reflect upon which communities and regions are disproportionately impacted, the underlying processes that are producing unjust health impacts, and the responses needed. Based on this understanding students will examine the implementation of policy and technological solutions that seek to promote planetary health for all.

Instruction

The course consists of lectures, review of scientific and popular literature and multi-media materials, mandatory seminars and group and individual assignments and presentations. Sessions are interactive and students are encouraged to draw on their own experiences from the fields presented. The language of instruction is English.

Assessment

All written assignments, presentations and mandatory components must be approved to pass the course. The course's final grade is based on a weighted rating of all assessment components.

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. All examinations are in English.​