Module manager: Prof Paul C Taylor
Email: p.c.taylor@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
NATS2360
| NATS2360 | Interdisciplinary Skills and Programming for Natural Scienti |
For clarity Nat Sci students will no longer be able to register for discipline-based project modules.
This module is not approved as a discovery module
Science does not take place in a vacuum, and so during this module natural sciences students have the opportunity to integrate and apply learning from other modules to benefit society and develop their global cultural awareness. During this module students will engage with global challenges identified with colleagues from UoL’s major science research centres and/or external partners.
This module develops student competence and literacy in the transferable skills essential to succeeding in their studies and becoming effective workready graduates.
These skills are developed through disciplinary and interdisciplinary research projects related to scientific global challenges.
These objectives are achieved through a process where the skills are identified and developed in a workshop, practised and applied in a facilitated team-working environment, and assessed through the outputs from the team-based component of the research. The students are encouraged to reflect on these skills in their outputs. These sessions will also encourage application of programme-specific knowledge from other modules.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes:
Critically evaluate methods used to analyse and report data in the literature and a wide range of other sources. Demonstrate abilities to understand experimental procedures, assess uncertainties, and draw meaningful conclusions from complex datasets.
Select, examine and critique a significant body of research literature and other sources of information, citing and referencing the sources used. Use the literature to maintain currency of knowledge, extend learning and support the development of solutions to specified problems.
Engage with relevant literature, reports etc. in a systematic and selective way to extract relevant scientific information, appraise, synthesise and summarise key topics and communicate these effectively to an interdisciplinary audience.
Complete independent open-ended investigative work through a project relevant to the Natural Sciences, involving data collection and analysis and interpret the information within the context of current knowledge. This should involve an initial report and project plan, and a final project report.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated competency with the following skills:
Act professionally and with integrity, with due regard for legal, ethical and societal responsibilities, modelling good practice that promotes positive perceptions of the Natural Sciences and Natural Scientists.
Work co-operatively with others as part of a significant project across disciplines.
Communicate effectively using appropriate presentation skills such as written, oral and other presentation methods, selecting appropriate content, media and methods for the audience, purpose and subject.
Plan and manage work in an adaptive and reflexive manner.
Confidently approach complex unknown problems. Choose actions based on own data and incomplete information. Critically analyse own results, as well as methodology, results and conclusions produced by others e.g. by developing creative solutions to real-world problems.
Develop work ready skills including leadership and entrepreneurship.
Students will work on interdisciplinary grand challenge projects that will be developed from year to year. Two suggested challenges for 2026-27 re listed below. These are reproduced from the Research Councils’ Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) themes, where students can find more details and explanation.
Manufacturing Abundance – we will assemble limited sets of available molecules into a limitless range of functionality
Engineering Ecosystem resilience – by pairing advanced monitoring with resilience-boosting interventions, we could halt biodiversity loss and enable people and nature to thrive
Students will work first in smaller groups with students taking different and complementary subject combinations. They will research the challenges, articulate the current state of the art and identify gaps in our knowledge.
Later, students will work in larger groups to develop projects in one or more of the identified areas, aiming to advance the field.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Practical | 11 | 2 | 22 |
| Seminar | 25 | 3 | 75 |
| Private study hours | 93 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 107 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 30/04/2026
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team