Southern Cross University is proud to offer this ground breaking course in Public Interest Advocacy and social change activism as part of its innovative Byron Bay Summer Law School initiative.

The unit “Public Interest Advocacy” is fully University accredited, and can be counted towards undergraduate degrees in a number of disciplines, including Law, Arts, Social Sciences and more. The unit can be undertaken by any students who have already completed any eight (8) units at the tertiary level. If you wish to study this unit but you have no current or prior university study history please also contact our staff to discuss your options.

This unique study offering is all about promoting participatory democracy and developing the skills for successfully advocating for public interest concerns. It is a multi-disciplinary course which explores a wide range of different perspectives.

We touch on personal empowerment, study the life of cycle social movements, learn conflict mapping, and explore public interest litigation, citizens’ rights and the legal issues surrounding protest actions. We also examine the growing significance of digital activism and investigate emerging techniques for encouraging corporate social responsibility. Public Interest Advocacy has always been a topical unit but is even more so considering events around the world such as the Arab Spring and Occupy movements and in Australia the coal and gas debate.

The face to face component of the Unit runs for one week in December 14-20 2013 in Byron Bay, followed by a take home exam in early January and a major assignment due in late January 2014. The assignment is a practically based project that requires students to prepare a comprehensive strategic campaign plan for an activist or campaign group of their choosing.

This unit will be presented by Southern Cross University law lecturer, Aidan Ricketts, author of the internationally respected “Activists’ Handbook, A Step by Step Guide to Participatory Democracy” published by Zed Books in London.

The unit is informed by Aidan’s ongoing research and engagement in community campaigns and is an excellent way for students to add a ground breaking, unique and highly practical advocacy component to their chosen field of study.

Places in Summer Law School units are strictly limited so you should apply as soon as possible. Applications close Friday October 18, 2013. (Go to http://www.scu.edu.au/law-justice/index.php/6)

For more information contact:

Kate Walton: kate.walton@scu.edu.au (+61) 02 6620 3107

“This course is amazing!

As a young person who left University to pursue activism this was a perfect program that combined the academic rigour of University with the practical and relevant knowledge and skills needed to be an effective activist.

I am now employed as a campaigner to stop coal export expansion in Nth Qld and am so grateful to have had such a great opportunities to prepare me. The deep and well explained content, the balance of learning styles that are catered for and the idyllic setting make this program an essential for any up and coming radical”

Ahri Tallon 2012