Planetary Health: Health Equity in a Changing World (15 EC)

Develop transdisciplinary skills to address the impacts of climate change and pollution on health inequalities.

The Planetary Health minor consists of two 15 EC modules of ten weeks each. Module A is mandatory for module B.

Module A – An interdisciplinary planetary health project (weeks 1 to 10 of the academic year)
Module A is dedicated to interdisciplinary project work on a real world planetary health problem, like the climate crisis and health, healthy and sustainable food, or air pollution. Problems are provided by commissioning organizations, like the municipality, neighborhood initiatives and NGOs. The project team explores such an issue of their own choice in an interdisciplinary research project, integrating knowledge and perspectives from different academic disciplines, including life sciences, humanities, and social sciences. The group projects are supervised, and weekly workshops on interdisciplinary learning support the students’ learning process.

Module B – A civically engaged planetary health project (weeks 11 to 20 of the academic year)
In module B, part of the 30 EC minor, the project team moves to a real world setting, for example a community near the heavily polluted Rotterdam port area, or living under urban heat stress. In this module, the team focuses on transdisciplinary project work in collaboration with the commissioning organization, building on interdisciplinary groundwork of module A. Students will use these interdisciplinary results to relate to societal needs outside academia. The group projects are supervised, and weekly workshops provide students with transdisciplinary and intercultural attitudes and skills to inform their project work with real world stakeholders. Sensitive to their needs, the team designs an advice for the commissioning organization.

1. Cognitive dimension
A) The student can integrate knowledge of planetary boundaries, environmental determinants of health and health inequalities.
B) The student can critically analyze and evaluate how societal structures, governance systems, and stakeholder dynamics shape a wicked planetary health problem.

2. Identity dimension
A) The student develops an interdisciplinary identity to critically question, transcend and renew the boundaries of their own discipline.
B) The student develops an identity for civic engagement with wicked problems. The student shows awareness of different perspectives and interests involved

3. Social-interactive dimension
A) The student can integrate different relevant disciplines to analyze a wicked planetary health problem, addressing root causes through systems thinking.
B) The student can engage in transdisciplinary collaboration with societal stakeholders, and contributes context-sensitive advice that fosters planetary health, working from common ground and intercultural competence.

Interdisciplinarity : Students will collaborate across various disciplines to tackle planetary health issues. Students from humanities and social sciences backgrounds are particularly welcome to join.
Proficiency in English : Students are expected to communicate in English throughout the course, especially in project collaborations and presentations.
Mandatory attendance : Students require a 80% minimum attendance in the lectures, seminars, workshops and the facilitated group work sessions.

Teaching methods
This minor adopts Problem-Based Project Learning (PPL) as a key didactical concept. Students tackle real-world planetary health issues provided by external commissioning organizations, via interdisciplinary collaboration (module A) and transdisciplinary collaboration (module B) .
The recurring weekly program consists of:

• inspiring lectures on content
• a seminar to actively engage with the content
• a workshop on interdisciplinarity (Module A) and transdisciplinarity (Module B)
• a project session
• independent project team work
• independent portfolio assignment work

Teaching materials
Students use a combination of seminars and assigned reading/multimedia materials , and their project team’s selection of academic literature from different academic disciplines and grey literature by key organizations and initiatives on planetary health to support their output. When possible, relevant plenary/project team fieldtrips will be organized.

Method of examination
The individual Planetary Health Portfolio assesses the identity dimension of the learning objectives. Every week, the student reflects on their personal interdisciplinary (A) or civic engagement (B) learning process.
The project groups end module A with an interdisciplinary research report , and module B with a transdisciplinary advise product for the commissioning organization. These group products primarily asses the cognitive and social-interactive dimensions of the learning objectives.
The Planetary Health World Café assesses the social-interactive dimension of the learning objectives with both a group and individual grade at the end of both modules.

Composition final grade

Module A

• 30% - individual Planetary Health Portfolio
• 70% - interdisciplinary group research:
• 30% interdisciplinary report
• 40% Planetary Health World Café
• 20% creative presentation session
• 20% interview session – individual grade