Knowledge Mediation Tools
Sustainability Studies : Theories - Tolls - Terrains
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Overview
The Sustainability Studies Sust-3T (Theories-Tools-Terrains) programme is a joint venture created by Albion College (Michigan, USA) and the University of Versailles-St-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ, France) to offer an International Diploma (Certificate) that complements a Bachelor’s (undergraduate) or a Master’s (post-graduate) degree qualifications for students wishing to prepare themselves for today’s sustainability challenges.
Through the triple entry points of Theories (framing concepts, scientific principles), Tools (methods of analysis and communication) and Terrains (fields of sustainability challenges), students are invited to explore, in an integrated way, the relationships between the economy, lifestyle and politics on the one hand, and the physical environment, natural resource use, pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss. They explore the long time horizons of radioactive waste management or climate system change, alongside immediate questions such as drinking water supply and waste paper recycling, embedding such topics within perennial themes of social justice and democratic political process.
It offers students an initiation into inter-disciplinary research and teaching through a cross fertilisation of environmental sciences, the sciences of social systems and human interactions within ecosystems, and the humanities.
The SUST-3T programme combines distance learning with traditional lectures and tutorial activities and includes one semester of study in France at the UVSQ.
Programme components of the SUST-3T certificate and the b.a sustainability studies ‘major’ at albion college
THEORIES—CONCEPTS & PRECEPTS OF SUSTAINABILITY
Introduction to Sustainability: Concepts & Challenges
Introduces the concept of sustainable development through historic antecedents in the classics and economic theory. Albion
Time and Uncertainty (System Indeterminacy; Analysis & Governance of Risks)
Introduction to observation, analysis and governance of risk in technology, environment, health and other fields. UVSQ
PLUS: At least 5 pts selected from a list of courses agreed by the Programme Committee, notably in one or other of:
- Topics in Sustainability Science (Nature, Environment & Society)
- Sustainability Politics (Actors in Society and Governance Challenges)
- Special Topic: Social Sciences & Humanities/Environmental Studies (eg History, Art, Literature, at Albion College or the UVSQ
TOOLS—METHODS OF ANALYSIS & MEDIATION OF KNOWLEDGE
Valuation & Evaluation
Nature & Value: Introduction to philosophical and methodological perspectives on valuation of the environment. Albion
NTICS & the Environment
NTICS and new opportunities for environmental education. UVSQ
Topics in Eco-innovation: System performance and
social acceptability
Introduction to the roles of technological change for addressing sustainability goals, and the challenges of generating eco-innovations ‘from cradle to grave’. Albion
PLUS: Optional course in TOOLS selected from a list of agreed courses
TERRAINS—OFFERED DURING THE 3RD YEAR SEMESTER AT THE UVSQ, FRANCE
Sustainable Agriculture
The diversity of agricultural practices and the challenge for sustainable agriculture
Sustaining Biodiversity Values
Ecosystems and biodiversity values; environmental services.
Climate change and the Carbon Economy
Introduction to the global climate system and the carbon cycle, including the energy economy and greenhouse gas emissions.
Water resources Stewardship
Introduction to the governance challenges for integrated and sustainable management of freshwater water resources, with emphasis on the problems of conflict resolution, quality and quantity issues, and multiple values.
Management and Governance of Coastal Zones
Introduction to the governance challenges for integrated management of coastal zones, with emphasis on the prolems of conflict resolution around multiple uses and values.
Fisheries and Marine Ecosystems
The science and policy challenges of ustainable fisheries management and the goverance vallenges for aboiding damage to marine ecosystems (chemical pollution, climate change, physical dames from fishing)
Urban Systems & Territorial Ecology
The investment, design and governance challenges of rethinking and retrofitting urban systems to reduce their drain on natural resources and their impacts through solid, liquid and atmosphereic pollution.
Long-term Radioactive Waste Stewardship
Project design, management and partnership-building principles for radioactive waste stewardship.
Health & Environment
An initiation into the health risks associated with environmental pollution and conditions of work and play
Semester in France at the UVSQ
The one-semester in France component of the programme consists of four courses in sustainable development and a complementary programme of French language and institutional studies.
This semester also includes cultural visits and meetings with UVSQ regional partners involved in sustainable development (Fondaterra, Living Lab, CASQY).
Albion - contributed courses
Fundamentals of Environmental Studies
A theoretical and practical introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Environmental Studies.
Introduction to the Environment
Explores the interconnected web of earth's natural systems including the atmosphere, biological communities, oceans and continents, as well as humankind's interactions with and dependence on them.
Programme personnel at REEDS
Martin O’CONNOR—Martin.O-Connor@reeds.uvsq.fr
Frances HARRISON—Frances.Harrison@reeds.uvsq.fr
Albert MERINO-SAUM— Albert.Merino-Saum@reeds.uvsq.fr
Learning tools used:
Moodle– the online communications platform used for presenting documents, roadmap of requirements, notes, assignments, news forum.
Webex and Adobe Connect—used for video-conferencing between teachers and between teachers and students
The Forest of Brocéliande—an online library of teaching resources for sustainability studies and ecological economics
Yggdrasil—an online catalogue of courses offered by the OVSQ
Completion of the Certificate (Diplôme d’Université) gives a student the right to pursue a further year of studY in one of the M2 programmes of the Master SETE (Sciences of the Environment, Territory and the Economy) offered at the UVSQ.
This right extends to French-language as well as English-language M2 programmes, depending on the academic and language competencies of the student.
Programme personnel at REEDS
Martin O’CONNOR—Martin.O-Connor@reeds.uvsq.fr
Frances HARRISON—Frances.Harrison@reeds.uvsq.fr
Albert MERINO-SAUM— Albert.Merino-Saum@reeds.uvsq.fr
Learning tools used:
Moodle– the online communications platform used for presenting documents, roadmap of requirements, notes, assignments, news forum.
Webex and Adobe Connect—used for video-conferencing between teachers and between teachers and students
The Forest of Brocéliande—an online library of teaching resources for sustainability studies and ecological economics
Yggdrasil—an online catalogue of courses offered by the OVSQ
Completion of the Certificate (Diplôme d’Université) gives a student the right to pursue a further year of studY in one of the M2 programmes of the Master SETE (Sciences of the Environment, Territory and the Economy) offered at the UVSQ.
This right extends to French-language as well as English-language M2 programmes, depending on the academic and language competencies of the student.