This course aims at giving doctoral students and advanced Master’s students (final year) an introduction to the fundamentals for engaging in interdisciplinary human-environment research. Taught by professors at the IRI THESys the course introduces students to the range of scientific practices for building explanations and constructing knowledge in human-environment research. The themes covered include brief introductions to the history of western scientific thought, contemporary philosophy of natural and social science, normative theory, numerical modelling and statistical inference, remote sensing, socio-cultural anthropology and human geography, as well as inter- and transdisciplinarity. The common empirical theme of ’Climate Change’ will be used to exemplify the different thought-styles and practices throughout the course. The course is a reading- and discussion-based seminar with each session starting with a short input from the teachers and moving on to discussions based on key texts provided prior to the class. In group work and homework assignments the students will reflect on the different perspectives against their own disciplinary training, as well as discuss how these can be engaged in the development of interdisciplinary research questions. The course will combine synchronous and asychronous learning and will be conducted on-line.
By active participation in the class, the students will receive 2 credit points (doctoral students) or 5 Leistungspunkte (Master’s students).
Findet im Rahmen des normalen Lehrprogrammes am Institut für Europäische Ethnologie statt, ÜWP Studierende können zusätzlich teilnehmen.
Target Audience
Graduate students (and postdocs) at IRI THESys and advanced MA students that conduct human-environment research. This course is strongly recommended for all graduate students independent of their disciplinary background and project.
