Certificate of Achievement in Sustainable Exchange

(Offered by the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) in our London Docklands Campus, 20 credit points at Masters-level, can be part of a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Leadership).

Economic and environmental crises are often in the news, yet social innovation is growing at pace.

Collaborative consumption systems like Airbnb, digital currencies like Bitcoin, local currencies like the Bristol Pound, gifting systems like Impossible.com, and sharing systems like TimeBanks UK, suggest that there could be a new paradigm emerging for how we organise our economic lives in ways that could restore community and the environment. 

The aim of this Certificate of Achievement is for you to understand why and how to create, scale and evaluate digitally-enabled systems of “sustainable exchange”.

Sustainable exchange includes systems for giving, sharing, renting, exchanging, and funding, with or without official money.

We understand that this is the world’s first Masters-level course on digital currencies and the sharing economy, and it is already receiving international press coverage.

The course is taught as a four-day block on the edge of the London Docklands financial centre, with structured online interaction beforehand, and an assessment to study for and write afterwards.

 

Join us at our London campus

Various online materials are supplied pre and post residential via our online Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).The course involves walking tours in the Docklands on monetary history, visits to relevant initiatives, and guest lectures from leaders in the field.  

Tutors will include Professor Jem Bendell (IFLAS), April Rinne (Collaborative Lab), Adam Werbach (Yerdle), John Rogers (author, People Money), Leander Bindewald (NEF and IFLAS), Brett Scott (author, Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance), Chris Cook (UCL), Will Ruddick (BanglaPesa and IFLAS), Susannah Martin Belmonte (EuroCat) (all TBC) and Matthew Slater (Community Forge).

The first offering is in 2014, but places are limited so apply early to avoid a delay of 6 months for the following iteration. Course fees are £1,111.

If this module is taken standalone, there are no specific entry requirements for this module but you must demonstrate that you are able to study at the appropriate level. 

To apply for the course click here.  If you would like to take this course as part of the new Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Leadership, click here. If you would like to apply for a scholarship then the deadline is January 30^th 2014 and details on that are here.

We are currently accepting donations in digital currencies and national currencies to be able to award scholarships for this course. If you would like to support this initiative, please contact Professor Jem Bendell: iflas@cumbria.ac.uk

On successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Critically evaluate the historical evolution of different exchange systems.
• Critically analyse the variety of sustainable exchange systems and the potential and pitfalls of digitally-enabled sustainable exchange systems
• Effectively communicate the rationale for sustainable exchange systems to a variety of stakeholders, with a critical understanding of claims made about them
• Describe and advise on the key factors for designing, developing and managing successful sustainable exchange systems
• Critically analyse the potential and current impact of any sustainable exchange initiative for its ability to promote sustainable production and consumption

Indicative Module Content:

• The history of exchange and monetary systems, according to anthropology and contrarian economics.
• The current monetary systems and its implications for sustainable development
• The variety of sustainable exchange systems, both new and old, for giving, sharing, renting, exchanging, and funding, with or without official money.
• The potential and pitfalls of digitally enabled sustainable exchange systems
• The key factors for designing, developing and managing successful sustainable exchange systems.
• Evaluation systems for sustainable exchange initiatives.
• Communication challenges and techniques for sustainable exchange.
• Practice-based inquiries into sustainable exchange.

For a short TEDx talk introducing this topic, see Professor Bendell’s The Money Myth:

Indicative Bibliography

• Bendell, J and T. Greco (2013) ‘Currencies of Transition’, in McIntosh (2013) The Necessary Transition, Greenleaf Publishing, UK. http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/content/pdfs/TNT_bendell.pdf
• Botsman, R and R. Rogers (2010) Beyond Zipcar: Collaborative Consumption, Harvard Business Review, October 2010.
• Gold, L (2004) The sharing economy: solidarity networks transforming globalisation, Ashgate Pub Ltd, UK.
• Graeber, D (2011) Debt: The First 5000 Years. Melville House Books.
• Greco, Jr., Thomas H. (2009) The End of Money and the Future of Civilization. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2009.
• Eisenstein, C (2012) Sacred Economics. Evolver Editions, USA.
• Lietaer, B., M. Kennedy and J. Rogers (2012) People Money: The Promise of Regional Currencies, Triarchy Press.
• Schroeder, R.F.H., Y. Miyazaki1 and M. Fare (2011) “Community Currency Research: An analysis of the literature”, International Journal of Community Currency Research, Volume 15 (2011) Section A 31-41.