Timetable and Modules
The following list outlines the anticipated modules for the academic year 2024-2025, however, please note that all modules are subject to change.
Michaelmas Term |
Hilary Term |
Trinity Term |
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Michaelmas Term (September to December)
- Business and the Natural Environment: Global Ecosystems and Planetary Boundaries
- Research Methods
- Resilience and Values-Driven Leadership
- Sustainable Corporate Governance and Inclusive Business
Hilary Term (January to April)
- Climate Action: the Essentials of Carbon Accounting and Life Cycle Assessment
- ESG-Reporting: Measuring and Disclosing Sustainability Impacts
- Innovation Strategy and Systems Thinking
- Responsible Technology and Digitalisation
Trinity Term (May to August)
Module Descriptions
Business and the Natural Environment: Global Ecosystems and Planetary Boundaries (10 ECTS)
This module focuses on the environmental dimension of corporate sustainability and covers some fundamental ecological/natural environment concepts and tools, providing a framing for frameworks of corporate sustainability, the nature-positive approach, and how to apply concepts to real-world cases.
Topics covered in the course include:
- Nature restoration in action
- Global ecosystems and planetary boundaries
- Fundamentals of climate change
- Landuse tradeoffs
- Circular Economy
- The journey to nature positive
- Nature-Based solutions
- The E in ESG
On successful completion of the module students should be able to:
- Identify and explain fundamental concepts and tools for the natural environment, including measuring and monitoring in natural systems and identification of ecosystem service flows.
- Evaluate trade offs in decision-making with regards to management and exploitation of natural resources.
- Apply the Nature Positive approach to the development of business strategies.
- Analyse the dimension of corporate sustainability and responsibility.
- Demonstrate effective professional oral and written communication skills (i.e., group presentations, discussions in class, individual written assignment).
- Work effectively in a diverse team environment to generate an appropriate solution for a real-world environmental issue.
Research Methods (5 ECTS)
This module is designed to facilitate master’s students to develop the skills and knowledge needed for conceiving, planning, and implementing empirical social science research projects. The module covers a broad range of topics including the philosophical foundations of research, key elements of social science research, different types of research contributions, the role of theory, how to review and use extant literature, different methodological approaches, considerations for planning data collection and analysis, as well as pragmatic considerations such as finding appropriate samples.
On successful completion of the module students should be able to:
- Acquire the knowledge and appreciation for the principles and practices of responsible research in social sciences.
- Be able to debate and evaluate major theories relating to research design and methods for collecting and analysing data.
- Recognise the contribution research makes to social sciences theory and practice.
- Identify a research question and justify the research design required to address it.
- Recognise appropriate data collection techniques and data analysis methods.
- Increase confidence and ability to conduct a research project in social sciences.
Resilience and Values-Driven Leadership (5 ECTS)
This module will explore the concept of leadership with a specific focus on values, ethical business conduct, and personal as well as organisational resilience. Following Pless (2007), values-driven leadership describes a values-based and ethical principles-driven relationship between leaders and stakeholders who are connected through a shared sense of meaning and purpose through which they raise one another to higher levels of motivation and commitment for achieving sustainable values creation and societal change. Real-life case studies of values-driven leadership will be investigated, and practical guidelines will be provided on how this style of leadership can be implemented in an organisational environment. Furthermore, it will be explored how this style of leadership fosters personal and organizational resilience enabling sustainable careers as well as sustainable business performance in a volatile business environment.
On successful completion of the module students should be able to:
- Consider ethical practices of leadership to facilitate team effectiveness in a human and sustainable way.
- Gain an understanding of a variety of leadership approaches.
- Apply different leadership skills contingent on situational considerations to facilitate their team’s effectiveness.
- Demonstrate and train their leadership skills in individual and group exercises as well as simulations.
Sustainable Corporate Governance and Inclusive Business (10 ECTS)
This module provides a stakeholder-oriented approach to solving sustainability challenges (such as sustainable procurement and sourcing) through responsible management policies and practices across global supply chains. There will be a focus on exploring sustainable corporate governance and inclusive business in the context of transnational, inter-connected business activity.
Topics covered in the course include:
- Stakeholder engagement and stakeholder value creation
- Societal grand challenges and wicked problems
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives, partnerships, and networks
- Sustainable supply chain governance
- Diversity and inclusion
- Business and human rights
On successful completion of the module students should be able to:
- Identify and explain fundamental concepts and frameworks regarding sustainable corporate governance and inclusive business and apply these concepts and frameworks to real-world cases
- Describe the key concepts of multi-stakeholder governance, political CSR, wicked problems, stakeholder engagement, diversity and inclusion, business and human rights
- Evaluate the supply chain governance dimension of corporate sustainability & responsibility and integrate this dimension into related decision-making policies and practices
- Implement a stakeholder-oriented approach to solving political business challenges through responsible management policies and practices
- Demonstrate effective professional oral and written communications skills (i.e., group presentations, discussions in class, individual written assignment)
- Work effectively in a diverse team environment to generate an appropriate solution for a real-world multi-stakeholder governance issue (through group presentations as well as case studies in class)
Climate Action: The Essentials of Carbon Accounting and Life Cycle Assessment (10 ECTS)
This module will explore the essentials of carbon accounting and life cycle assessment by introducing the essential frameworks, concepts, standards, and tools to implement a progressive climate action agenda for business.
Topics covered in the course include:
- The carbon accounting process
- Establishing a baseline and accounting for scopes 1, 2, 3
- Setting science-based targets and net-zero
- Making use of relevant international standards, such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol
- Life cycle assessment methodologies
On successful completion of the module students should be able to:
- Identify and explain fundamental concepts and frameworks regarding carbon accounting and life cycle assessment and apply these concepts and frameworks to real-world cases.
- Describe the key concepts of carbon accounting, scope 1-3 emissions, science-based targets, net-zero, life cycle assessment, just transition, climate justice.
- Evaluate the climate action dimension of corporate sustainability & responsibility and integrate this dimension into related decision-making policies and practices.
- Implement a collaborative approach to climate action through responsible management policies and practices.
- Demonstrate effective professional oral and written communications skills (i.e., group presentations, discussions in class, individual written assignment).
- Work effectively in a diverse team environment to generate an appropriate solution for a real-world climate action issue (through group presentations as well as case studies in class).
ESG-Reporting: Measuring and Disclosing Sustainability Impacts (10 ECTS)
This module explores sustainability reporting from its genesis to its current formulation including its purpose, benefits and practicalities. This module starts with the Integrated Reporting framework, also known as the Six Capitals model, which can help companies provide a more complete picture of how it creates/destroys value across multiple dimensions. It discusses and elaborates on the seven guiding principles of integrated reporting: strategic focus & future orientation, materiality, connectivity of information, stakeholder relationships, consistency & comparability, reliability & completeness, and conciseness. It also covers the reporting process and the various types of key performance measures that should be contained within them. It then explores various international reporting standards, giving special attention to the European sustainability reporting standards. Finally, it examines issues with sustainability reporting such as Greenwashing.
On successful completion of the module students should be able to:
- Identify the steps required to create a sustainability report and the key performance indicators that should be included.
- Analyse an organisation’s business model and stakeholder network to determine which environmental and social issues are material.
- Compare and evaluate the main international reporting standards.
- Critique the breath and depth of an organisation’s sustainability reporting with regards to its strategic focus, future orientation, consistency, comparability, reliability and completeness.
- Critically assess an organisations impact based on its contribution to the sustainable development goals.
Innovation Strategy and Systems Thinking (5 ECTS)
This module will cover the principles and practices associated with innovation strategy and systems thinking in the context of sustainability transitions in business and how processes of systems innovation and creativity can support positive sustainability action and nature-based solutions.
Topics covered in the course include:
- Theories and processes of sustainable business innovation strategy.
- Theories and processes of Systems Thinking.
- Critical Thinking for Sustainable Development.
- Creative Problem Solving & Design Thinking for Nature-based Solutions.
On successful completion of the module students should be able to:
- Describe frameworks and concepts of sustainable business innovation strategy.
- Evaluate theories and concepts associated with systems-thinking for sustainable development.
- Investigate the impact of current global economic, social and environmental pressures on business in a global context.
- Discuss how economic, social and environmental challenges can be met through systems-thinking and nature-based solutions.
- Evaluate the role of governments and other stakeholders in large-scale systemic change.
Responsible Technology and Digitalisation (5 ECTS)
This module investigates the ethical impact of digital technology on society. It provides a to provide a high-level overview of the different ways in which technology and ethics interact. The objectives are to familiarise students with key concepts and topics, and to equip them with a non-technical understanding of key developments in the technology space.
On successful completion of the module students should be able to:
- Distinguish between and describe the two main focus areas of responsible digital technology.
- Apply core ethical theories, e.g., deontology and utilitarianism, to dilemmas involving digital technology, e.g., artificial intelligence.
- Evaluate the appropriateness of digital regulation from an ethical perspective.
Research Dissertation (30 ECTS)
This module gives students a choice between two pathways: an individual research dissertation or a group student consultancy project. The individual research dissertation is an in-depth research study of a particular issue within the field of responsible business and sustainability. Students need to demonstrate their capabilities to engage with academic literatures and to identify and address a relevant research gap by applying rigorous research methods. As an alternative, this module provides an option to interested students to undertake a consultancy project that is conducted as part of a team of students. The student teams will be provided with necessary data and guidance from the relevant businesses, civil society or public organizations that will also provide feedback on the quality of the deliverable and assessment of the students’ effort in the consultancy project.
On successful completion of the research dissertation students should be able to:
- Define a research question and contextualise the topic in its wider research area.
- Critically evaluate published research and assess its relevance to the selected research question.
- Explain the underlying theoretical constructs and methods relevant to the research question.
- Discover, collect, evaluate, describe and analyse any data created and/or used.
- Describe and justify the methodology being applied.
- Present arguments in a coherent manner written in a clear style and a coherent conclusion that follows correctly from the analysis.