Harnessing the power of data analytics for an environmentally sustainable future
The environmental and sustainability issues facing the world are growing more serious by the day. But governments, corporations and consumers, still need to be convinced that any changes they may make in their policies, strategies, and lifestyles, will have a meaningful impact on the damage being done.
While most existing academic programmes in the field focus on the regulatory systems and policies aimed at promoting Smart Cities, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Planning, and Environmental Management, the new Master of Science in Sustainability and Environmental Analytics (SEA) programme offered by Lingnan University's Science Unit is designed to teach students how to marshal the type of evidence that can persuade decision makers to effect real change.
Advances in digital technology, and government policy around it, are making relevant data ever more accessible to all levels of society. In Hong Kong, smart meters in the home allow consumers to monitor their domestic energy usage, while the government’s launch of an open data policy in 2018 has enabled environmentalists to track the SAR’s progress towards carbon neutrality and the development of its smart city blueprint.
“Students on this programme will learn how to use data to inform practice,” explains Professor Paulina Wong, SEA Programme Director and Head of the Science Unit. Graduates will be in a unique position to bridge the gap between data scientists and environmental scientists, and they will also have been taught the communication skills to use that role to effectively advocate for change. “We want the students to be able to articulate their ideas and convince organisations to buy into their plans.”
Lingnan’s unique approach
Prof Wong points out that what also distinguishes SEA from other, related, academic offerings, is its focus on data analytics to assist sustainable transformation. The programme addresses a majority of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including affordable and clean energy (SDG7), sustainable cities and communities (SDG11), and climate action (SDG13). It is designed to equip students with a deeper understanding of the social, economic, and environmental factors that influence sustainable development, and teach them strategies for analysing environmental data and devising effective plans. More specifically, they will learn how to use data analytics to evaluate and improve the ESG performance of organisations and projects, and communicate their ESG impacts to stakeholders.
“Most existing courses in Hong Kong are very focused on ESG reporting and investment profiles,” Prof Wong notes. However, in line with Lingnan’s overall ethos, encapsulated in the motto “education for service”, the designers of the SEA programme have placed a greater emphasis on the ‘S’, or the social aspect, of ESG planning.
Structure of the SEA programme
Students can pursue the programme on a one-year full-time, or two-year part-time basis, and they do not need to possess any advanced tech skills to apply for a place - they will be trained to understand and interpret the relevant data.
In overall terms, the programme is structured around three elements: domain knowledge; analytics, which will teach the students where to find the data, how to analyse it, and in the ways in which they can present it, and; practical application, where what has been learned is applied to real-world cases involving NGOs, government departments and private organisations, as well as in research training and internship opportunities.
These elements translate into the curriculum’s eight required courses and two elective courses.
Broadening career horizons
The SEA programme has been designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge they will need for careers in the fields of sustainable development and environmental management, and to prepare them for the complex and ever-changing challenges they will surely encounter. To ensure it can meet the future needs of industry, while prioritising sustainable growth, the programme has been developed in collaboration with renowned industry partners.
“We don’t expect graduates from this programme to be experts in data science, but they can act as a bridge, providing both domain knowledge and setting up the requirements data scientists can use in their calculations and analysis,” Prof Wong points out.
For example, when it comes to implementing ESG policies, SEA graduates could use these bridging skills to present the senior management of a business with hard evidence to support.
Successful completion of the programme will also broaden the opportunities for those already working in fields such as, say, design or architecture, enabling them to make their designs more sustainable and cost effective, and their buildings more sustainable.