Core Taught Modules

ESC-40034 – An Introduction to Sustainable Technologies (15 credits)

This module provides students from diverse entry disciplines with an overview of key concepts, debates, processes and discourses with regard to the main clean(er) and sustainable technologies, which will be covered in detail in optional modules. In addition, the key process and issues involved in using resources and the effects both now and in the future will be considered.

Topics will include:

• Energy security
• Power distribution and storage
• Renewable sources of energy and their exploitation for power generation
• Conventional and Unconventional hydrocarbons
• Nuclear energy
• Geological, Biological and Ocean Sequestration
• Climate Change, greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect
• Protecting and Managing Water and food resources
• Biodiversity and biosecurity

You will cover topics across the field, which will prepare you to specialise in greater depth in one or more areas through later optional modules and in their dissertation.

PIR-40106 Dimensions of Environmental Politics (15 credits)

This module aims to provide you with an overview of key concepts, debates, processes and discourses in relation to the political dynamics of ‘the environment’. It aims to provide a broad introduction to the main facets of environmental politics and covers a substantial amount of ground in a relatively short amount of time. The seminars therefore provide breadth rather than depth. The aim is that you will gain a good general understanding across the field, which will prepare you to specialise in greater depth in one or more areas in other optional modules and dissertation.

You will explore the following three key questions in environmental politics: - How did ‘the environment’ come to be seen as a political question? How have political institutions responded to what have been called environmental problems? What are the challenges such problems individually or collectively pose for existing political structures, institutions, and practices, and the theoretical presumptions underlying them? However in writing the assessed essay students will chose a question that requires in depth research on a specific aspect of the module. You will also have the opportunity to develop your research and communication skills by participating in weekly debates.

ESC-40030 Case Studies in Sustainability (15 credits)

This highly interactive module allows you to specialise in aspects of topics you find interesting. Subjects covered include topical and often controversial issues of technology development and sustainable living. Important employability skills are developed as the abilities to assimilate data, work as a team and solve problems are practised.

In this module you will work as a member of a team to consider complex scientific, political, management and ethical issues relating to problems in the environmental sustainability and green technology sectors. This will involve you improving your professional negotiation and presentation skills as you review case studies and consult widely and engage in student-led debates in controversial and topical issues around sustainability and energy supply and demand.

ESC-40048 Research and Business Skills, Project and Portfolio Management (15 credits)

Research funding bodies have identified a need at the postgraduate level to provide training in generic research skills and for students to develop a skills base that would enable them to fulfil their career aspirations. This module encourages postgraduates to develop research and communication skills for research and commercial environments. The module includes experimental design and data analysis for science and social science, project management, communication skills, public understanding of science, career management, intellectual property rights, and the role of ethics. Commercial aspects are a key factor in project management and decision making. You will learn how to put together professional project planning documents including a project scope and business plan incorporating a detailed implementation, resource, and financial management plan.

ESC-40029 Research Project  (60 credits)

You will develop your research, problem-solving skills and independence by undertaking a research project based on real-world challenges in sustainability, either at Keele or in collaboration with an associated academic, private or public sector organisation. Research projects proposed by Keele researchers and partnering organisations and companies, and made available to students. You are also encouraged to propose project ideas of your own.

Projects can be based on any relevant area of interest as long as it’s agreed with a Keele supervisor. You will submit a 15-20,000 word dissertation outlining the aims and objectives, background and context of the research, methods and results. The report will include discussion of the significance of findings and any implications and recommendations in the context of wider research and/or application of the knowledge into practice.

Indicative Optional Taught Modules

ESC-40031 Clean and Green 1 - Power from Above the Earth

This module provides an overview of key concepts, debates, processes and discourses in relation to technologies which derive energy from above the ground, i.e. those which we know as renewable including wind/wave/solar and new build and existing nuclear energies, emphasising how we can minimise carbon footprint and assessing the contribution each might make to energy needs.  The aim is that you will gain an in depth understanding across the field which will prepare you to specialise in an area for your dissertation.

This module covers topics in renewable energy development and how a range of technologies work, including:

• Onshore and Offshore Wind Power
• Tidal and Off Shore Wave Power
• Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic Energy
• Biogas, Biomass and Biofuels

Students are presented with the technological, economic and social and political drivers and barriers for each technology.  Issues of energy storage and factors affecting energy security are also considered. You are encouraged to actively participate in in-class discussions and exercises and during the assessed presentations. You will develop your professional skills as you examine the feasibility of specific renewable technologies in a local, national and international context.  

Industrial engagement in this module is high with industrial guest lectures and specific examples of energy production facilities enabling you to see how theory is implemented in real practice and to gain an insight into industries from an operational and commercial perspective.

ESC-40047 Green IT

This module will enable you to gain an understanding of the sustainability challenges facing the IT industry and of the strategies and techniques that are available to address these challenges. It will also cover ways in which IT can enhance sustainability in other sectors (e.g. through the use of simulation and modelling software and IT tools such as video conferencing).

The material covered includes: 

• Energy challenges facing the IT industry, life cycle costs vs capital costs, power management and metrics, energy efficient IT hardware, virtualisation, The Grid
• Reuse, recycling, WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive
• IT as a sustainability enabler in other sectors (e.g. use of video conferencing, home working, simulation and modelling, energy efficient process control, environmental monitoring and protection)

ESC-40015 Natural Hazards

This module examines the causes and characteristics of a broad variety of natural hazards and their destructive impact on human society. These hazards range from small-scale to large-scale events, from relatively minor disturbances to catastrophic disasters, and are associated with both environmental and anthropogenic triggers. Particular attention is paid to the assessment of risk and the steps that can be taken to prevent or mitigate the damage and disruption associated with these processes. This module aims to evaluate and analysis the causes of a variety of natural hazards, to investigate their potential impacts on human society and infrastructure, and to evaluate measures that can be taken to mitigate and predict their destructive effects.

Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to:

• Critically analyse and critically evaluate the causes and dangers associated with specific natural hazards
• Critically assess and quantify the risk posed by natural hazards in a variety of hypothetical situations
• Critically evaluate the techniques that can be used to predict and mitigate the impacts of natural hazards and evaluate the most appropriate measures for varying circumstances.

LAW-40043 International Environmental Law

This module offers a critical perspective on the development of international environmental law. It provides a grounding in the legal norms, institutions and processes of the field, and explores current environmental global issues such as biodiversity loss, trade and environment, food security and climate change through specific treaty regimes. Drawing on a range of legal, policy and other literature, the module highlights key challenges facing the regulation of the environment today.

The module content will include: 

1) Historical development of international environmental law, sources and key principles
2) Influential judicial decisions
3) International environmental law and public/private international law: cross-cutting issues
4) Biodiversity and Conservation (may include a group presentation on the Convention on Biological Diversity)
5) Species protection, the State, and international trade (may include a group presentation on the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species)
6) Fisheries and Whaling (may include a group presentation on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)
7) World trade law and environmental protection (may include a group presentation on the WTO)
8) Desertification and colonialism (may include a group presentation on the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification)
9) Climate law and climate justice (may include a group presentation on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)

GEG-40006 Economic Development and Environmental Transformation

Are economic development and environmental concerns always opposed? Why doesn't environmental conservation seem to work? And what areas should be conservation priorities to sustain global ecosystems? What does international development assistance do for the people who depend most directly on their local environments for their livelihoods? This module helps you to find your own answers to some of these pressing questions by introducing them to development geography. You will explore key ideas from this subdiscipline including political ecology - the study of environments as products of social action and performative economy - the idea of 'economy' as an abstract realm we bring into being by describing it. The coursework involves using in-depth case studies of economy and ecology to evaluate different pathways towards and definitions of 'development.'

ESC-40032 Clean and Green 2 - Power from Beneath the Earth

This module aims to provide you with an overview of key concepts, debates, processes and discourses in relation to technologies which derive energy from below the ground, i.e. fossil fuels, geothermal and ground source heat while emphasising how we can minimise carbon footprint. The aim is that you will gain an in depth understanding across the field which will prepare you to specialise in an area for your dissertation.

Topics will include:

•  Geothermal Energy, Low Temperatures and Supercritical
• Ground Source Heat Pumps
• Clean(er) Coal
• Nuclear fusion and fission

Technologies are discussed in the context of local, national and international development. You are encouraged to take part in class discussions during lectures and peer review and feedback is actively encouraged during presentations. 

ESC-40019  Water Resources

Water is a vital resource to life on Earth. Pressures on water resources in many regions are growing due to increasing population, decreasing quality of water and climate change. In order to effectively manage water resources it is important to understand hydrological processes and both problems and potential solutions surrounding both water quantity and water quality, and the requirements of the human and ecological water users.

The module is split into two sections. The first section covers understanding of hydrogeological systems and water quality, the second section covers problems and potential solutions around different water resource issues. The course is lecture based with some discussion activities, and includes two workshops to support the coursework report.

ESC-40060 Climate Change Science

This module covers factors affecting the climate and the impacts that this change is having on our planet and its inhabitants. Topics include how climate change comes about, its effects and how to prevent it, including the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). You will gain skills and confidence in interpreting and communicating complex information, basic modelling and data analysis related to climate change.

This module develops skills and knowledge needed to decipher, relate and use complex information related to climate change, risk and socioeconomic factors.

Typical topics include:

• Natural and human-induced climate change processes; including greenhouse gas formation, interactions and impacts
• Forcing factors
• The role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• Geoengineering and related ethical issues and dilemmas
• Modelling sea-level rise