The nitrogen challenge is one of the biggest environmental problems of the 21st century. With a growing world population that is also increasingly affluent, we have to produce enough food without excessive use of fertilizers. In addition, we must also pay attention to fossil fuel combustion. All these activities lead to nitrogen pollution, which threatens water, air, and soil quality, posing a risk to human health and biodiversity.
Humans play a key role in sustainable nitrogen management: how we contribute to nitrogen pollution, how we perceive it, and how we act on it. In this course, we present examples of interdisciplinary research and the exciting ways that the social sciences can be used in the field of nitrogen research-a field that has so far been dominated by natural sciences!
This program includes two innovative courses providing you a strong understanding of the role of social sciences in nitrogen research.
The first course, Nitrogen: A Global Challenge, will teach you core concepts about nitrogen and global change, allowing you to better understand the challenges and opportunities they represent. Key topics include food security, climate change, air pollution, water pollution, human health and more.
In the second course, The Role of Social Sciences in Nitrogen Research, we go deeper and look at the nitrogen challenge from a social science perspective. We present examples of interdisciplinary research and the exciting ways that the social sciences can be used in the field of nitrogen research.
This course introduces the relationships between nitrogen, society and the social sciences. We also provide overviews of the types of social science methods applicable in nitrogen research, such as semi-structured interviews; policy analysis; and participatory approaches.Taught by instructors with in-depth experience in nitrogen, global change, and social research, this one-of-a-kind program is a collaboration between leading experts in the UK and South Asia as part of the South Asian Nitrogen Hub.
