Admission requirements
This course is part of the BSc Science for Sustainable Societies (SfSS). The course is an obligatory course for students who are admitted to the BSc Science for Sustainable Societies. It has no further requirements.
Description
Ambitious sustainability policies are urgently needed. Yet sometimes they do more harm than good by outsourcing pollution beyond borders, greenwashing corporate practices, or further marginalising already vulnerable communities. The improper design, selection, and evaluation of sustainability policies can result from simplistic or biased socio-economic valuation methods. While these methods are meant to ‘measure what matters’, they can also abstract, ignore, and discount important socio-ecological values and risks. In addition to offering you a critical lens, within this course we will also equip you with an understanding of how socio-economic policy evaluation can support transformative and inclusive sustainability policies.
In this course, you will explore what socio-economic policy valuation methods are able to measure and what are their limitations, blind spots, and biases; what implications this has for equitable and sustainable transitions; and what could alternative, more comprehensive valuation techniques look like? These questions will be explored through quantitative methods (environmental footprinting and economic valuation of nature) and qualitative research techniques (interviewing, stakeholder analysis, and content analysis). We will apply these on local to global scales (e.g. local communities, governments, and multi-national corporations), and across different themes. Through lectures, workshops, and a group project, you will distinguish the perspectives of different stakeholders and build on the various disciplinary perspectives acquired over the first periods of this year.
Course objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, you are able to:
Content:
Understand socio-economic valuation methods in relation to real-world sustainability problems and decision-making.
Compare the impacts of sustainability policies between stakeholders, across different spatial and temporal scales.
Methods/skills:
Apply quantitative methods (e.g. environmental footprinting and Total Economic Valuation) to assess the sustainability of human activities and management interventions.
Apply qualitative methods (interviews and stakeholder analysis) to distinguish the roles, goals, and relative power position of different stakeholders.
Investigate, synthesise, and develop familiarity with different stakeholder positions in sustainability debates.
Timetable
In MyTimetable, you can find all course and programme schedules, allowing you to create your personal timetable. Activities for which you have enrolled via MyStudyMap will automatically appear in your timetable. Additionally, you can easily link MyTimetable to a calendar app on your phone, and schedule changes will be automatically updated in your calendar. You can also choose to receive email notifications about schedule changes. You can enable notifications in Settings after logging in. Questions? Watch the video, read the instructions, or contact the ISSC helpdesk.
Mode of instruction
This course combines in-person lectures, in-person workshop sessions, a field trip, and a plenary poster presentation session to conclude the course.
Preparation before classes and active participation in classes are fundamental for the success of our programme. In Science for Sustainable Societies we stimulate discussions and participation in classes so that everyone can bring and share their experience, values, and opinions with their peers. For this reason, there is a mandatory attendance. Please see the course manual on Brightspace for the specific rules concerning attendance in this course.
If you have medical, family, or other personal circumstances that make it difficult to attend class, please contact the study advisor.
Assessment method
Assessment
This course has the following assessments:
Rapid case study appraisal (20%): presentation
Sustainable cocoa certification (20%): stakeholder negotiation workshop
Overarching group assignment on stakeholder analysis of sustainability policy (60%): presentation and poster
More information about these assessments will be provided on Brightspace.
Weighing
The final grade for the course is determined by the weighted average of above mentioned assessments. The final grade is expressed as a number between 1 and 10, rounded to the nearest half. The rounding process is only applied at the end for the final calculation. The minimum grade to pass a course is a 5.5. In uSis, this will be registered as a 6.0. Please note that final grades between a 5.45-5.49 will be rounded as a 5.0.
Please note, the minimum grade for a partial grade is a 5.0, unless otherwise stated.
Resit
All the SfSS courses have two or more assessments. You will always be given the opportunity to resit an exam, if this is needed to pass the course. However, please note that there might not be a resit opportunity for each of the other assessment(s). Please see the course manual on Brightspace for all details concerning the assessments and resit opportunities.
Inspection and feedback
Via Brightspace and/or in class, students are informed about when and how they can inspect their graded assessment and receive feedback.
Course materials
Reading materials
Course materials will consist of a combination of open access peer-reviewed scientific articles; policy reports and guidelines; a documentary film; and the PowerPoint slides of each lecture. Reading titles will be provided in the course syllabus prior to the start of the course.
Science Skills Platform
Some of the Science for Sustainable Societies courses make use of the Science Skills Platform. The Science Skills Platform is a digital skills learning environment on Brightspace. With more than 100 skills modules available, you can work on the academic and transferable skills you encounter during your studies whenever and wherever you want. In some of our courses, the modules on the platform will be part of the course materials. You can find the platform on Brightspace.
Registration
All first-year bachelor students will be registered by the Student Services Centre (SSC) for the lectures, tutorials, and the exam (excluding re-sits) of the courses offered in the first semester. For the second semester courses and all re-sits students must register themselves for all course components (lectures, tutorials, exams, and re-sits) in MyStudyMap. You can register up to 5 days prior to the start of a course and up to 10 days prior to an exam or re-sit.
In this short video, you can see step-by-step how to enrol for courses in MyStudyMap.
For more information about the procedures and deadlines, see the enrolment procedure.
Please note:
It is mandatory to enrol for all activities of a course that you are going to follow.
Your enrolment is only complete when you submit your course planning in the ‘Ready for enrolment’ tab by clicking ‘Send’.
Not being enrolled for an exam/re-sit means that you are not allowed to participate in the exam/re-sit.
Brightspace
Brightspace is the digital learning environment of Leiden University. Brightspace gives access to course announcements and electronic study material. Assignments will also be submitted in Brightspace. Students are advised to check Brightspace daily to remain informed about rooms, schedules, deadlines, and details of assignments. Lecturers assume that all students read information posted on Brightspace.
Please log in with your ULCN-account and personal password. On the left you will see an overview of My Courses.
You need to be enrolled for the respective courses to access them on Brightspace.
Contact
Course coordinator: Tessa Minter and Oliver Taherzadeh
Study advisors: Kiki Boomgaard and Marisa Beunk
Remarks
BYOD and software
The BSc Science for Sustainable Societies has a ‘Bring Your Own Device’ policy. The Faculty of Science uses the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.