Professor Galvin, could you briefly outline the specialisation to us and your curriculum?
Of course! In the Environment and Sustainability specialisation students are able to develop expertise in the political, economic, and social dimensions of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. These challenges are many -- climate change, pollution, energy, the production of food and fibre, resource and mineral extraction, the restoration of ecosystems, the preservation of biodiversity, to name a few. As that brief listing suggests, these challenges are also varied, even though they may share certain features or historical anchors. And while they are global in scope and significance, they are embedded in societies, economies, and politics, and the way they presently work -- and they shape each of these in turn. All of these challenges touch people’s lives and affect their futures in the most profound, and profoundly unequal, ways. To sum up, the Environment and Sustainability curriculum engages deeply with both with the international dimensions of these challenges, and how they take shape within and across specific places, processes, and sets of relations.
Our curriculum also supports students to engage knowledgeably with sustainability as a framework for policy and professional practice. The specialisation’s interdisciplinary course offerings allow students to access the core strengths of the Graduate Institute in international relations and political science, international history, anthropology and sociology, international history and politics, international economics, and international law. Equally essential for their learning are Applied Research Projects within the Environment and Sustainability area, which give students valuable professional experience working on a particular mandate with a partner organisation.
Why do you believe this specialisation is important and inspiring to students?
It would be easy for me to answer this question by simply pointing to any number of studies and reports about climate change and protracted environmental crises. But, I actually think that this is not enough, and it risks “siloing” environmental concerns in ways that I think are unhelpful. Especially given the times we are living in when there are many other issues that legitimately demand urgent attention– war and violent conflict, genocide, human rights, health and well-being, deepening social and economic inequalities. In this particular historical juncture, when there is a real danger that environmental concerns can be sidelined, it is all the more crucial to focus on them because they cut across and often link these other domains in ways that tend to get less attention than they deserve. To give some examples: resource access and control often plays a role in many kinds of inter- and intra-state conflict and these complex dynamics are often poorly understood or simplified; environmental devastation wreaked by war imperils possibilities for life even long after a war ends; environmental harms wrought through more insidious forms of slow violence – pollution, toxicity, climate change -- pose grave challenges to human rights and health; the infrastructure accompanying the growth of Artificial Intelligence demands vast amounts of energy and raise serious questions about so-called energy transitions.
A curricular focus on environment and sustainability that is empirically grounded, methodologically robust and creative, and analytically astute can help to create bridges to these other important issues. At the same time, working on environmental concerns invariably attunes us to interdependencies, and to shared though sharply differentiated vulnerabilities. I would add that this is also part of the inspiration the specialisation offers students – they are afforded multiple pathways to work toward socially and ecologically just futures.
How do you manage communicating ongoing developments to students, while maintaining an interdisciplinary approach?
The interdisciplinary approach I take in my own teaching is continually informed and shaped by my efforts to bridge the classroom with issues and events in the world beyond it. I teach several courses in the Environment and Sustainability specialisation – a course called Agrarian Worlds, and another on Environmental Justice – and in each of these I work in a variety of ways to strike this balance. Where possible, I try to create opportunities for my students to engage with relevant international gatherings that take place in Geneva, such as the meetings of the Human Rights Council, or high-level conferences. I design course assignments in ways that encourages students to integrate what they learn through the course material and readings with the study of ongoing issues in the world at large. Group case study projects are one way I do this, as are multi-modal projects that enable students to explore expository forms of expression and analysis beyond the traditional research paper. Where possible, I carve space for accomplished guest speakers to visit my classes, as they are uniquely placed to offer insight on key aspects of their professional practice or advocacy.
How do you structure your classes and are there specific ways you approach the teaching framework and material?
I am always blown away at the beginning of a new semester by the diversity of backgrounds, experiences, knowledge, and skills that my students bring to their own studies and to the collective learning that we undertake together through the course. I structure my classes in ways that creates space for this diversity to be drawn into and enrich the course, but I also work to create a common and shared foundation through interactive lectures, and a wide range of course material that students can engage with.
You recently started heading this specialisation, how have you approached your engagements with students and the material so far?
I recently became Head of the Environment and Sustainability MINT specialisation, having arrived at the Institute in 2015. Over the past ten years, I’ve been hugely heartened to see the specialisation grow and establish itself within the Institute – thanks to wonderful colleagues from across the Institute who are committed to these concerns in their research, teaching, and advising, and to the enthusiasm, ideas, and energy that students themselves bring. Since assuming responsibility for the specialisation, I have really appreciated getting to know and working with the student class representatives. They have helped me develop a deeper understanding of the perspectives and needs of students in the specialisation, and at different stages of their studies. Working with them, for instance, we organised a gathering of faculty and first-year students to discuss the Master’s thesis and thesis advising. I’ve also learned a great deal through following the work of several student-run associations, whose events and activities create vibrant and powerful spaces for deliberation, debate, and exchange. The kind of solidarity and sense of purpose I have seen among them is incredibly inspiring, and an extraordinary testament to the commitments of our students within and beyond the classroom.
