180.604.89
Humane Science and Planetary Health: Prevention Through Innovation
Location
Internet
Term
Summer Institute
Department
Environmental Health and Engineering
Credit(s)
1
Academic Year
2025 - 2026
Instruction Method
Online Asynchronous
Auditors Allowed
Yes, with instructor consent
Available to Undergraduate
Yes
Grading Restriction
Letter Grade or Pass/Fail
Course Instructor(s)
Contact Name
Frequency Schedule
Every Year
Resources
Prerequisite
No prerequisites for this course.
Enrollment Restriction
This course is not restricted.
Are you concerned about climate change, biodiversity loss, and the growing need for humane, sustainable public health solutions? This course explores how research and policy decisions affect both planetary stability and the well-being of humans and animals. Discover how humane, human-relevant scientific methods can reduce environmental harm, strengthen prevention, and support global health resilience. If you want to be part of shaping a more sustainable and ethical scientific future, this course is for you.
Introduces planetary health as an interdisciplinary framework linking environmental stewardship, human and animal wellbeing, the exposome, and humane research innovation. Explains how planetary health, One Health, the exposome, and humane science jointly inform public-health decision-making and prevention-oriented innovation. Examines drivers of global health challenges and ethical concerns, including intergenerational and more-than-human justice. Explores limitations of animal-based research and how new approach methodologies (NAMs) and the 3Rs support sustainability and scientific relevance. Uses case studies from public health, toxicology, and biomedical research to evaluate how research choices shape ecological stability, equity, and translational value. Prepares students to assess scientific practices through planetary-health and humane-science lenses and identify opportunities for ethical, human-relevant, and sustainable innovation.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
- Explain the interconnections between planetary health, One Health, the exposome, and humane science, and describe how these integrated frameworks guide prevention-oriented public-health decision-making.
- Critically assess the ethical, ecological, and translational limitations of animal-based research and their implications for public health.
- Describe and evaluate key human-relevant, non-animal methods (NAMs) used in biomedical and toxicological research, including their benefits for prevention and sustainability.
- Apply systems thinking to analyze how research practices, animal-based or non-animal, affect environmental sustainability, health equity, and planetary resilience.
- Propose research or policy strategies that align scientific innovation with planetary-health principles, incorporating ethical reasoning across human, animal, and environmental domains.
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
Methods of Assessment
This course is evaluated as follows:
- 10% Participation
- 20% Discussion Board
- 30% Written Assignment(s)
- 40% Final Project