Study Programmes 2015-2016
ENVT3031-1  
Environmental communication issues
Duration :
12h Th, 12h Pr
Number of credits :
Master in environmental science and management (120 ECTS)2
Master in environmental science and management (120 ECTS)2
Master in environmental science and management (60 ECTS)2
Lecturer :
Nathalie Semal
Language(s) of instruction :
French language
Organisation and examination :
Teaching in the second semester
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Course contents :
A wide range of social actors get involved in communication stratégies in the public sphere. Taking them into account allows to better understand how they consider their interests, and how environmental problems are formulated and evolve. These actors are typically associations and citizens groups, scientific experts, corporates and industries, journalists and so on.
Different communication strategies about environment are developed and generate synergies or conflicts: risks communication, media scheduling, public awareness campaigns, environmental justice, scientific communication, green marketing and industry lobbying contribute to shape environmental problems.
Learning outcomes of the course :
At the end of the course, students should be able to understand
- the importance of human communication in defining environmental perceptions and the way to relate to environment
- the role of public sphere as a process of mediation and negociation between many protagonists that try to influence decisions and change the environment
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
none
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
Lecture, articles reading and synthesis, application to a case study involving web searching and field inquiry.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
face-to-face
Recommended or required readings :
To go further
This lecture is based on the Robert Cox's book "Environmental Communication and th Public Sphere" 
Assessment methods and criteria :
  • Individual synthesis of an article (20%)
  • Individual reporte on the cas study, including documents analysis and web searching on the one hand and field inquiry on the other hand (80%)
Work placement(s) :
Organizational remarks :
This course is linked to the course ENVT0021-2 "Etude de cas", though it isn't a co-requisite. If taken as an isolated course, the learning activities and evaluation of this course will be adapted to the student's needs.
Contacts :
Nathalie Semal - n.semal@ulg.ac.be  Tél: +32 63 230 813
Items online :
Cours enjeux de la communication environnementale
Slides 2012-2013