Study sustainability in the Pacific Ocean
During the One Ocean Expedition UiB offers students a unique opportunity to take a 4 month course on board the Statsraad Lehmkuhl while the ship is in the Pacific Ocean.
Main content
SDG200: Ocean, climate, society - a semester course in sustainability is a completely new interdisciplinary course at the University of Bergen. The course will be run for the first time in May to August 2022 on board the Statsraad Lehmkuhl, while the ship sails across the Pacific from Valparaíso to Palau. The scope of the course is planned to be 30 ECTS, and the teaching will be in English.
Frequently asked questions about the course
As a student on SDG200, you will live and study on board, and participate in sailing the ship. All students become part of the crew, and are divided into three shifts that run four-hour shifts, twice a day - also at night. This means that you are on duty for eight hours a day, and can be assigned, for example, some of the following tasks; standing at the helm, buoy guard, lookout, fire guard or galley assistant.
The rest of the time students can spend studying, eating and resting. The students sleep side by side in hammocks like real sailors under the main deck. Everyone is assigned a hammock with an accompanying cupboard and a ship's chest where you can store your personal belongings. Here you can read more about life on board (Norwegian).
The academic content of the course focuses on sustainability and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. SDG200 is interdisciplinary regarding both the topics taught and the participating students. The goal is to have a diverse group of students in terms of their academic and cultural backgrounds.
The main topics of the course are:
- Ocean and how we can both use and protect it so that we contribute to sustainable development as outlined in Agenda2030, including SDG14 Life below water, but also other Sustainable Develompent Goals that are relevant to the oceans.
- Climate and understanding of the underlying physical processes that govern climate variation on different time scales, as well as the consequences of climate change for society, and SDG13 Climate action.
- Society and sustainability challenges in social, cultural, and legal contexts, including in the Pacific. Throughout, we aim to help students get a good overview and attain knowledge from different disciplines.
All learning during the course is highly active where the students themselves play a central role. The students work in small groups, and submit assignments both individually and as groups. All assessments will be completed by the time the students leave Palau at the end of August.