1. Apply research-informed reasoning to analyse social, ethical, and environmental challenges within the creative industries. Research Skills

2. Collaboratively produce and communicate a creative response to a sustainability-focused brief, applying critical reasoning to address social, environmental, and ethical considerations. Critical Reasoning & Collaboration

3. Use digital and non-digital tools to support group communication as well as the final group output. Digital Literacy

4. Reflect on your contribution, learning, and team-working processes. Reflection

Assessment 1: Group Project Complete a sustainably produced group project that effectively communicates understanding of a relevant and appropriate social issue, such as climate change, poverty, oppression, inequality and exploitation, diversity, conflict and migration. The project could take a range of forms including indicatively an exhibition, short film or video, live production, or magazine. More guidance will be provided in your discipline specific brief.

Assessment 2: Individual Presentation Individual reflection in the form of a live or recorded presentation that communicates and evaluates your:
- Contribution to the group project
- Understanding of the particular social issue/s that your project engaged with, including sustainability
- Understanding of how creative practitioners can address social issues and avoid worsening them
- Understanding the graduate labour market within your chosen discipline with a consideration of sustainability and other relevant social issues

Formative Assessment: Midway formative feedback will be embedded within practical sessions, providing structured opportunities for feedback on work-in-progress to support student development and progression.

This module introduces you to challenges in society and their relationship to culture and creative practice, with an emphasis on sustainability and responsible practice.

The module aims to:
- inspire you to explore how culture and creative practice can reflect social and environmental challenges
- help you to consider what role culture and creative practice can play in tackling social and sustainability-related problems
- help you to think about how creative practitioners might avoid making problems worse, including environmental and ethical impacts

The social issues that you might explore on this module could be global, international and local, and will include sustainability as a core theme, as well as, indicatively, climate change; poverty including access to food, medicine and health care; oppression, exploitation and inequality; diversity and representation; conflict; and migration.

You will demonstrate understanding of at least one of these issues through a sustainably and ethically created group project, evidencing consideration of environmental impact and responsible resource use. Building on your learning from the Creative Cultures module, you will undertake research to provide a basic critical framing alongside project development. Following this, you will undertake an individual reflective presentation that explains your contribution to the project, what you have learnt about the social issue or issues that you explored, and how your creative practice has engaged with sustainability and ethical considerations.

Throughout the module, you will develop your communication, teamwork, time management, and critical thinking skills. You will develop skills in working effectively both in a group and individually, which will involve engaging in reflection, using appropriate communication tools and materials, understanding ethics and sustainability in practice, and continuing to draw on relevant theoretical frameworks.

How can creative practice respond responsibly to the challenges facing society today? This module introduces you to key social issues and explores how culture and creative work can reflect, question, and respond to them. You may investigate topics such as sustainability and climate change, inequality, representation, migration, or social justice. Working in a small group, you will create a sustainable and ethical creative project informed by research and contextual understanding. Through reflection, you will develop teamwork, communication, and critical thinking skills that support your growth as a socially aware creative practitioner.

Sessions will include:
Lectures
Workshop/ Lab/ Studio activities
Seminar discussions
Tutorials
Drop-in support sessions

Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (2022) Creative industries and the climate emergency: The path to net zero. London. Available at: https://pec.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/PEC-Creative-Industries-and-the-Climate-Emergency-The-Path-to-Net-Zero-PEC-Research-Report.pdf (Accessed: 14 January 2026).

Flew, T. (2013) Global creative industries. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Foster, K. (2022) Arts and cultural leadership: Creating sustainable arts organizations. London: Routledge.
Hesmondhalgh, D. (2018) The cultural industries. London: Sage.

Oakley, K. and Banks, M. (eds.) (2020) Cultural industries and the environmental crisis: New approaches for policy. New York: Springer.

Where older texts are included, they are retained as foundational texts within the discipline, remaining relevant where no more recent equivalent texts are available.

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