EDS333 Practice-based Field Course

This course is a 10 credit, practice-based field course for NMBU Masters students, organized in collaboration with American University’s School of International Service.

Up to 15 students from NMBU and 10 students from AU will participate.

Students will conduct a feasibility study and create a preliminary framework for a research center for the Study of Geopolitical Ecology, an emerging field at the nexus of security studies, conflict, and environmental issues. Geopolitical ecology combines International Relations with Political Ecology.

The students will work in teams. From June 3 to 14 they will first engage in preparatory classroom lectures and readings at NMBU’s campus, and then conduct interviews in Oslo with key stakeholders and potential partners and funders for a Geopolitical Ecology research center. Students will work collaboratively with American students and colleagues and will be exposed to faculty from both American University (AU) and NMBU.

Students will interview stakeholders at various Oslo-based institutions, such as the Norwegian Refugee Council, Greenpeace Norway, the Nobel Peace Institute, or similar. Students will learn and practice interviewing techniques under the guidance and coaching of faculty. Students will analyze the data and create the final deliverable, including an executive summary with recommendations on how to proceed with the creation of the Geopolitical Ecology research center, including possible structure, thematic areas, and sources of grant funding. They will present their findings orally to faculty personnel from both NMBU and AU (with stakeholders from the Oslo-based institutions invited). Students participating in this practicum will have an important role to play in the creation of a new global center that is poised to be at the cutting edge of geopolitical analysis, with projects that may include topics such as analyzing the effects of melting ice in Arctic waters, conflicts between indigenous Sami and energy companies over wind farms, and accelerated Chinese presence in the Nordic region.

The final deliverable written report will include conceptual overview, account of site visits and lists of relevant contacts, and recommendations for how to advance partnerships and the work of the Center for Geopolitical Ecology. Students will be broken into teams to take primary responsibility for various sections of the deliverable.

Students will continue to work together digitally in groups to finalize and perfect their report after the fieldwork portion of the course ends on June 12. The final deliverable is due June 26.

Students must apply for this course with a CV and 1 page motivation letter by January 15, 2026. Admission will be announced on February 1, 2026.

An information meeting about the course will be held in December 2025

• For their practicum deliverable, students will produce analytical writing that applies the concept of geopolitical ecology to the existing agendas, policies, and/or projects of institutions that the group visits.

• Methodologies employed include literature review, document analysis, interviewing techniques, comparative study of other research centers in Norway and elsewhere.

• The practicum course will train students’ skills in production of a readable final deliverable with attractive layout, production of Executive Summary, oral presentation skills, teamwork and identification of equitable skill sharing and division, and practice in skills of cross-cultural sensitivity.

Læringsaktiviteter

The class will meet for preparatory lectures during the week of June 1 so that the students from NMBU and the students from American University/SIS can get to know each other, discuss theoretical readings about geopolitical ecology, and establish a basis for the field work.

Læringsstøtte

Students will be provided teaching and supervision by teaching staff from NMBU and American University.