The students of the ECCSS program must do a mandatory two weeks of urban fieldwork and three weeks of rural fieldwork in their first year. The fieldwork is directed at achieving the twin goals of applying the research methods to understanding real-world problems and society in the context of the issues being studied.

Urban Fieldwork

The urban fieldwork is intended as a pedagogic tool for orienting students to the ground realities of cities concerning livelihood, vulnerability, adaptation, climate change, environment and the development sector and enabling them to explore the linkages between them. Students are required to do a situational analysis of the concerns centred around the challenges of urbanisation, emphasising its implications for the livelihood of diverse social groups and the adaptation capacity of diverse social groups to the changing socioeconomic and climate conditions. The fieldwork is also linked to some of the courses in the first semester and will provide a base for comprehending themes that emerge in future courses.

Objectives

To provide opportunities for students to understand how diverse social groups in the city adapt to the city's changing socioeconomic, climatic and environmental conditions.

To enable students to apply diverse perspectives in approaching city-based issues and research problems in their future course and research work

Rural Fieldwork

Students of the M.A/M.Sc. Program in Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability Studies are expected to do three weeks of compulsory rural fieldwork. This is meant to serve the dual purpose of i) practical application of methodological tools taught to students during the semester in terms of survey-based, data collection, sampling, focus group discussions, interviews, etc. and ii) understanding the diverse aspects and issues concerning environment and development and climate change in rural areas. Students must study various aspects of the society-environment linkage and prepare a detailed report that shows an integrated understanding of the village at the end of three weeks.

Objectives

To enable students to understand the various dimensions of the human-nature interlinkage as well as the challenges in achieving the twin goals of development and sustainability in the context of rural India

To enable students to study the practical application of methodological tools used for research

Pedagogy

Students are given opportunities to observe, participate, interact and experience the ground realities of cities broadly connected to climate change, environment and development. These field experiences are at the individual level, and if group-based exercise is carried out, then the group would be small. Students are expected to use various tools to conduct a detailed study of the village. The core issues that will be the focus of the study will be agriculture, forest, energy, water and fisheries. Students will work in groups in each area but will periodically rotate so that everyone gets exposure to all the studied aspects.

The fieldwork is chosen in such a manner as to allow the students to engage with issues extensively as well as intensely. The focus is to understand the prevailing situation rather than devising possible interventions. Each of these experiences is followed by a debriefing based on a written report and its presentation. The faculty members would then give in-depth feedback to the students. The rural fieldwork is held at the end of the second semester (Summer- the month of April). Each subject under study is identified in advance, and all activity pertaining to that area is facilitated by the faculty members (questionnaire preparation, data collection, report writing).

Role of Centre Faculty Members

Each visit is planned, anchored, and debriefed by the centre's faculty members. The faculty members are responsible for identifying the nature of the experiences corresponding to a theme, planning for the same, organising other logistical support and facilitating the debrief. Faculty members coordinate all the visits to enable the smooth conduct of the exercise and the achievement of the objectives outlined.