Overview

This unit aims to introduce the essential concepts of environmental health, including tools for measuring health and assessing risk, as well as introducing major current and emerging environmental health issues.

Requisites

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
03-March-2025
01-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
16-March-2025
Census date
31-March-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
24-April-2025
Results released date
08-July-2025

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Contrast the practice of environmental health with the practice of public health and related disciplines
  • Compare the different models of health which influence environmental health practice
  • Critique the tools that are used to assess environmental health hazards
  • Compare the major strategies used to manage environmental health risks
  • Examine emerging environmental health trends and the implications for practice

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Lecture		 3.00  3 weeks  9
Online
Lecture		 3.00  9 weeks  27
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning		 9.5 12 weeks  114
TOTAL     150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Case Study ReportIndividual 30 - 40% 2,3,4,5 
Literature ReviewIndividual 20 - 30% 1,2 
Online ParticipationIndividual 10 - 20% 1,2,3,4,5 
PresentationGroup 10 - 20% 1,2 

Content

  • Development of environmental health and its practice
  • Overview of foundational science concepts relevant to environmental health contexts
  • Models for understanding health
  • The environment and health nexus
  • Defining and measuring population health
  • Environments at risk
  • Environmental agents of disease
  • Local and global threats to sustainable environmental health
  • Assessing environmental health hazards
  • Environmental epidemiology
  • Environmental toxicology
  • Monitoring and surveillance methods
  • Regulatory and policy frameworks relevant to environmental health
  • Current and emerging issues relating to air, water, food, waste, wastewater, noise and the built environment

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.