Undergraduate Course: Community-based Technology Research for Sustainable Development 5 (SCEE11018)
Course Outline
| School | School of Engineering |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Year 5 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | The course offers students the opportunity to benefit from enriched experiential interdisciplinary learning as they apply their own academic rigour to the research question while simultaneously acquiring an interactive expertise of other disciplines throughout the research process. Students develop new skills and graduate attributes such as interdisciplinary research, project design, reflective research community partner engagement, teamwork, negotiation, critical thinking. The course will specifically use an education for sustainable development (ESD) framework and encourage students to design their research projects through the lens of the three ESD pillars, economic, environmental and social. Students will gain a clear sense of their own ethical and social responsibility as they engage with these real-world problems around health and wellbeing that respond directly to the UNs SDGs. |
| Course description |
Each team of students are introduced to a teaching mentor who will guide the student teams in each phase of their project work, via weekly meetings. The student mentor will also introduce the student teams to their community partners who will describe the research question and initiate the research project.
The course comprises of two phases
Phase 1 - the student teams meet project mentors and community partners and begin an induction to research planning, management, as well as concepts of interdisciplinary research, community-based research, ethical protocols and research innovation. Expertise in these areas will be drawn from across the disciplines and established initiatives (such as the EPSRC Our Health Programme). Community partners will introduce the student teams to the real-world research questions that are a priority for them. They will then work together with community partners to understand their social, scientific, environmental and commercial implications and applications. Students are expected to commit to attending all scheduled meetings with community partners. Students will present their findings and be assessed on those presentations.
Phase 2 - Students will develop a research plan and proposal for their research question, including context and community partner need, methodologies, experimental design, justifications and impacts. At the end of phase 2 students will present their research plans in a conference style setting and will be assessed on research content and engagement and communication skills. The research projects presented should be of such a high quality that they can be used to attract funding and wider collaborators.
Throughout Phase 1 and 2 students will submit assessed, structured reflective journals that are designed to encourage them to reflect upon the knowledge and skills they are actively developing throughout their research project.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 2,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 8,
External Visit Hours 10,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Formative Assessment Hours 11,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
64 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework 100% |
| Feedback |
Mentors will offer feedback during student team meetings and through formative feedback. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Work effectively in an interdisciplinary team to critically assess a research question set by community partners, making use of different disciplinary perspectives and various socioeconomic contexts.
- Understand and critically discuss and develop the key principles of the role of technologies within sustainable development, the use of community-based research as an approach for enabling technology development and social justice and demonstrate a broader and contextually relevant understanding of sustainable research and innovation.
- Demonstrate qualitative data handling and analysis skills using appropriate tools and processes.
- Critique established ideas, concepts and techniques drawn from current knowledge, and use and adapt relevant disciplinary knowledge to practically engage with the project's research question, methodology and tools of community-based research and produce a feasible/viable research project proposal that could be actioned to deliver impactful change in a real-world setting.
- Communicate information, ideas and arguments effectively using appropriate styles and language, to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Experiential,Interdisciplinary,STEM,Sustainable Technologies,Education for Sustainable Development |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Helen Szoor-McElhinney
Tel:
Email: Helen.Szoor-McElhinney@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Mhairi Sime
Tel: (0131 6)50 5687
Email: msime2@ed.ac.uk |
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