Current course offerings

Please Note: Course profiles marked as not available may still be in development.

Course description

The course introduces students to major emerging issues affecting policy and practice in the plant and animal biosciences with a focus on agricultural and environmental systems. The world is facing growing pressures in its current and future ability to supply protein, crops, fibre and energy as its population heads towards 9 billion in the face of limiting resources, competition for land use, environmental, cultural and social change. Sustainability is a common catch-cry applied at all levels, for global systems, economic processes, nations, regions and individual farm units. Key issues may include, but are not limited to, climate change, the development of the new (de-carbonised) economy, biosecurity, animal welfare, new technologies for genetic modification such as CRISPR, the potential for microalgae as bio production systems, the desire to reduce or eliminate pesticides from production systems, mechanisms for food traceability, the growing influence of social media to connect consumers with production systems and the influence of public activism campaigns. Students will be encouraged to think of themselves as shaping the future by understanding the drivers behind a global push to develop a circular economy, rather than solely responding to trends. The course covers topics relevant to all plant and animal science students and aims to provoke deep consideration of how these issues might affect future professional careers.

Archived offerings