MPhil/PhD Studentship in an Evaluation of the Impact of Carbon Literacy Education
The University of Derby is seeking to recruit Studentships in Learning, Teaching and Academic Practice. Studentships, which are pre-defined research topics, provide funding and financial support for exceptional students looking to study for an MPhil/PhD at the University of Derby. Dependent on the individual studentship, successful applicants may be awarded a bursary to cover the full or partial cost of their tuition fees for the duration of the degree. A Postgraduate Research Studentship (PGRS) will be funded for three years.
For this particular studentship, the aim is to design and evaluate the impact of a central programme of carbon literacy education. Universities are positioned as central to offering educational experiences which encourage graduates to actively commit to a more sustainable vision of the future in their professional and personal lives (Advance HE / QAA, 2021). The University of Derby has responded to this in various ways, including identifying Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as one of four new curriculum design principles (Curriculum Design Framework, 2022). The work of embedding ESD into the curriculum has begun, as part of a wider Student Success Programme.
ESD embraces multiple elements, including carbon literacy: an informed understanding of climate change, the carbon consequences of our everyday decisions and actions, and a motivation to reduce emissions at an individual level and beyond. We aspire towards carbon literate graduates with a future-focused mindset, who can be agents for positive, sustainable, change. This goal also aligns well with the University’s Zero Carbon academic theme, one of six topics which inform the planning of the University’s teaching and research activities.
Inspired by initial work in the Business School, the University of Derby is committed to offer carbon literacy education to all students. This will be available online as an asynchronous resource and it is anticipated it will be hosted on the Develop@Derby platform, a central resource focused on the provision of key academic and personal development skills for our students.
This project will initially focus on the development of the carbon literacy education programme, refining and developing existing resources which have been created in the Business School. It will then move on to the substantive research project of evaluating the use and embedding of this new resource and the impact it has on student learners.
More Information
Completed applications should be submitted via our online application system quoting funding reference: BLSS_Carbon Literacy Education 06_1123.
Closing dates for applications: Friday 5 January 2024.*
Interviews: 24 January to 31 January 2024.
If you have not been invited for an interview by the interview date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful.
For other enquiries which are subject-specific or for more information, go to the program page here.
*(Please note, we encourage applicants to apply as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close before 5 January 2024 if a high volume of applications is received.)