Module manager: Olaf Corry
Email: T.O.Corry@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
Bachelor-level degree of any kind, normal prerequisite for Masters study.
This module is not approved as an Elective
Introducing climate change as a multidimensional problem, this module equips students to understand the competing interests and diverse forms of knowledge involved in understanding and acting upon climate change. It introduces and evaluates dominant and alternative approaches to social and technological transformation including: vulnerability, governance, and adaptation, developing social analytical tools to navigate this complexity.
You will gain a deeper understanding of the multiple facets of climate change understood as not just a physical Earth system process but a fundamentally societal challenge subject to competing and conflicting ideas, knowledge-claims, interests, actors and solutions. The module will introduce how discourses and concepts shape how climate problems and strategies to tackle them are conceived and acted upon.
The module examines how climate science as well as other forms of knowledge are mobilised to ‘understand’ and ‘do’ climate change in particular ways, and in particular how science and politics affect each other. The key categories currently used in key policy fora such as mitigation, adaptation, governance, vulnerability and resilience will be taught and critiqued, while strategies relating to adaptation, vulnerability and governance will be explored to give an understanding of how societies are, or could be, responding differently to the effects of climate change.
Teaching will be a mixture of online recorded mini-lecture segments, live lectures, student readings and presentations, as well as group seminars discussing cases and linking these to taught theories and concepts.
Teaching also includes a discourse analysis workshop learning to break down, contextualise and analyse climate texts. A mock climate negotiation will also support students to explore the complex dynamics of knowledge, power and influence within climate change governance. Reflections on this are assessed and used to further explore issues of positionality, discourse and competing interests.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Describe climate change as a complex problem where multiple aims compete and collide.
2. Critically analyse how key concepts have evolved and play roles in different climate change discourses
3. Explain how different kinds of climate knowledge, perspectives, policy, and practice interact with each other and are influenced by power and competing interests.
4. Evaluate the changing climate governance arrangements and the roles states, markets and civil society play in shaping the abilities of a range of actors to exert influence
5. Appraise how adequately different forms of climate knowledge and solutions pursue different climate objectives such as risk management, security, development, and justice
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
1. Critical thinking and analysis. (Academic Skills, Sustainability Skills). Weighing up different arguments and perspectives, using supporting evidence to form opinions, arguments, theories and ideas. Questioning norms, practices and opinions; reflecting on own and others’ values, perceptions and actions; taking a position in the sustainable development discourse; applying evidence-based decision-making and reframing problems.
2. Information searching, academic integrity and referencing (Academic Skills). Identifying and evaluating appropriate and relevant information sources to help strengthen the quality of academic work and independent research. Interpreting and presenting other people's ideas and synthesizing them to support own opinion, argument and theories. Knowing when, why and how to acknowledge someone else’s work or ideas.
3. Teamwork and collaboration (Sustainability Skills, Work-Ready Skills). Building positive relationships with other people which then enables successful projects or other collaborations. Learning from others (including peers, and others inside and outside of their institution); understanding and respecting the needs, perspectives and actions of other stakeholders; dealing with conflicts in a group; using participatory approaches; facilitating collaborative and participatory problem solving; applying inter and trans-disciplinarity to problem solving..
4. Communication skills. (Sustainability Skills, Work-Ready Skills). Communicating effectively through listening, clarity of expression and constructive inquiry; engaging in interdisciplinary discussion to inform their thinking about sustainable futures and seeking holistic, creative solutions to problems; listening actively and critically; addressing conflict and developing mediation skills. Communicates in a way which is clear, concise and focused, tailoring each message for its intended audience while listening carefully to the views of others.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervision | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Lecture | 16 | 1 | 16 |
| Practical | 2 | 6 | 12 |
| Seminar | 14 | 1 | 14 |
| Private study hours | 256 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 44 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 300 | ||
We will run one x 1-hour drop-in support supervision before each assignment (2 x 1-hour drop-in total) for students to ask questions and get feedback on their ideas.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Critique | Analyse a climate text (from selected list) drawing on various discursive tools and social science approaches [individual submission] | 50 |
| Essay | After participating in a group-based in-class mock climate negotiation simulating a diverse range of climate ‘stakeholders’, explain how different perspectives, institutions, kinds of power and influence affect climate change decision-making. [Individual submission] | 50 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt.
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 29/04/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team