FHE4350 – Politics of Sustainability in Public Health - Data-Driven Critical Conceptual Analysis
Course content
The course draws attention to the importance of key concepts in the sustainability agenda. Concepts such as?development,?empowerment,?or resilience, for instance, can reflect both an urge for global solidarity and a requirement for self-management and monitoring. The course engages participants in critical reflection about how particular concepts and their divergent, sometimes conflicting interpretations impact how we frame and address issues at the interface of politics, ?sustainability, and public health. ?
The central method used in the course is critical conceptual analysis based on corpora, which are data collections consisting of text. Free, open-access corpora and corpus analysis tools enable students and researchers to question and investigate the semantic and affective scope of the concepts they use and encounter both in academia and in daily life. This is a particularly powerful, but as yet underused resource by scholars in public health and critical sustainability studies.
The course offers a rare opportunity for students from different backgrounds to work together to analyse language data, explore areas of agreement and disagreement, and develop a more nuanced appreciation of the diversity of meanings that can be attributed by different people and institutions to contested concepts that play an important role in shaping our common future.
Learning outcome
Knowledge
After completing the course, you will be able to:
- outline/explain the political and ideological implications of the choice of terminology in sustainability discourses
- describe/summarize existing corpora/sub-corpora, and suitable tools for their analysis
- outline/explain theoretical approaches to the understanding and analysis of conceptual and discursive power in public health
Skills
After completing the course, you will be able to:
- identify patterns in linguistic data and explain how they affect the semantic and affective properties of concepts
- offer a critical explanation of the implications of linguistic patterns for the politics of sustainability
- use corpus analysis tools effectively to analyse textual data and key concepts in the sustainability agenda
- analyse how language use impacts public health decisions
- address complex questions based on collective, live analysis of corpora in a datathon setting
General competence
After completing the course, you will be able to:
- communicate your own subject knowledge to peers outside your discipline
- cooperate productively with peers from different areas of expertise
- present your results clearly to a non-expert academic audience
- elaborate a convincing argument to explain the significance of the results of conceptual analysis
- carry out research in interdisciplinary teams
- offer reasoned justifications for the choice of terminology when discussing sustainable development
- critique taken-for-granted, singular definitions of key concepts that do not attend to disciplinary and cultural diversity
- reflect on your own research and dissemination practice
Admission to the course
Capacity and prioritizing of students
The total capacity for this course is 40 students.
Folkehelsevitenskap og epidemiologi (master) and applicants from Circle-U. partner institutions are prioritized.
FHE4350 is also available for students in the following study programs at the Institute of Health and Society:
The principle of 'first come, first served' applies if there are more applicants than seats.
Circle U. (20 students)
Master students from the Circle U. partner institutions. The aim is two students from each university, additional students from each institution will be evaluated upon availability. Circle U. applicants are ranked by GPA average.
Master students from UiO not affiliated to The Institute of Health and Society. Master students from other programs will be considered if there are available seats left. The principle of the first come, first served applies here.
Application procedures for UiO students
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for?in Studentweb.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about?admission requirements and procedures.
Application procedures for Circle U. students
Formal Requirements?
A completed bachelor’s degree of at least 180 ECTS
Enrolment in a master’s programme at one of the Circle U. institutions?
A bachelor's degree grade average equivalent to a C on the Norwegian grade scale.?
A good command of English is expected of all students. It is the student's responsibility to ensure the level of language expected and needed to keep up with teaching and course content throughout the semester.
Documentation
Diploma and complete transcript of records from the bachelor’s degree?
Confirmation of enrolment in a master's programme at one of the Circle U. institutions?
If applicable:
Transcript of records of all other higher education completed to date (master’s courses)?
A list of courses you are registered for this semester with the expected date for completion
If you are completing studies after the application deadline, please upload the following:?
Transcript of records of all other higher education completed to date?
A list of courses you are registered for this semester with the expected date for completion
Ranking of applicants
If there are more applicants than available places, applicants will be ranked, and selection will be based on applicant grade average from their bachelor’s degree. We do not use conversion tables for foreign grades. All foreign education is individually evaluated during the admission process.
How to apply
Application portal opens:?23 May 2025
Application deadline: 1 October 2025
Unfortunately there are currently no available rooms in student housing for exchange students on short-term mobility courses that are less than 2 months in length. Therefore you must either book a hotel room for your stay or rent a room in the private rental market. Please see UiO's useful link on short-term private rental housing.
You must have your own travel insurance, health insurance or another type of insurance that covers you while you are in Norway if you become sick or injured. Students from the EU/EEA should bring their European Health Insurance Card.
Grant
You may be eligible for an Erasmus+ grant from your home university. Please contact your mobility office for information regarding funding.
Teaching
Course duration: 1-5 December 2025
Teaching includes a preparatory online session and a face-to-face one-week course.
Students will carry out preparatory tasks online before meeting in Oslo, where they will participate in five intense days of lectures and hands-on activities. Students will work in groups on tasks enhancing their grasp of corpus-assisted conceptual analysis.
Compulsory activities:
- Complete a quiz on the first day of in-person teaching. The quiz is meant to gauge understanding of preparatory materials.
- 80% attendance in the course is required to submit the exam. Attendance will be registered.
Examination
The exam consists of two parts, each of which must be successfully completed to pass the course.
- The first part is a group presentation, delivered in person during the final day of the course. The presentation is based on the hands-on work performed in class.
- The second part is an individual report, submitted one week after the end of the course, and reflective of engagement with the course’s lecture content and activities.
All compulsory activities must be approved prior to taking the exam.
Language of examination
The course is in English, and all assessment is conducted in English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.
Resit an examination
Circle U. students cannot present themselves for the examination in a course more than two times. There will be held re-sits for Circle U. students who have failed an exam or who have legitimate absence.
If you are entitled to a re-sit exam you must contact the student advisor by email no longer than one week after the result of the exam has been published.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- How to use AI as a student
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.