Core modules
Teaching on this course is equally split between the GSD Department and the Psychology Department.
In the first year, you will study core GSD modules designed to provide a critical understanding of the 'three pillars of sustainable development':
- Economic Principles of Global Sustainable Development
- Environmental Principles of Global Sustainable Development
- Social Principles of Global Sustainable Development
You will also study the core Global Sustainable Development Project module, giving you the chance to see how the principles of GSD apply to a real case affecting a local community.
On the Psychology half of the degree in the first year, you will take the following core modules:
- Brain and Behaviour
- Psychology in Context
- Psychology in the Real World
- Neuropsychology and Psychopathology
In the second year, in GSD you will have the opportunity to engage with a key issue in sustainability, studying one optional core module from the following:
- Health and Sustainable Development
- Security, Sovereignty and Sustainability in the Global Food System
- Inequalities and Sustainable Development: Inclusion and Dignity for All
You will also choose optional modules with a GSD focus either from within GSD or from other departments across the University. For the Psychology half of the workload, you will take four optional core modules from options such as:
- Language and Cognition
- Social Psychology
- Perception, Planning and Action
- Developmental Psychology
- Psychobiology
You may choose to study abroad for part of your second year at Monash University. In Term One at Warwick, you will study an optional core GSD module, an optional module with a GSD focus, and two optional core Psychology modules. The remaining study will consist of pre-approved modules at Monash University.
In the final year, you will take the core GSD Dissertation module. You will also take optional modules with a GSD focus from within or outside of the School for Cross-faculty Studies. For the Psychology half of the workload, you will choose from final-year optional modules offered by the Psychology Department.
Year One
GSD
Why and how can economics address issues of global sustainable development? In this module, you will learn about the relationship between economic activity, social inclusion and environmental sustainability, and critically analyse the economic theories that underpin sustainable development policy interventions and how those theories impact upon policy design.
Read more about the Economic Principles of Global Sustainable Development moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
This module focuses on the natural science of the world’s most pressing environmental issues. We will cover well-known topics like climate change and biodiversity loss and less prominent problems like biochemical flows. You will evaluate existing governance and management efforts and develop innovative responses of your own. You will learn how to write a policy briefing and create a policy briefing paper and policy pitch, aimed at a specific decision-making audience.
Read more about the Environmental Principles of Global Sustainable Development moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
This is an exciting, innovative, and practical module. It is designed to give you research and analysis skills and to enable you to apply the theories from your other first-year core modules. You will learn how to research sustainability by designing and developing a group project on the topic of sustainable transport, under the guidance of an academic supervisor. Staff from across the GSD Department with expertise in transport policy as well as research methods teach this module.
Read more about the Global Sustainable Development Project moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Psychology
Brain and Behaviour
In this module you'll learn about the structure and function of the nervous system, how we detect and respond to stimulation and how behaviour changes with experience. This module introduces the biological and methodological basis of current approaches to sensing, responding, and learning.
Read more about the Brain and Behaviour module, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Neuropsychology and Psychopathology
Following from the introduction to the topic covered in the Brain and Behaviour, this module explores memory, language, emotion and goal-directed action, and you'll study contemporary and historical approaches to psychological disorders. This will give you a critical appreciation of psychology as a science.
Read more about the Neuropsychology and Psychopathology moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Psychology in Context
This module introduces you to the history of psychology and core topics in developmental and cognitive psychology. You'll be able to discuss some of the classic studies, critically appreciate the main concepts and take a historical perspective on psychology as a science.
Read more about the Psychology in Context moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Psychology in the Real World
This module aims to provide you with an in-depth examination of current issues in abnormal, biological, cognitive, developmental, and social psychology. Rather than providing comprehensive coverage of classic psychological theories, this module will present you with cutting-edge research in the lecturers’ own areas of expertise, giving you insight into the most dynamic areas in this field.
Read more about the Psychology in the Real World moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2022/23 year of study).
Year Two
GSD
Viable and equitable solutions in health and sustainable development require interdisciplinary and critical thinking. The first part of the module will introduce you to fundamental concepts of global health governance and health systems, whilst acquainting you with key global health priorities like drug resistance and mental health from the perspective of global sustainable development. The second part of the module will focus on issues that relate to policies and behavioural change, and are also applicable beyond health, for example in areas like education or technology transfer.
Read more about the Health and Sustainable Development moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
or
Goal 2 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims to end hunger, end all forms of malnutrition, and ensure sustainable food production systems. However, the world population will likely increase to nearly 10 billion people by 2050. After decades of positive change, the incidence of malnourishment is again on the rise, global stocks of key food are contracting, and it is currently more expensive to buy food than for most of our planet’s modern history.
This module addresses these significant challenges by encouraging students to adopt a 'food systems approach' in responding to the imperative agendas of food security, sovereignty and sustainability. The module is taught in collaboration with researchers from across various disciplines at Warwick, especially those involved in the University's Global Research Priority on Food.
Read more about the Security, Sovereignty and Sustainability in the Global Food System moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
or
This module focuses on how inequalities shape our societies, economies, environments and politics. Starting with the question ‘Does inequality matter?’, you will critically reflect on the United Nations' decision to integrate inequalities into the Sustainable Development Agenda. You will then explore six different dimensions of inequalities (work, politics, environmental justice, societal discrimination, automation and globalisation, empowerment) and gain an understanding of the complexities of these problems. Finally, you will appreciate the challenges faced by today’s policy makers who aim to address issues of inequalities while taking into consideration all three pillars of sustainable development.
Read more about the Inequalities and Sustainable Development: Inclusion and Dignity for All moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Psychology
Language and Cognition
In this module, you'll investigate cognitive processes that underlie language, decision making and problem solving, in the context of investigating the evolution, biological mechanisms, and cognitive processes of language and communication. You'll master key findings and methods in psycholinguistics and cognitive science, and be able to critically evaluate theories of language and cognition.
Read more about the Language and Cognition moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
or
Social Psychology
How do we attach meaning to the behaviour of others? When does a child gain a sense of themselves as an entity? Why does modesty differ between cultures? Does objectifying women lead to their mistreatment? Social psychology engages with these and other questions of human behaviour scientifically by examining how we are influenced by our social context. You'll become acquainted with central concepts, theories and research in social psychology and grow your understanding of the individual, the social context of behaviour and the relationship between the two. You'll gain a good grounding in research methods and look specifically at verbal/non-verbal communication, aggression, social judgement, attribution and inference, and behaviour within and between groups.
Read more about the Social Psychology moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
or
Perception, Planning and Action
If you are curious about the psychology of perceiving, planning and acting, and the role of perception in controlling and guiding movement, this module is for you. You'll deepen your understanding of perception through the study of neuropsychological deficits, and understand how the study of neuropsychological impairments has helped to develop theories for intact perception, planning and action. You'll evaluate the classic theories of selective attention, and understand how perception and action are linked. We will also examine how visual and somatosensory systems are involved in governing and planning movement, and learn how complex movements are generated by simple mechanisms in the body.
Read more about the Perception, Planning and Action moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
or
Developmental Psychology
The module builds on the first-year developmental module of Psychology in Context by exploring current research in infancy, childhood and adolescence, linking to examples from atypical development and education and focusing primarily on cognitive and social development in childhood. You'll develop an understanding of how different influences interact in development, and be aware of links between cognitive and social growth, and the development of reasoning and language.
Read more about the Developmental Psychology moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
or
Psychobiology
You'll deepen the basic psychobiological knowledge you acquired in year one to understand the complex functions and interactions of the nervous and endocrine systems. You'll learn to describe the functional architecture of the brain and macro- and microscopic levels, and understand the role of signal processing and the visual system in explaining complex behaviour. You'll also consider how psychobiology influences areas as complex as genetics, neurochemistry, sex differences, memory and homeostasis. We place emphasis on the complexities of contemporary psychobiological research, and its recent advances and limits, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to discuss challenging, up-to-date topics in psychobiology through group work, thereby developing your teamwork and communication skills.
Read more about the Psychobiology moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Final Year
GSD
In this module you will bring together all your learning and experiences on the course – the theoretical concepts and principles and your practical know-how – to address a specific sustainable development problem of your own choosing. This will be a problem that concerns you most and which you would like to tackle.
You will be supported by an academic supervisor to devise a suitable project and to undertake research to explore the issue, taking a transdisciplinary approach to your investigation in order to produce an original research output. This may be a concept paper, a practical project, a film production, a long essay, an advocacy campaign...use your creativity!
You will design a strategy for disseminating your findings (for example at a conference presentation, via online publication or an article in a journal, or at a public meeting that you have arranged). This provides you with an opportunity to have your voice heard in a forum where it matters and could have lasting impact.
Read more about the GSD Dissertation/Long Project moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Optional modules
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules include:
GSD modules
- The Energy Trilemma
- Human Rights and Social Justice in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Managing Natural Resources
- Realising Sustainable Development
- Multilingualism and Sustainable Development
- Surviving the Apocalypse
Read more about our optional modules.Link opens in a new window
Psychology modules
- The Psychology of Intellectual Disabilities and Sensory Impairments
- Behaviour Change
- Sleep and Health
- Body Perception: Neurons to Experience
- Developmental Psychopathology
Co-curricular Certificates
We offer a range of unique certificates outside of the curriculum as a way of continuing your professional development.
In the first year, you can complete certificates in Climate Literacy and Professional Communication.
Explore our range of certificates.
