SD3103 Field Course for Sustainable Development - East Africa

Academic year

2025 to 2026 Flexible study

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

20

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 9

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Planned timetable

To be confirmed

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr P C Schulz

Dr P C Schulz
This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Christopher Schulz and Dr Kathryn Fredricks

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

In this module students (with the close supervision and support of staff) will design and implement a research project that will be carried out collaboratively with students at the University of Bonn (Germany) and students from an East African university. This module is for those interested in international development, equitable partnerships, and decoloniality. Students will identify a viable project, complete ethics clearance applications, undertake primary or secondary qualitative and/or quantitative data collection, and analyse the results. Some provisional analysis and presentation of research findings will take place, but the emphasis will be on broader learning related to the design and implementation of a research project, and working collaboratively across cultural boundaries. It will help prepare students who wish to write a dissertation in year four. Students will attend a mixture of in-person classes (Semester 2), and virtual classes (five weeks in June), before an in-person trip (July/August).

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST PASS SD2006 AND PASS SD2100

Anti-requisites

SD3100, GG3213, GG3214, SD3102

Co-requisites

SD3101 AND AT LEAST 10 CREDITS FROM LIST GG3206-GG3212 OR GG3215

Assessment pattern

100% Coursework

Re-assessment

100% Coursework

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

Semester 2: 2hr seminar x 2 weeks, Summer: 2hr seminar x 2 weeks, 2hr practical x 3 weeks, 2 week residential field course

Scheduled learning hours

84

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

119

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • Identify pertinent research questions for global and local sustainable development, design research projects, and plan a program of fieldwork.
  • Apply decolonial approaches to research in practice through teamwork and equitable partnerships with other students.
  • Make connections between the empirical, methodological and epistemological issues involved in conducting research.
  • Critically analyse field data and write up field reports in a careful, diligent and reflexive fashion.
  • Critically assess the implications of gendered and racialised positionalities as well as logistical challenges during fieldwork in an unfamiliar cultural, social, and ecological context.