Energy, Societal Safety and Sustainable Development (SAM550)

This course focuses on the complex relationship between climate change, societal safety and sustainable development. Particular emphasis is put on understanding dilemmas of global food, water, energy and environmental security within the constraints of sustainable development. The course highlights what societal safety and sustainable development entail and how disaster risk and (un)sustainable development mutually affect each other.


Course description for study year 2024-2025. Please note that changes may occur.

Facts

Course code

SAM550

Version

1

Credits (ECTS)

10

Semester tution start

Autumn

Number of semesters

1

Exam semester

Autumn

Language of instruction

English

Content

NB! This is an elective course and may be cancelled if fewer than 10 students are enrolled by August 20th for the autumn semester.

This course focuses on the complex relationship between climate change, societal security, and sustainable development. In particular, the course highlights what societal security and sustainable development entail and how disaster risk management (DRM) and (un)sustainable development mutually affect each other. Global challenges about food, water, energy, and environmental security within the constraints of sustainable development will be addressed. The course also discusses challenges about vulnerability, with the aim of facilitating understanding and appreciation of competing agendas and narratives in research on this issue. Lastly, students of this course will also gain greater appreciation of the relationship between sustainable development and societal security in climate change at international level, including dilemmas and contradictions between and within these fields.

Learning outcome

It is expected that students after completing the course will have attained the following knowledge, skills and general competencies:

Knowledge of:

  • key concepts in societal security, including risk, vulnerability, resilience, and the difference between hazards and disasters
  • the meaning of diverse security referent objects, more specifically food, water, energy, and environmental security, including climate security
  • how disaster resilience and sustainable development, or lack thereof, mutually influence each other
  • key dilemmas, uncertainties and challenges related to societal security, disaster risk management and sustainable development, particularly considering the food, water, energy, and environmental security nexus
  • how to analyse risks and hazards from a disaster risk reduction (DRR) perspective

Skills:

  • Students should be able to reflect critically on prevailing paradigms in societal security and DRR, with the aim of developing a greater appreciation of how disaster research can be analysed and problematised by drawing on such worldview.
  • Students should be able to apply relevant international DRR tools and frameworks to analyse the relationship between hazards, vulnerability, exposure and disasters.
  • Students should be able to approach issues of food, water, energy, and environmental security from a nexus perspective, and see this in relation to societal security and sustainable development.

General competence:

  • Students should develop an appreciation of how energy, energy transitions, and energy security relates to issues of food, water, and environmental security, with important implications for sustainable development and societal security.
  • Students should become better positioned to engage critically in discussions, reports and projects concerning hazards, risks, and causes of disasters.

Required prerequisite knowledge

None

Exam

Form of assessment Weight Duration Marks Aid
Written exam 1/1 5 Hours Letter grades None permitted

Digital exam

Coursework requirements

Compulsory exercise

Students must hand in a written assignment individually or in a group, which must be approved in order to gain access to the exam.

Duration: 8 weeks

Course teacher(s)

Course coordinator:

Claudia Morsut

Head of Department:

Tore Markeset

Method of work

Lectures, seminars, discussions, student presentations with individual reflections on assigned course readings.

Overlapping courses

Course Reduction (SP)
Energy, Societal Safety and Sustainable Development (MSA265_1) 10

Open for

Open for all master students at UiS (except EVU master's programmes).

Course assessment

There must be an early dialogue between the course supervisor, the student union representative and the students. The purpose is feedback from the students for changes and adjustments in the course for the current semester.In addition, a digital subject evaluation must be carried out at least every three years. Its purpose is to gather the students experiences with the course.

Literature

Search for literature in Leganto