Module manager: Paul Jensen
Email: p.jensen@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
This module is not approved as an Elective
This module provides students with the opportunity to develop project management and ‘soft’ consultancy skills in communication, critical thinking and collaboration before applying learning from each of the MSc Sustainability and Consultancy modules to a focused, consultancy-style research project. The module is centred on an independent research project and tests the skills and knowledge developed over the first and second semesters of the programme. Commensurate with acting as a consultant, the student will need to scope, plan, deliver and report on this research on behalf of a business or other organisation. As part of the student’s research, they will have to identify and undertake additional self-guided learning in skills and topics which are relevant to their project and any additional outputs they agree to produce for their research client. A project supervisor will support the student in this activity and provide feedback at key stages of project delivery.
The aim of the module is to research, develop, and project manage a sustainability-focused project that meets the needs of a consultancy client. The objectives of the module are to provide the student with the knowledge and skills to:
- Develop a research strategy that meets the needs of a sustainability consultancy client.
- Consolidate and apply understanding of resource allocation, project management, stakeholder engagement and business development in a professional environmental consultancy context.
- Recognise and manage, where necessary, any project-specific health and safety issues.
- Recognise and manage, where necessary, any project-specific moral and/or ethical issues.
- Synthesise and summarise project-relevant information critically and cogently into robust research findings.
- Communicate consultancy findings effectively in oral and written form, acceptable both to an academic and an industrial audience.
Learning outcomes directly reflect module learning objectives, i.e., on successful completion of the module, the student will have developed:
LO1. Create a research strategy to meet the needs of a sustainability consultancy client.
LO2. Consolidate and apply an understanding of resource allocation, project management, stakeholder engagement and business development in a professional environmental consultancy context.
LO3. Understand and manage, where necessary, any project-specific health and safety, moral and/or ethical issues.
LO4. Critically evaluate project-relevant information into robust research findings.
LO5. Communicate consultancy findings effectively in oral form, acceptable to academic and industrial audiences.
LO6. Communicate consultancy findings effectively in written form, acceptable to academic and industrial audiences.
Skills Learning Outcomes
Given the demands of the Sustainability Consultancy Project module, student skills learning outcomes will include all ‘Academic’, ‘Sustainability’, ‘Enterprise’ and ‘Work Ready’ domains of the Leeds skills matrix and, due to the bespoke nature of each project and the demands of consultancy clients, other outcomes will include some or all elements of the ‘Digital’ and ‘Technical’ domains of the skills matrix. Specifically, module learning outcomes cover:
SKLO1. Academic Skills (critical thinking, presentation, academic writing)
SKLO2. Sustainability Skills (systems thinking, anticipatory/future thinking, relationship development, ethical)
SKLO3. Enterprise Skills (identifying opportunities, developing vision and purpose, creativity and innovation, planning and utilising resources, working and communicating with others; applying commercial, ethical, sustainable, digital and inter-disciplinary literacies).
SKLO4. Work Ready Skills (communication, time management, planning & organising, problem solving & analytical skill, leadership, personal/self/career management, active learning, commercial awareness, decision-making, adaptability/flexibility, research skills, working under pressure).
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervision | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Lecture | 5 | 3 | 15 |
| Lecture | 7 | 2 | 14 |
| Seminar | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Independent online learning hours | 265 | ||
| Private study hours | 600 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 35 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 900 | ||
- Group formative feedback will follow the lecture summary element of each session in line with the presented learning outcomes at the start of each lecture
- Personal and group formative feedback will be provided within the MCQ review session
- Personal and group formative feedback will be provided following the mock evidence panel oral presentation
- Personal formative feedback will be provided via project supervision meetings (incl. following submission of project scoping note; initial evidence gathering; submission of draft findings)
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Oral assessment | 40 |
| Coursework | Coursework | 60 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
If students fail the progress presentation, they are required to give a presentation on the adaptions to their research approach and project management made in response to the feedback provided for the failed progress presentation. The presentation will be submitted with the final report. If students fail the report, a resit will be available as an external student in the following year. If the same organisation agrees to continue working with the student, the resit will involve improvements to the original report based on supervisor feedback. If the organisation does not agree to continue working with the student, a full module resit is required, i.e. retaking the module in its entirety, including the presentation. If students fail both assessed components of the module, a full module resit is required. The module in its entirety will be resat as an external student.
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 29/04/2025
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