Environmental Studies

With accelerating trends such as climate change, water scarcity, energy depletion, social injustice, economic crisis, resource wars, and other challenges, there is a growing need for sustainable alternatives. This course connects guest lectures that describe the severity of the challenges, workshops that discuss the possible sustainable responses, and solutions to those challenges within the context of a specific global city or region. Students have the opportunity to link global challenges to their own local and cultural backgrounds through case studies.

This course provides a survey of the role of plant-animal interactions in the evolution of biodiversity. It covers various subjects from an evolutionary approach and uses examples from recent and ongoing research. Topics include antagonistic and mutualistic types of plant-animal interactions; generalization versus specialization; evolutionary approaches to study plant-animal interaction, including understanding phylogenies; herbivory and grazing from both a plant and animal perspective; pollination ecology, especially plant-insect interactions; attractants and rewards; seed predation and dispersal; plant protection; arms race and co-evolution; physical and chemical plant defenses; plant-plant and other interactions; grazer-algae interactions in the marine environment; and community-level interactions including plants as habitat and food webs. The course consists of lectures and small in class exercises, hands-on activities, visits to the botanic gardens, and literature-based discussions. Training in scientific writing and oral and written communication skills is provided through workshops, journal clubs, an essay and an oral presentation. Students choose a plant-animal interaction and write an individual essay in the form of a scientific article (in review form) using primary literature.

This course is designed for students interested in the environmental, economic, climate, and geopolitical issues of the global ocean. Addressing the themes of environment, maritime economy, climate issues and governance, it considers the characteristics and tensions of the current ocean world and measures the challenges facing the international community.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course focuses on the location and design of wastewater treatment plants together with main rules of outfall discipline. Special attention is placed on the preliminary designs for main urban wastewater treatment plants and their outfall effects on water volumes. The course is split into three parts. Part one discusses wastewater; sewage characteristics; technical laws; industrial, agriculture, and domestic discharge; Hygiene Municipal Regulation; water outfall discipline; wastewater reuse regulations; variations in flowrate and characteristics of domestic and industrial wastewater; and treatability in rainy weather conditions. Part two discusses wastewater treatment: Kinetics and biochemistry of bacterial and algal biomass; growth and death in suspended and attached biomasses; septic tanks and Imhoff tanks design; the project of a full-scale domestic wastewater treatment plant operating in steady state; choice and location; raw and fine screens; sand removal; primary sedimentation; biodegradability and biological phases for secondary treatment; secondary sedimentation; active sludge plants upgrading to obtain phosphorous and nitrogen removal; separate scheme; Wuhrmann scheme; Ludzack-Ettinger scheme; Bardenpho scheme; A2/O process; Phoredox process; trickling filters; granular settling biofilters; wastewater disinfection; treatment and disposal of sludge; active sludge models.; sequencing batch reactors; natural system design for wastewater treatment or finishing; biological ponds. FWS and SFS phytotreatment; “on site” treatment for domestic wastewater coming from small communities; building and managing costs; and functional test. The third part of the course discusses outfalls in water volumes: water volumes protection and sanitary reclamation plans; wastewater discharge in rivers; effects of natural and domestic organic loadings on low exchange basin; ocean and river disposal of treated and untreated wastewater; offshore pipes.; diffusers; and aquatic ecosystem modeling criteria. The course includes lectures and practical exercises. The exercises focus on different real-scale biologic wastewater treatment plant projects based on attached and suspended biomass and natural appropriate treatment systems. The course requires students to have basic understanding of hydraulics and chemistry as well as a basic course in environmental sanitation engineering as a prerequisite.

This course deepens students’ knowledge of the “collective action dilemma” from a social science perspective and acquaints them with two interdependent global problems: climate change and energy.  It analyzes and discusses possible political solutions to the management of climate and energy issues as well as dilemmas over natural resources at the local, regional, and international levels.
 

This course is designed for students wishing to clarify and advance their career goals through an 8-week internship in Thailand. It provides a structured learning environment to help students make the most of their internship experience. While there are no regularly scheduled class meetings, internships are conducted under the close academic supervision of the School of Global Studies at Thammasat University. An assigned internship coordinator provides oversight and guidance for the duration of the internship. The course requires a minimum of 288 total work hours.