MPhil Degree

This course is designed and coordinated by Elspeth Donovan of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership. The course is delivered largely through lectures, interactive sessions and group work, and is followed by a project task in which each student is required to apply the tools and practices developed in the course into their daily work practice.

Rationale

One implication of environmental change or resource scarcity is the increasing likelihood of conflict among people or nations. It thus becomes imperative to understand and be able to engage with complex challenges of environmental, social and economic that arises from the global call for a more sustainable future. In this course students will comprehend the principles of, and be able to develop and implement, strategic social engagement programmes and practices.

Aims

The aim of the course is to enable students to:

• Make sense of the social and environmental context of an organisation;
• Understand the mutual interaction between, and the impact on, the organisation and its social and environmental context;
• Engage with and manage the relationships between an organisation and the communities and other social partners that populate its context;
• Develop and implement strategic social engagement programmes and practices.

Learning Outcomes

This course is designed to build the capacity of all managers and professionals in organisations to respond effectively and innovatively to emerging system pressures and trends affecting the socio-economic development agenda. In the context of increasing societal expectations, the course aims to develop the ability of participants to engage positively with all stakeholders impacted by their organisation’s operations. After the course, the student is expected to:

• Understand the emerging global pressures and trends, and their impact on mineral resource development.
• Have the capacity to anticipate change and develop appropriate responses
• Be able to engage with diverse perspectives
• Be capable of designing, delivering and evaluating social development interventions
• Exhibit enhanced dialogue skills, particularly within conflict situations
• Be able to develop a framework for social performance and impact within his/her sphere of influence

Course content

• Community and Social Partner Assessment: developing an understanding of the social and environmental context of an organization; community theory: socio-cultural, economic, political structures, practices processes and behaviours; social impact assessment and evaluation; understanding the concept of “wicked problems”.
• Community and Social Partners and the Communication Process: the communication process; communicating technical, social, political risk and crises issues and opportunities; information gathering and management tools.
• Engaging Communities and Social Partners: Identifying and managing conflict and opportunities for engagement; understanding of the strategic nature of relationship management.

This course is convened by the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. Key lecturers include Professor Harro von Blottnitz and Associate Professor Jenny Broadhurst. This course provides exposure to the mining world and will offer students the opportunity to conduct case studies on real mine sites. Students are required to complete an assignment within 6-8 weeks of attendance.

Rationale

Despite the apparent commitment to improving its environmental performance, the mining and mineral industry still suffers from the same negative image that it had in the late 20th century, and many mining companies continue to find themselves embroiled in environmental controversies which threaten their license to operate and their access to natural capital. Natural resources are also becoming more valued and as a result the cost of using these resources is increasing dramatically and legislation governing their protection becoming more prolific and stringent. An understanding of the environmental challenges of particular relevance to mining and minerals beneficiation operations, and their broader significance in terms of the sustainable development of mineral resources, is becoming increasingly important for many professionals operating in this industry. Put bluntly, environmental stewardship no longer is a box-ticking exercise in which the already-decided on project and technology is shoe-horned into compliance format by the environmental management department – it requires a range of specialists to review their options and choices based on sound understanding of what is at stake.

Aims

The course aims to:
i) review and deepen students’ understanding of environmental challenges of particular relevance to the mineral industry, with emphasis on the relationship between mining and minerals beneficiation activities and environmental impact categories;
ii) Provide students with an opportunity to learn how environmental management and stewardship tools and approaches are used in the industry, leading to an ability to critique the effectiveness of pro-active and reactive uses thereof, and interpret what selected approaches mean for own professional practise.

Course content

• Overview of Relevant Environmental Issues: land use issues; solid waste management; noise/air pollution; effluent/water management/AMD; biodiversity conservation; global warming/climate change; socio-economic considerations – and interpretation of these relative to the ‘natural capital’ category of the five capitals approach.
• Principles and Criteria for Environmentally Conscious Development of Mineral Resource: cradle to grave mine design and life cycle thinking; cleaner production; eco-efficiency/industrial ecology; material stewardship; carbon neutrality; multi-criteria vs environmental economics approaches to decision-making and trade-offs
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• Environmental Legislation and Guidelines, relevant international protocols; examples of key elements of national mining legislation in developed and developing nations (mining policy, mining code, provisions of environmental management)
• Environmental Technologies and Innovations, incl. mine and process water treatment and recycling; noise and air pollution control; solid waste management; AMD management and prevention; operation, closure and rehabilitation of mine sites (including cost provision); alternative energy sources and efficient utilization of energy.
• Environmental Measurement and Control Techniques, environmental monitoring and sampling techniques, environmental impact assessment and prediction.
• Environmental Assessment, Auditing and Management incl. environmental impact assessment; strategic environmental assessment; environmental management systems (ISO 14000); auditing

This course is convened by the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. The lecturers are Dr Elaine Govender and Associate Professor Jennifer Broadhurst. The course is delivered largely through on-line lectures and assignments, including the oral and written presentation of the research proposal.

Aim

The aim of this course is to provide postgraduate students with competency to execute meaningful research in a structured way, to critically analyse the results of this research and to communicate these results effectively. An additional objective of this course is to assist students in synthesizing and applying the knowledge gained from the taught modules to real-life case studies of relevance to the sustainable development of mineral resources in Africa.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course a student is expected to be able to:

• Critically read and synthesize the relevant literature
• Plan, develop and execute a meaningful research programme;
• Communicate research outputs effectively.
• Integrate and apply knowledge from different disciplines, stakeholders and sources to complex problems within the context of sustainable mineral resource development.

Course Content

• Literature review and synthesis skills
• Research philosophy and methodologies
• Research planning and hypothesis development
• Structuring, writing and presentation of research outputs
• Research tools and techniques
• Developing and applying integrative knowledge

This is a non - credit bearing course, listed w ith the postgraduate course office of the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. As an academic offering, it is grounded in the realizations that sustainable development i) requires professionals to be able to negotiate disciplinary truth boundaries so as to minimize externalization of costs and damages to 3 rd parties or future generations; and ii) requires an understanding of the complexity of coupled social - ecological systems, which can only partly be learnt in the classroom.

Aim

• To facilitate field-based inter-disciplinary learning especially through on-site structured engagements with problem-solving approaches in the actual developmental setting of a practicing organization;
• To provide an opportunity to experience possible career options in the area of sustainable development;
• To make a service contribution that will not only be useful to a practicing organization, but also contribute to the university’s social responsiveness objectives.

Course Structure

The nature, content and aims of the internship will be tailored to the needs of the student and will be designed in consultation with the course convenor and research supervisor. The student will keep a logbook and will complete an internship report for the host and for submission to the University. This report should be between 1500 and 2500 words and provide details of the host organisations and mentor, a description of the functions performed and a personal reflection on practical learnings, experience gained and application of theoretical knowledge and programme teachings. The academic time spent on the course, incl. the academic preparation, preparation of the report and theoretical reflections (as recorded in the logbook) must be equivalent to approximately 80 hours of student time.