SFV4600 Comparative Social Risk Management Emneplan

All courses included in the specialisation must be completed with pass grades and all coursework requirements must be approved before the candidate may submit the master’s thesis.

On successful completion of the course, the student has the following learning outcomes classified as knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student can

• analyze and critically assess the scientific work of others

Skills

The student can

• demonstrate working knowledge of the ethical and technical principles that govern scientific research and publication, including international citation and reference standards
• demonstrate that they can conduct a supervised research project in accordance with research ethics guidelines and regulations, and guidelines from relevant governmental bodies (i. e. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority, relevant Norwegian Research Ethics Committees and so on)
• choose and apply relevant methods of data collection for research or scientific inquiry
• write a thesis according to criteria determined by the university
• critically assess the results of his own work
• critically assess various sources of information

Competence

The student can

• participate in the development of the behavioral sciences
• justify their professional behavior with reference to ethical guidelines, general ethical considerations and their own assessment of the situation
• analyze and critically assess various sources of information with relevance for the thesis.

The thesis outline and thesis are individual work. Submission of thesis outline is required before a supervisor is appointed. Thesis outline must be submitted the semester before thesis submission at the latest. Students are advised to find a lab group to participate in.

Thesis supervision is compulsory. Each candidate gets a maximum of 30 hours of supervision during the thesis work. If a non-faculty supervisor is appointed, resources are divided by 2/3 of the time for the main supervisor and 1/3 for the second supervisor.

The following required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam:

a. Researchethics seminar 1 and 2 must be fully attended.

b. Approved thesis outline.

c. Asigned contract with the appointed supervisor.

Assessment

Thesis. Submission of master’s thesis according to program specifications, consisting of 1 scientific article. Technical standards according to the current APA manual. Submitting dates each year: June 15th and November 15th.

Thesis format

The 30 ECTS Master’s thesis for BSCA consists of one article written in accordance with the author guidelines specified in the current APA Publication Manual. The length should be appropriate for the work that is reported, but should commonly not exceed 40 pages, including the title page, references, tables, and figures, but excluding appendices.

Ethics and data protection

An account of ethical considerations is required if the thesis includes empirical data on humans or nonhuman animals. A risk -and vulnerability analysis (ROS-vurdering) should normally be conducted, and a case number should be included in the title page of the thesis article. If data on humans are included in the thesis, an account of data protection issues is typically required. The description of ethical and data protection considerations can be included in the main body of the thesis. If the decision is made that such an account is not appropriate in the main body of the thesis, a reflection note on this topic should be attached to the thesis. A reflection note is a short description of ethical and data protection considerations, maximum 6000 characters, including spaces. For theses that do not include empirical data, research ethics relevant to the thesis should be discussed, either in the main body of the text or a reflection note

Some Master projects may require consideration or approval from external bodies, such as Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD), the Regional Committee for Medicine and Health Sciences Research Ethics (REK), National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (NESH), and/or internal or external data protection officials. It is ultimately the responsibility of the main supervisor to ensure that the relevant bodies are consulted. If external bodies are consulted, a case number should be included in the title page of the thesis article. If a decision is made that there is no need to consult external bodies regarding ethics or data protection, a description of the deliberations preceding this decision is required, either in the main body of the thesis or in the reflection note. If the thesis is an empirical work, the main supervisor must state in writing that the research is conducted in accordance with current laws and regulations before the thesis can be submitted.

All

Grade scale A-F

One internal and one external examiner will assess all exams.

None

After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

• has advanced interdisciplinary knowledge of climate change, and the societal/psychological/communicational challenges for climate journalism
• has thorough knowledge of both the difficulties and the possibilities of climate change communication in the media and in journalism

Skills

The student

• is able to critically analyze different perceptions and experiences of global climate change in the media
• is able to relate these differences to the global and universal dimensions of climate change for the past, present and future of humanity and life on earth
• can explain and communicate climate change journalistically, with insights from both environmental communication, climate psychologies and perspectives on social change
• can convey climate change journalistically as a dimension to a host of different climate change stories
• can find new and innovative ways to approach global climate change

General competence

The student

• is able to understand the basics of global climate change, with the help of knowledge from both the natural, social and human sciences.
• is well qualified to approach climate change as a justice issue, for example between the North and South, the developed and the developing world
• is well qualified to discuss ethical questions in both science and journalism
• has acquired journalistic skills of combining observations of different experiences of climate change with broader, theoretical perspectives