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
Welcome to the Anthropocene! We are living in an era of unprecedented environmental change. This is not only driven by a growth in our population and prosperity, but also by increasing consumption, growing inequality, and an increasing demand for food (including meat and other animal products). As a result, we see loss of biodiversity, climate change, pollution, overuse of natural resources, loss of fertile topsoil, and much more. All of these are affecting fundamental ecosystem processes, which causes environmental change. These changes span from local to global scales. In addition, there are increased pressures on fundamental resources, including water, metals, and traditional forms of energy.
The challenges associated with our changing world do not unfold uniformly across humanity. On a global level, there are glaring injustices in the disproportionate impact of climate change and biodiversity loss, with low-income nations bearing the brunt of the most severe consequences. Moreover, continued gender inequality and legacies of colonialism persistently influence the distribution of wealth in various regions. Zooming in on a local scale, similar patterns emerge. Socio-economic factors play a pivotal role in shaping disparities in access to essentials such as food, education, housing, and social networks.
These above-described challenges cannot be solved with simple solutions from any single nation, organisation, academic discipline, or methodology. Effectively tackling these challenges demands collaborations among academics from different disciplines, the public, governmental bodies, and non-governmental organisations. Together, we must cultivate ethical and impactful responses.
In this course, you will delve into environmental issues at the intersection of the (formerly) natural environment and contemporary societal needs, placing a particular emphasis on food sustainability. Drawing on examples spanning from local to global contexts, this course highlights critical challenges and their root causes. It explores the human activities that have contributed to these issues and examines our ongoing efforts to find viable solutions. The course will also help you understand why an interdisciplinary approach is necessary to understand and approach these challenges.
In addition, you will learn key transferable skills, including academic writing, reading scientific literature, communicating your findings, and engaging in a debate. These skills will help prepare you for future courses within the programme.
Course objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, you are able to:
Content:
Articulate key challenges associated with environmental sustainability, encompassing issues such as pollution, biodiversity loss, topsoil loss and natural resource depletion, and climate change.
Understand and articulate the contribution of both natural and social sciences to addressing sustainability problems and solutions, and the added value of combining these.
Establish connections between the above-mentioned challenges and concepts from a local to a global scale and be able to discuss key injustices related to these challenges at different levels.
Recognise the various actors and institutions involved in sustainability challenges and reflect on the different perspectives of these on sustainability problems and solutions.
Methods/skills:
Understand the structure of scientific papers grounded in both the natural sciences and social sciences and being able to extract key information from these papers to build an argument.
Collaborate to create a comprehensive factsheet on a sustainability-related topic, drawing on key information from peer-reviewed publications in the natural and social sciences.
Engage in a well-reasoned, fact-based debate involving multiple stakeholders, comparing various viewpoints, reflecting on your own stance, and contrasting factual statements.
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 has in-person lectures and in-person practical sessions.
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:
Assignment: Scientific literature (25%)
Assignment: Debate on an environmental issue (25%)
Final exam (50%)
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
This course uses the book Food and Sustainability, Eds. Behrens. P, Bosker. T, Ehrhard. E, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020
There will be other reading materials made available on Brightspace.
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: Thijs Bosker
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.