AE9119 One Health in Northern Communities and Ecosystems 1

    • Course code
      AE9119
    • Number of credits
      5
    • Teaching semester
      2024 Spring
    • Language of instruction
      English
    • Campus
      Evenstad
    • Required prerequisite knowledge

      Recommended knowledge: The course is relevant for students with a background in natural or social sciences as well as humanities and health sciences, currently studying at PhD level.

Course content

One Health is an integrated, unifying approach to balance and optimize the health of people, animals and the environment. It is particularly important to predict, prevent, detect, and respond to global health threats. The One Health approach mobilizes multiple sectors, disciplines and communities at varying levels of society to work together.

The One Health approach is particularly relevant for food and water safety, nutrition, the control of zoonoses, pollution management, social relationships between humans and animals, and combating antimicrobial resistance. These issues are all responding to several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals). One Health is an emerging research field, aligned with Arctic Indigenous Peoples views of health, that has developed as a response to the need of transdisciplinary collaboration to be able to solve problems and challenges in a sustainable manner. Thus, the course is suited for students with a variety of backgrounds, such as life sciences, social sciences, health sciences and humanities.

This course aims to engage students in the practical dimensions of One Health by the use of case studies, simulations, and interactive exercises. The course is designed to advance transdisciplinary dialogue and problem-solving focusing on the context of the Arctic ecosystems.

Students shall prepare for this on-site intensive course by studying selected literature, including peer reviewed scientific articles, grey literature and book chapters.

The course addresses current challenges like zoonoses, species-on-the-move, pollution, antimicrobial resistance and food security through case studies with a One Health approach. Students are also exposed to the complexities of international cooperation through role-playing exercises, allowing them to draft and present collaborative One Health policies.

By active engagement and critical thinking, this course aims to deepen students' transdisciplinary competence in addressing the multifaceted challenges of One Health.

Learning Outcome

Upon successful completion of the course:  

Knowledge

Students 

  • will have broad knowledge on the concepts of One Health
  • can identify methods to analyse human, environmental and animal health issues in a One Health perspective
  • will be familiar with the complexity of health management
  • will have broad knowledge of the core concepts and basic principles in infection prevention and control
Skills

Students  

  • will be able to apply various scientific methods relevant to One Health issues
  • can critically identify, discuss and respond to One Health challenges
  • will be able to identify and discuss the roles, responsibilities and needs of key stakeholders in the context of Northern communities
General competence

Students  

  • can analyse relevant academic, professional, and research ethical problems
  • can communicate extensive independent work and master relevant academic language and terminology
Teaching and working methods

Learning methods:

  • Lectures, seminars, case-studies, presentations, and self-study.
  • The course has a total workload of approximately 150 hours, including 20 hours of lectures and seminars, including workshops, 60 hours reading syllabus and 70 hours for the course work requirement and self-tuition (preparation for seminars and exams).

Teaching methods:

  • Comprehensive and interactive lectures are given to provide an overview of the main topics in the course. 
  • Problem-based group work at which participants will be expected to seek literature and other types of relevant information to solve cases using One Health approaches in theory and practice. The cases and challenges will be chosen according to current challenges relevant to Northern communities and the students background and interests.
Required coursework

Completion of all assignments (short presentations, written reports, peer evaluation, etc.) that are arranged during the course.

Assessments
Form of assessmentGrading scaleGroupingDuration of assessmentSupport materialsProportionComment
Oral examination
Passed - not passed
Group
Oral examination
Passed - not passed
Individual
Form of assessment
  • Group presentation at the last day of the on-site gathering
  • Individual presentation (poster presentation) in addition to the group presentation.
Faculty
Faculty of Applied Ecology, Agricultural Sciences and Biotechnology
Department
Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management
Area of study
Matematisk-naturvitenskapelige fag/informatikk
Programme of study
PhD in Applied Ecology and biotechnology
Course level
Doctoral degree level (900-FU)