NIFK16008U Innovation and Proactive Law

Volume 2015/2016
Education

MSc Programme in Forest and Nature Management

Content

 

This course will prepare you for the complex professional future through the introduction of proactive, interdisciplinary problem solving and responsible research and innovation. You will learn to apply interdisciplinary methods and gain hands on experience in working in interdisciplinary teams. Anticipation of future problems, combining technical and legal knowledge and having the ability to take proactive and responsible action are a constantly growing aspect of practice in modern organizations.  Advisors with these abilities  create unique value in research and competitive advantage in business and are therefore in increased demand.  

The course is aimed at students with either a background in science or in law. You should have a solid knowledge foundation and skills in your core discipline, be fascinated by innovation and wish to use your knowledge in an interdisciplinary and experimental learning environment. 

The participants gets hands on experience with working in interdisciplinary teams through interaction and work with cases from life science areas such as food, agriculture, resource management, nature protection and environmental management. The hands on approach will be intertwined with presentations and reflections on different methods, techniques and experiences from a variety of interdisciplinary projects.

Finding proactive and responsible solutions require that team members can understand and apply methods for innovation and entrepreneurship.  The course will be  dealing with complex management situations that require simultaneous consideration of the core elements of a legal system, institutions, sources of law, decision-making procedures, complex problem solving, teamwork and stakeholder involvement. You will also be challenged to communicate your knowledge to people of different disciplinary backgrounds and relate it to a diverse body of knowledge.

We expect that you are curious and motivated to bring your core knowledge into an interdisciplinary and experimenting setting; will be an active participant in all aspects of the course; are open minded and keen on working in teams to find new avenues to new solutions.

The course can be taken as a 7,5 (offered by faculty of Science) or 10 ECTS (offered by Faculty of Law) version with a duration of three and four weeks, respectively. The 10 ECTS version will include a larger written assignment in addition to the portfolio developed during the 7,5 ECTS course (which is the same for both versions). 

Learning Outcome

The overall objective of the course is to ensure a good understanding of how science and law work together in a multi-layered and interdisciplinary system. The course aims to make students able to identify and evaluate relevant aspects of a specific case, including identifying relevant sources of law and their possible interaction with innovation projects.

Knowledge:

  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of factors influencing innovation processes.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of core factors and roles in an interdisciplinary context.
  • Demonstrate knowledge about fundamental legal principles, working proactively with innovative processes.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of key concepts and principles establishing, facilitating and managing a cross functional team.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of factors which influence the quality of communication in interdisciplinary settings.

 

Skills:

  • Ability to design and manage teamwork in interdisciplinary innovation processes.
  • Ability to identify relevant legal matters that can influence innovation processes.
  • Ability to identify, obtain and use relevant literature and other types of information in relation to solving specific tasks in the innovation process.
  • Ability to carry out a legal analysis of an innovation project or business plan.

 

Competencies:

  • Can analyze complex social systems as a basis for developing technically feasible, socially and economically desirable and legally sustainable solutions.
  • Can collaborate with legal/scientific experts with the purpose of developing value creating, well-argued and relevant solutions to concrete innovation problems.
  • Can organize and lead innovation projects from planning to implementation in a legal framework and work independently in interdisciplinary settings with professionals from different fields.
  • Will be able to communicate both technical aspects and legal aspects at a professional level.

Cases and selected articles. Final curriculum will be announced prior to the course.

The course will consist of introductory lectures and relevant student activities, individually and in groups with exercises based on specific cases, including case law. This program will not only develop a new multi- and interdisciplinary content, but will furthermore use and extend learning methods bases on accelerated learning, and do so in an ICT supported blended learning model. Based on actual cases the pedagogical approach also address the development of key competencies such as self-awareness in, inter-personal relations and high level of communicative skills needed for contextual reflection and the ability to cope with complexity.

Focus on blended learning has been chosen to make learning efficient and fruitful. The idea is to replace learning that mostly involve information transfer by ICT and to make repetitive effects by technology in order to create better in-person learning experiences for students when technology is used to free up time. The students will present relevant topics and guest professors are invited for special or actual topics. During the course participants will make small reports or presentations topics related to the themes of the course which will be compiled in a portfolio.

The summer course will have students from different fields and on different levels and must therefore make space for individual learning progresses, which demands all professors to act as facilitators in an interactive framework.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Exam
  • 1
  • Lectures
  • 30
  • Practical exercises
  • 40
  • Project work
  • 90
  • Theory exercises
  • 45
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Oral examination
Oral examination, 20 minutes
Oral examination (100 %)
Exam registration requirements

Students obtaining 7.5 ECTS produce a portfolio with three presentations/reports. The portfolio must be graded ‘approved’ in order for the student to attend the oral examination. 

Aid
Without aids
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Two or more internal examiners.
Exam period

23-24 August 2016

Re-exam

If the required  three reports have not been approved before the ordinary exam they must be approved two weeks prior to registration of the reexam. The re-exam is an Oral examination, duration of 20 minutes. The oral exam account for 100 % of the grade.

Criteria for exam assesment

To obtain the grade 12 a student must fulfil the learning objectives displaying a high level of command of all aspects, with no or only a few minor weaknesses. This includes analyzing complex social systems as a basis for developing technically feasible, socially and economically desirable and legally sustainable solutions. Students must demonstrate knowledge from planning to implementation in a legal framework and prove to work independently in interdisciplinary settings with professionals from different fields. 

The assessment will focus on the students ability to communicate both technical aspects and legal aspects at a professional level in a clear and non-expert manner, the task and context complexity, argue for the chosen solution from a technical as well as a legal perspective, and reflect on the dynamics and leadership aspects of an interdisciplinary work setting.