Dealing with Climate Change: From Global to Local Perspectives

Content

The course addresses climate change from the perspective of the social sciences. This includes fundamental questions of relations between climate change and politics, justice, culture, history, and economics. You will be part of a cross-university online classroom with students from the corresponding universities of the cities mentioned above, as well as a multidisciplinary team of scholars from these institutions. During the online classes, you will be introduced to theoretical perspectives on climate change, key concepts in climate science, policy and activism, as well as different methods in climate change research. In a group of students from the different universities, you will participate in different climate change research exercises involving quantitative and qualitative approaches.

The course will be both lecture and seminar style where in-class discussions will be a central element. While the online sessions deal with larger scales such as global or national ones, you will deal with local climate change challenges in workshops during an on-site week in Göttingen from 18.06.2023 to 24.06.2023 (incl. travel days). Thereby, you will have the opportunity to get to know the students and scholars from the other universities that you have previously only met online. You will also have the chance to get to know the university city of Göttingen in central Germany and learn about the consequences and challenges of climate change for its inhabitants.

Learning outcomes

The aim of this course is to guide you to learn about the complexity of climate change and its need to look across different scales of climate impacts and climate action by taking part in multidisciplinary online sessions and an on-site-week in Göttingen. Throughout the course, you participate in various research exercises to learn and apply different methodological approaches to climate change research.

At the end of this ENLIGHT BIP, you will be able to:

• Describe the impacts of and responses to climate change across spatial and temporal scales.
• Identify key concepts in climate change research including relations between mitigation, adaptation, and climate justice.
• Examine the local impact of climate change in relation to policy processes, visions, subjectivities, narratives and viewpoints as well as the ethical and cultural dimensions of climate change.
• Apply theoretical approaches from the social sciences to different scales of climate action.
• Discuss climate research in intercultural and multidisciplinary groups.
• Reflect on the different disciplinary and methodological approaches to climate change research in a comparative manner.

Programme

Weekly Sessions on Tuesdays 10:00 – 12:00 CET via Zoom

• Week 1: Climate Change in Context: The State of the World through the Lens of Ecological Economics
• Week 2: Introduction to a Social Science Perspective on Climate Change
• Week 3: Key Concepts in Climate Change Research
• Week 4: The Global Climate Regime vs. Non-state Action
• Week 5: Methods in Climate Change Research
• Week 6: In-depth session on Climate Mitigation
• Week 7: In-depth session on Climate Adaptation
• Week 8: In-depth session on Climate Justice
• Week 9: Break

Additional Sessions:

• Thursday 20.04.23, 18:00 - 20:00 CET: Discussion Session I
• Thursday 04.05.23, 18:00 - 20:00 CET: Discussion Session II
• Wednesday 17.05.23, 10:00-12:00 CET: Student Presentations Exercise I

Note: Some changes to the content may occur.

Assessment

• Literature Reflections
• Group Presentation
• Individual Portfolio

Lecturers

• Ethemcan Turhan (University of Groningen)
• Elfriede Hermann (University of Göttingen
• Leon-Fabian Caspari (University of Göttingen)
• Magdalena Kuchler (Uppsala University)
• Paula Lenninger (Uppsala University)
• Elisa Sainz de Murieta (University of the Basque Country)
• Eneko Garmendia (University of the Basque Country)

This course is eligible for master students from the University of Groningen, the University of Göttingen, the University of the Basque Country and Uppsala University who are interested in engaging with climate change through a multidisciplinary perspective.

Students from Groningen:

Please complete this application form by 03.02.2023. For questions regarding the content of the course, you may contact Ethemcan Turhan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can share your questions about the procedure with Nati Mansilla Ovejero at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Students from Göttingen:

For more information on how to participate, please see the UniVZ and Stud.IP information for the course from March 2023 onwards. If you have any questions, please contact Leon-Fabian Caspari at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Students from the Basque Country:

For more information on how to participate please contact Eneko Garmendia at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Students from Uppsala:

Please complete this application form by 03.02.2023. For questions regarding the content of the course and the application procedure, you may contact Paula Lenninger at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

For general inquiries regarding the course, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..