This autumn sees the launch of our three new first-year elective modules focused on the University's transformational themes: Environmental Sustainability, Digital and Data Futures, and Human Flourishing. Developed as part of the Sussex 2035 strategy, the modules embed the University's transformational themes across education and student life, supporting its vision of creating progressive futures for the world.
Students from all Faculties, where electives form part of their course, can either choose one of these modules or a language in their first term. The modules explore some of the most significant challenges and opportunities facing the world today. Each module takes a highly interdisciplinary approach, with content drawn from every Faculty and over 30 colleagues helping to deliver the modules’ lecture series including Professor of Practice Caroline Lucas. The modules have been collaboratively designed, with the convenors working together as a single teaching team alongside Academic Developer Dr Sam Hemsley.
Weekly content focuses on thematic questions, provocations and ideas, drawing on Sussex’s distinctive expertise and bringing our subjects into conversation with each other.
Professor David Ockwell, convenor of the Environmental Sustainability module said: “What feels genuinely groundbreaking – and distinctly Sussex – about this elective is the way it brings the humanities, social sciences and sciences together to challenge conventional ways of thinking about sustainability. Rather than a simple call to action, we want this to be a call to identity: enabling students to encounter sustainability through different ways of knowing and experiencing the world, and to develop a real sense of belonging around what it means to engage with these questions at Sussex.”
Students will explore a wide range of topics, such as climate change, artificial intelligence, the role of data in the world today, economic growth, net zero, concepts of a ‘good life’, wellbeing and social change. Dr Divya Sharma, convenor of the Human Flourishing module, described how “students will have the space to connect the dots, think creatively about what human flourishing means, explore the relationship between subjective well-being and structural conditions, and imagine possibilities for transformation.”
Alongside contributions from leading academics, practitioners and public figures, the electives will feature innovative and participatory learning experiences designed to bring the transformational themes to life and inspire students to think beyond disciplinary boundaries.
Building on Sussex's interdisciplinary tradition
The modules build on Sussex's longstanding commitment to interdisciplinarity. Since its foundation, the University has brought together expertise from different fields to tackle major global challenges and create positive change. From pioneering centres such as the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) to Professor Maggie Boden's trailblazing work in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, and Sussex's world-leading research in development studies, the University has a long history of bringing disciplines together to address complex global issues.
As Dr Sharon Webb, convenor of the Digital and Data Futures module, noted “the new Progressive Futures electives offer an opportunity for our students to be an integral part of the University's identity, its strategy, and its research community demonstrating how through inter-disciplinarity and collaboration we learn from each other. The modules highlight how we better understand problems and challenges through engaging with different perspectives. Indeed, it’s only through this can we flourish."
As well as introducing students to Sussex's transformational themes, and topics that matter deeply to many prospective students, the new electives will connect them with this tradition from the outset of their studies, helping them understand what makes Sussex distinctive while exploring how they can contribute to shaping solutions for the planet and its people.