ARPEA will introduce the students into research that has a focus upon preventive environmental approaches. The deliverable will be a written paper, a presentation and input to a peer review process.

The research projects will be presented and defended in a form that allows appropriate discussion and feedback of the individual paper, as well as a common discussion of the research area.

This project can be used as a “pilot study” for the thesis work. However, it is not formally to be seen as a ‘component’ of the thesis as the ARPEA research report has to be a finalized product. Moreover, it is acceptable that a project separate to the thesis project be undertaken in this ARPEA module.

If the ARPEA research paper is to be followed up with a thesis work at the IIIEE, then generally the tutor/supervisor for the ARPEA paper will also be the main tutor or the second tutor for the Master’s thesis. However, the formal decision about thesis tutors will be taken later by IIIEE as staff work loads and supervisor availability must be taken into consideration.

Course objectives:

- To develop a theoretical understanding and acquire knowledge related to preventive environmental management and policy, including:

- an understanding of theoretical construct(s) and/or scientific frameworks relevant to the research

- to analyse how theoretical constructs, scientific principles and concepts manifest themselves in the practical realities

- To produce an academic research paper

- To develop/improve and demonstrate skills in critically analysing relevant literature and empirical background material

Evaluation criteria:

- The formulation of the research problem

- The soundness and applicability of the plan for data collection and analysis

- The efforts and skills in collecting material

- The analysis of relevant literature and background material

- The analysis – focusing upon the manner in which research question is addressed, the soundness of logic, and originality

- The consistency of the paper

- The presentation and defence of the paper; comments on other papers