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Global Sustainability Challenges

When you'll study it
Semester 2
CATS points
15
ECTS points
7.5
Level
Level 5
Module lead
Simon Kemp
Academic year
2025-26

Module overview

The global challenge that is 'sustainability' impacts every dimension of all of our lives. Regardless of your degree, the social, cultural, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability have important implications for your studies, your daily behaviours, and your future career.

This module will challenge you to develop your own definition of sustainability while considering how it is actioned by the many different actors (from citizens to governments, NGOs and businesses) who play a part in taking decisions about sustainability at various scales at the local and global level.

We will consider key areas of current and future global sustainability concerns, taking a multi-disciplinary holistic approach that crosses the traditional divides between academic disciplines.

Much of the module will be framed around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. By the end of the module, you should be able to tackle the difficult question of how we can continue to develop and improve human wellbeing in a socially just way without overstepping the planet’s ecological boundaries.

Undergraduates may forward-track or back-track as permitted by the University regulations.

Any student who repeats the year externally will complete the Referral Assignment.