Module Information

Module Identifier
EN19920
Module Title
Interdisciplinary Approaches to Climate Change
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Reading List
Other Staff

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Group Presentation  using the scenario of a hypothetical climate conference. Students will incorporate the interdisciplinary approaches to climate change covered in the module. 10 Minutes  50%
Semester Assessment Reflective Portfolio  comprising 4 x 500 words sections, requiring students to write on each of the disciplinary approaches covered in the module. 2000 Words  50%
Supplementary Assessment Group Presentation  using the scenario of a hypothetical climate conference. Students will incorporate the interdisciplinary approaches to climate change covered in the module. 10 Minutes  50%
Supplementary Assessment Reflective Portfolio  comprising 4 x 500 words sections, requiring students to write on each of the disciplinary approaches covered in the module. 2000 Words  50%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Identify and summarise components of approaches to climate change from four academic disciplines (International Relations, Economics, English Studies, Business)

Differentiate between different disciplinary approaches to climate change

Demonstrate knowledge about the significance of current research in the field of climate change by writing a portfolio

Synthesise different disciplinary approaches to climate change by creating a group presentation

Brief description

This module offers students the opportunity to work across a variety of disciplines (including their own), and to engage with a range of approaches to climate change. Students will be introduced to the rise of environmental politics, and also explore the challenges of international collaboration in addressing the issue. They will contextualise the approaches of industrialised and developing countries, as well as the impacts of migration and the creation of climate policies. Another key component of the module is to consider creative responses to climate change, especially the burgeoning genre of climate fiction (Cli-Fi). Finally, students will learn about sustainable business practices, and the establishment of sustainable supply chains. Each of these components will help students situate their discipline within a wider nexus of climate change research.

Content

Week 1: Introductory week

Weeks 2-3: International Politics and Climate Change
2a) Lecture: The Rise of Environmental Politics
2b) 2-hour Workshop: Resource Wars: Climate Change and International Conflict
3a) Lecture. Climate Change and International Organizations
3b) 2-hour Workshop: Climate Science and the Challenges of International Cooperation

Weeks 4-5: Economics and Climate Change
4a) Lecture: Climate Change and Economic Activity in industrialized versus developing countries; development; poverty and the environment
4b) Workshop: Mitigation and Adaptation Policies in response to Climate Change; impacts of climate change and their measurement
5a) Lecture: Cap and Trade Environmental policies
5b) Workshop: Why it is difficult to devise policies to address Climate Change? Coordination problems, social dilemmas

Weeks 6-7: English Literature and Climate Change
6a) Lecture: Introduction to 20th/21st century climate fiction
6b) Workshop: Robert McFarlane’s ‘The Burning Question’: workshop
7a) Lecture: Reading Contemporary Cli-Fi
7b) Workshop: Extract from Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140 and Jessie Greengrass’s The High House

Week 8-9: Business and Climate Change
8a) Lecture: Sustainable organisational management
8b) Workshop: Green human resource management plus ‘Is doing good, good for business’?
9a) Lecture: Sustainable supply chains
9b) Workshop: Managing first and lower tier suppliers

Week 10: Revision and Assessment Advice

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Adaptability and resilience Developed through collaboration with students from different disciplines (group presentation), and engaging with material beyond their own discipline.
Co-ordinating with others Assessed via group presentation and seminar discussions
Creative Problem Solving Developed through seminar contributions and group presentation
Critical and analytical thinking Developed through seminars and the portfolio
Digital capability Assessed through the creation of a Powerpoint for group presentation
Professional communication Assessed via the portfolio, and demonstrated via verbal communication in seminars and presentations
Real world sense Engaging with the issue of climate change through reading, seminars, and assessments
Reflection Assessed through the reflective portfolio
Subject Specific Skills Interdisciplinary approaches require several different subject skills, all assessed through portfolio and presentation

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 4