Teaching is at the forefront of this partnership, with over 76 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows being trained over the seven years of the partnership.
IEFLL provides students with a comprehensive training program focusing on data analytics in the context of environmental studies. Students will learn about the concepts and methodology of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity accounting within the broader scope of sustainability metrics and accounting systems. While also gaining practical computational and data analytics skills, that are used during the production of the national Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity accounts.
York University, the host institution of IEFLL, provides the training program to students registered at York University and the University of Iceland. The training program is held over one school year, from September to August. Students take two courses and participate in the national Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts production as an experiential learning credit. The first course, Ecological Footprint Applications takes place in the fall term, and subsequently the Ecological Footprint Informatics course occurs in the winter term. Then the experiential learning happens during the summer term.
Ecological Footprint Applications
This course introduces the concept and methodology of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Accounting. It covers the concept of sustainability, an overview of the Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity accounts, a multi-day intensive work-through of analytical techniques used to produce the accounts, an investigation of some of the critiques and limitations of the accounts, how the accounts align with the International System of Environmental Economic Accounts and the Sustainable Development Goals, and how to engage policy professionals in using the accounting system.
This course develops mastery of 1) demonstrating an understanding of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity accounting, 2) appraising the Ecological Footprint within the context of other sustainability metrics and accounting systems, and 3) communicating the potential for additional applications of the Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity accounting.
Ecological Footprint Informatics
This course develops analytical and computational skills that are used to produce the National Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity accounts, and that is also transferable to other data-intensive initiatives. These accounts quantify how much of the planet’s regenerative capacity is needed and is available, to sustain humans with food, fibres, wood products, areas for settlements, and the sequestration of anthropogenic carbon emissions – all of which are accounted for at a national level for all countries from 1961 to the present.
This course develops your mastery of 1) using specific software (MySQL Workbench, Excel, R Studio, INFAMOUS) and coding languages (SQL and MySQL, R) and web services (BitBucket) to manage, analyze, and communicate data that inform the National Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity accounts, 2) applying principles of security, data integrity, and quality assurance to produce usable data successfully, and 3) understanding and codifying scholarly literature about the accounts and related concepts.
Experiential Learning – Production of the National Accounts
This learning takes place as the result of paid employment as a Data Analyst with the Footprint Data Foundation. As data analysts, students will acquire and analyze global datasets from the United Nations (Comtrade, Food and Agricultural Organization, Fishbase), the International Energy Association, the World Bank, the International Monetary Foundation, and others. These datasets will be used to develop an edition of the National Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts for all nations from 1961 to the present.
Your experience working on the accounts will develop your mastery of 1) specific data sets and data procedures used to generate an edition of the accounts, 2) the application and troubleshooting of computer code and data queries, and 3) the application of factors and equations using computational hardware and software including MySQL, R, Workbench, Excel, and the proprietary software INFAMOUS.