MChem Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry / Course details

The focus of a set of third year modules will be on large scale, complex, cross disciplinary, environmental challenges by applying the key concepts/skills/techniques learned in previous years using a series of specific case studies, in this case related to waste disposal. After this module the students should be able to 1) synthesise and evaluate environmental data; 2) evaluate the impact on society and ultimately 3) create new and innovative solutions/hypothesis related to this specific challenge.

The aim of this course is to synthesise and evaluate environmental data in relation to government policies and guidelines related to waste disposal. The final goal to able to evaluate and/or create new and innovative solutions/hypothesis related to waste disposal.

The course will be delivered using a variety of methods. There will be 5 lectures related to specific fundamentals of the case study, with podcasts enabled and notes posted online. This will be supported by a series of themed discussion sessions during which the most recent literature and government policies/guidelines regarding specific aspects of the environmental challenge will be discussed. Seminars (some via video conferencing) will be used to communicate/discuss specific aspects of the environmental challenge with specialists in the field. Thus, to be successful, it is essential that students attend every lecture and themed discussion sessions, and revise the previous week's materials between classes.

In addition, students, working in groups, will be given a specific aspect of the environmental challenge and with the aid of a facilitator identify issues and questions in a set of weekly group sessions (2 hours each) in the first half of the course. Students will be expected to work collaboratively outside of class time to find, evaluate, manage and curate information and develop a capacity to work effectively as a team. To promote leadership skills the ‘manager’ will rotate weekly through the group.

There are no exams. The outcomes of the group assessments will be assessed using an individual ePoster presentation (50%of the mark) focused on the development of a waste disposal/remediation strategy from a case study provided. This will be done in a conference style poster session where each student will be questioned on their finding. Finally, the students will write an individual report (50% of mark) in which they summarize a specific environmental challenge associated with waste disposal, evaluate the environmental data available, assess the impact on society and propose new and innovative solutions.