Module POLM153 for 2019/0
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
POLM153: Knowledge Exchange in Agriculture, Food and Development
This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.
Module Aims
To provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively communicate biological and social research about food security to wider audiences, as well as to work in partnership with people across multiple fields of expertise to support the sustainable supply of food across the global economy.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of processes for communicating scientific knowledge effectively, so that it is understandable and useful to stakeholders in the agricultural and food supply sectors (e.g. policy makers and farmers); alongside processes for developing new knowledge in partnership with stakeholders. 2. Demonstrate a detailed understanding of core capabilities in knowledge exchange, including: public communications, facilitation, policy development, private enterprise and intellectual property. 3. Critically evaluate agricultural extension activities as the critical interface between researchers and user communities. 4. Demonstrate an understanding of science and extension policy relevant to the agricultural and food sectors. 5. Demonstrate an understanding of the social context of knowledge transfer across the agricultural and food sectors. |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 6. Demonstrate a systematic understanding of multiple modes of knowledge production, and a critical awareness of current debates around communication and knowledge exchange for the development of sustainable agriculture and food systems. 7. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of practical techniques for research & knowledge exchange in contexts of sustainable agriculture and food systems. 8. Demonstrate a conceptual understanding that enables you to evaluate critically the potential value of your research to stakeholders and translate this understanding into practices that facilitate knowledge exchange. |
| Personal and Key Skills | 9. Make sense of and make decisions about complex issues both systematically and creatively. communicate your research conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences 10. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level 11. Demonstrate self-direction in advancing your knowledge and understanding and in developing new skills to a high level. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
Core Knowledge Exchange skills
- Effective communication skills; identification of and engagement with stakeholders
- Creating and developing public impacts with your research findings.
- Influencing and learning from policy agendas: effective engagement with policy makers
- Clarity in writing for wider audiences.
Knowledge transfer in the context of sustainable agriculture and food systems
- Agricultural Extension - engagement with farming communities; agricultural R&D.
- Adoption of new technologies in farming; Ethical and political debates around new technologies.
- The social contexts of knowledge exchange; working towards sustainable farming systems.
- Publics, public communication, impact and participation.
- Sustainable agriculture in developed and developing countries.
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | 125 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 14 | 7x2 hour lectures |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 7 | External visit |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities | 4 | 2 x 2 hour seminars (student presentations) |
| Guided independent study | 40 | Reading |
| Guided independent study | 77 | Assignment preparation: conducting research, critical analysis , and writing the finished product (30-40 hours per assignment) |
| Guided Independent Study | 6 | Preparation for individual presentation |
| Guided independent study | 2 | Preparation for group presentation |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
UKRC Global Food Security Research Programme website http://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/index.html;
Guardian - special section on food security: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/food-security
LSE Impact project blog: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/
RCUK Pathways to Impact Review and Case Studies (2016): http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/innovation/impacts/
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (2009). Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in the Pacific. http://www.unescap.org/65/theme_study2009.asp
The College has produced a fantastic resource to support library and research skills, including Politics specific material: http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3611
Journals and many other electronic resources can be accessed through the library’s main search portal: https://as.exeter.ac.uk/library/
Web of Knowledge – for searching academic journals: http://wok.mimas.ac.uk/
Google Scholar - particularly useful for finding open access copies of material not available through the library: http://scholar.google.co.uk
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual student presentations | 10 mins | 1, 3-10 | Verbal |
| Student group presentations | 10 mins | 1-11 | Verbal |
| Formative writing exercise: brief media article / press release | 500 words | 1-11 | Written |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agricultural extension: case study | 50 | 3000 words | 1, 3-10 | Written |
| Knowledge Exchange Proposal / media report | 50 | 2500 words + 500 word media article | 1-11 | Written |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ag Extension case study | Agricultural extension study (3000 words) | 1, 3-10 | August/September reassessment period |
| Knowledge Exchange Proposal / media report | Knowledge Exchange Proposal / media report (2,500 + 500 words) | 1-11 | August/September reassessment period |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Core texts (all available in the University library)
Chilvers, J. and Kearnes, M. Remaking participation: science, environment and emergent publics. London: Routledge
Leach, M., Scoones, I. and Wynne, B (eds) (2005) Science and citizens: globalization and the challenge of engagement. London: Zed Books
Leeuwis, C. (2013). Communication for rural innovation: rethinking agricultural extension. John Wiley & Sons
Wilkinson, C. and Weitkamp, E (2016) Creative Research Communication: theory and practice. Manchester University Press.
Introductory reading:
Fisher, R., 2013. “A gentleman’s handshake’: The role of social capital and trust in transforming information into usable knowledge. Journal of Rural Studies, 31, pp.13–22.
Harcup, T., & O'Neill, D. (2016). What is news? News values revisited (again). Journalism Studies, 1-19.
Irwin, A., 2014. From deficit to democracy (re-visited). Public Understanding of Science, 23(1), pp.71–6.
Lang, T., & Barling, D. (2012). Food security and food sustainability: reformulating the debate. The Geographical Journal, 178(4), 313–326.
Roling N.G. and Wagemakers M.A.E. (2006). Facilitating Sustainable Agriculture: Participatory Learning And Adaptive Management In Times Of Environmental Uncertainty. Cambridge University Press.
Thompson, J. and Millstone, E. (2011) Pathways to sustainable food futures in a dynamic world: http://steps-centre.org/publication/pathways-to-sustainable-food-futures-in-a-dynamic-world-2/
Zhang, W., Cao, G., Li, X., et.al. (2016). Closing yield gaps in China by empowering smallholder farmers. Nature, 537(7622), 671-674
