3 ECTS credits
90 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4020619FNR for all students in the 1st and 2nd semester of odd academic years (e.g. 2013-2014) at a (F) Master - specialised level.

Semester
biennial: 1st and 2nd semester of an odd academic year (e.g. 2013-2014)
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Taught in
English
Faculty
Faculty of Sciences and Bioengineering Sciences
Department
Biology
Educational team
Karolien Van Puyvelde
Francisco Benitez Capistros
Ann Vanreusel (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
15 contact hours Lecture
15 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
15 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

This ‘umbrella’ course is intended to bridge the gap between academia and academic research on the one hand and the professional field on the other hand, and to prepare students to apply the expertise they have developed over 2 years. In this context this is specifically oriented towards Biodiversity Management in the widest sense.

The course will make use of opportunities offered every year in Brussels and Belgium regarding attendance of workshops, meetings, presentations, or alternatively seminars will specifically be organized by inviting professionals in the field of biodiversity management, either viva voce or through Skype. Particularly alumni (active in the professional field) of the MSc Marine and Lacustrine Science and Management (‘Oceans & Lakes’) or its root programmes FAME, MareLac, ECOMAMA, will be in focus.

Attendance of meetings or seminars will be accompanied by a discourse analysis by students in order to understand the priorities and the way these are expressed in non-academic professional sectors. At the same time the making of an executive summary, or a layman’s summary or any product directed to extension work (awareness raising, advocacy, lobbying…) by student teams will be organized and peer-assessed. Methods to survey and retrieve information from respondents of various sectors and professions will be practiced or discussed. The choice of topics or case studies can be at any level of biodiversity management, whether field-based or policy-oriented or as a secondary priority to other sectoral activities (such as zoological parks, fisheries, retail, recreation and tourism, .).

Additional info

None

Learning Outcomes

General Competences

This course explicitly contributes to the following competences of the Biology curriculum:

 

General –

Evaluate the societal relevance (I) –

Evaluate the scientific relevance (II) - Report in various ways (III)

 

Field specific –

Problem solving as a thinking process (IV) - Extrapolation between different scientific fields (VI) - Recognize and work out bio-ethical implications (VII)

 

The course is intended to facilitate transition from science and academia to professional approaches in biodiversity management by exposure to professional fields and actors.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Other Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Other exam with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Evaluation is a combination of semi quantitative peer assessment (4 point scale, 70% of final mark) and evaluation by the lecturers (calibrating the peer assessment and giving 30% of marks) of a presentation, an executive summary, an annotated thematic glossary of biodiversity concepts, a layman’s summary or an extension project or any assignment bridging the gap between academia and society

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Marine and Lacustrine Science and Management: Standaard traject