ICTA-UAB launches the first master’s Degree in “Political Ecology. Degrowth and Environmental Justice”
The Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB) launches the master’s Degree in “Political Ecology. Degrowth and Environmental Justice”. This is the first Master of its kind, and one of the first all in the world in the flourishing field of Political Ecology. The Master builds on a successful 7-year series of international Summer Schools on Environmental Justice and Degrowth, two ongoing European Research Council projects on global -in which the Atlas of environmental justice has been created (https://ejatlas.org/)- and urban environmental justice. And it benefits from the several top researchers that are currently working at ICTA-UAB (the Institute for Environmental Studies and Technology) and R&D (Research and Degrowth) in Barcelona, the two institutes co-organizing this program.
For those people in Barcelona, there is the possibility to register and take individual modules.To register for a separate module, click Sciences and Environmental Science here: https://www.uab.cat/web/study/graduate/specialisation-courses/specialisation-courses-1345670272248.html
We live in an era of growing inequalities, poverty and environmental disasters. Environmental and social problems are inter-related. Environmental problems have political causes and political solutions ? they are a matter of power and inequality. Addressing climate change calls for system change ? our program offers the knowledge and tools for thinking and bringing forward such system change. We aspire to train the next generation of environmental justice activists, engaged civil servants, and entrepreneurs of the new cooperative economy ? those who will put in action the best ideas for creating a society that is fair, enjoyable and ecologically sustainable.
In our Master program, you will get theoretical classes from top scholars in the fields of environmental conflicts, urban gentrification, ecological economics and governance of the commons. Our teachers include well-known names in the field, such as Joan Martinez-Alier, Isabelle Anguelovski and Giorgos Kallis. You will be trained in using methods to conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis of complex problems ? such as multi-criteria evaluation, surveys, Q-methodology, and material flow analysis, learn the EJAtlas of environmental justice and support environmental activists by adding more cases to it. And you will be taught by practitioners who are experts in their fields, how to facilitate a group process, how to write a policy report or a newspaper article, how to run a social or environmental justice campaign and how to set-up a cooperative.
Our program benefits from the fact that it takes place in Barcelona, a city that is also at the forefront of practical action and experimentation with the commons, social justice and alternative economies. We collaborate closely with the municipality of Barcelona and several of the civil groups and cooperatives active in the city. The students of our program will develop practical exercises and their theses in such organizations, enmeshing their work in the vibrant progressive culture of the city.
Our pedagogy is based on group learning. Most of our professors are young and experiment with new methods of teaching, other than conventional lecturing. You will be asked to read and interact, but you will also experience knowledge through field visits, conversations with local people, work in local organizations and direct Action Research. You will learn how to work in groups, and you will develop most of your assignments and your final project in groups.
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