Studying at York
Sustainability Clinic (B: Semester 2) - ESA00002M
- Department: Environmental Sustainability Academy
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: M
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
- See module specification for other years: 2023-24
Module summary
The ‘Sustainability Clinic’ gives students the opportunity to work on behalf of clients on ‘live’ real-world sustainability problems. All projects are tackled by multi-disciplinary student teams drawn from a range of Departments to ensure that the relevant social, legal, economic, cultural and environmental aspects of sustainability are considered.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 2 2024-25 |
Module aims
To allow students to work professionally on real-world sustainability problems, develop the ability to contribute effectively to multidisciplinary teams, and reflect on their role as team members, subject and discipline experts, social leaders and working for the public good.
Module learning outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
- Work collaboratively in multi-disciplinary teams on pressing local or regional challenges
- Employ advanced research techniques, and technical or professional skills in support of the project.
- Define, plan and implement a ‘live’ real-world sustainability project, demonstrating systematic mastery of a complex or specialised area of knowledge and skill
- Work professionally to analyse the needs of a client, manage expectations and communicate realistic, accurate and clear outputs
- Analyse and critically evaluate complex information to advise on the generation of outputs which consider all facets of sustainability and are designed to bring about positive change
- Reflect on their own personal development, the effectiveness of their contribution to and accountability for the eventual project outcome, and their role as a social leader working for the public good
Module content
The ‘Sustainability Clinic’ gives students the opportunity to work on behalf of clients on ‘live’ real-world sustainability problems. Clients could be members of the general public, local government, community groups, charities or businesses. Problems could be on a wide range of topics including environmental quality, policy and regulation, sustainable business or awareness raising, and could include field- and/or desk-based components. All projects are tackled by multi-disciplinary student teams drawn from a range of Departments to ensure that the relevant social, legal, economic, cultural and environmental aspects of sustainability are considered.
As a postgraduate student you will work with a mixed interdisciplinary team of postgraduates and/or undergraduates to support a ‘Sustainability Clinic’ project. Following training, you will collaborate with the other members of the student team on the project, bringing to bear your own subject discipline, experience, knowledge and skills to assist the team in finding information and evidence in support of the project, understanding and evaluating that information, accessing the relevant discipline members of the Clinic team of academic experts, and preparing a report or other suitable output for the project client.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
Summative assessment is by way of a 3000 word reflective report exploring what impact their project and their participation in that project has had on themselves, their teams, their clients and broader society. This encourages students to think about their role as team members and/or leaders working for the public and social good in relation to sustainability. Throughout the report, the students should reflect on their personal contribution to the team and the project. The reflection should be supported with feedback from group members, project partners, supervisors etc.
Students are not assessed on the output provided to the clients to ensure this is focused on the needs of the client.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Written feedback on summative assessment
Indicative reading
Reading will be largely determined by the nature of the project the student undertakes