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individually and by groups. Individual assessment is carried out via targeted reflection assignments (e.g., literature reflection, systems thinking reflection); group
assessment takes place through a collection of presentations, group reflection
papers, and a final project report and presentation.
Depending on the approach, there are roughly 2 days devoted to each. Each
approach block is supplemented with student reading of two to five scholarly articles, which students are instructed to read in advance. For each block there is a 1- to
2-h lecture by the course instructor explaining, for example, its developmental history, application, and examples of how and where the approach has been applied.
Augmenting the lecture and readings, there also can be a presentation from an
“expert” from outside of LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability
Studies) with greater research and/or practical experience with the specific approach.
For students to develop a greater understanding and increased competency levels
with the approaches, learning activities for each are performed in smaller, randomly
generated groups of five-six students. In these groups, students are paired to an
ongoing—or desired—research topic carried out by an early-career researcher and
project mentor based at LUCSUS. The researcher is responsible for ensuring that
students receive an overview of the general topic, targeted topic advice, and/or basic
readings on the theme. Final student group topics have varied greatly, focusing on,
for example, coastal management in Florida, food security and production systems
in Uganda, mangrove destruction from biofuel feedstock production in Indonesia,
land grabbing in Tanzania, and bush meat production and trade in Ecuador, to name
a few. Each group then concentrates and develops their respective topic as each new
framework is presented to the entire class. However, one exception is the social
ecological system framework where experience has demonstrated that performing a
sufficient assessment using the approach for each topic would take far too long in
the limited time available during the course. Instead, students work on one common
case where each group concentrates on a particular subsystem (e.g., governance
system, resource units).
Important to the student comprehension of each approach and the broader project is the respective group’s formulation of an appropriate focus/question and definition of “boundaries” (i.e., what parameters are included, what is left out).
Collectively—and often in an iterative fashion—the group then devises a conceptualization (model) by using the approach to address the specific question posed. The
groups then work through several iterations of a framing while receiving constructive feedback from one another and the respective topic mentor. For each approach
course block, the groups also present their respective conceptualizations to classmates and the instructor in a small seminar session. This provides opportunities for
students to learn through what others have done, and to gain additional insights on
their own work through fellow student and instructor critique and feedback.
Additionally, there is a final project deliverable where each group combines a
number of the approach conceptualizations (e.g., CLD and transition theory multilevel perspective, SES and DPSIR) in a hopefully coherent “package” based on a
specific topic aim or question that they unify around. Through the lens, they then
reflect more deeply on each approach employed (e.g., strengths, limitations), and on
3 Approaches for Framing Sustainability Challenges: Experiences from Swedish…
individually and by groups. Individual assessment is carried out via targeted reflection assignments (e.g., literature reflection, systems thinking reflection); group
assessment takes place through a collection of presentations, group reflection
papers, and a final project report and presentation.
Depending on the approach, there are roughly 2 days devoted to each. Each
approach block is supplemented with student reading of two to five scholarly articles, which students are instructed to read in advance. For each block there is a 1- to
2-h lecture by the course instructor explaining, for example, its developmental history, application, and examples of how and where the approach has been applied.
Augmenting the lecture and readings, there also can be a presentation from an
“expert” from outside of LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability
Studies) with greater research and/or practical experience with the specific approach.
For students to develop a greater understanding and increased competency levels
with the approaches, learning activities for each are performed in smaller, randomly
generated groups of five-six students. In these groups, students are paired to an
ongoing—or desired—research topic carried out by an early-career researcher and
project mentor based at LUCSUS. The researcher is responsible for ensuring that
students receive an overview of the general topic, targeted topic advice, and/or basic
readings on the theme. Final student group topics have varied greatly, focusing on,
for example, coastal management in Florida, food security and production systems
in Uganda, mangrove destruction from biofuel feedstock production in Indonesia,
land grabbing in Tanzania, and bush meat production and trade in Ecuador, to name
a few. Each group then concentrates and develops their respective topic as each new
framework is presented to the entire class. However, one exception is the social
ecological system framework where experience has demonstrated that performing a
sufficient assessment using the approach for each topic would take far too long in
the limited time available during the course. Instead, students work on one common
case where each group concentrates on a particular subsystem (e.g., governance
system, resource units).
Important to the student comprehension of each approach and the broader project is the respective group’s formulation of an appropriate focus/question and definition of “boundaries” (i.e., what parameters are included, what is left out).
Collectively—and often in an iterative fashion—the group then devises a conceptualization (model) by using the approach to address the specific question posed. The
groups then work through several iterations of a framing while receiving constructive feedback from one another and the respective topic mentor. For each approach
course block, the groups also present their respective conceptualizations to classmates and the instructor in a small seminar session. This provides opportunities for
students to learn through what others have done, and to gain additional insights on
their own work through fellow student and instructor critique and feedback.
Additionally, there is a final project deliverable where each group combines a
number of the approach conceptualizations (e.g., CLD and transition theory multilevel perspective, SES and DPSIR) in a hopefully coherent “package” based on a
specific topic aim or question that they unify around. Through the lens, they then
reflect more deeply on each approach employed (e.g., strengths, limitations), and on
3 Approaches for Framing Sustainability Challenges: Experiences from Swedish…