Course Details

Course Code(s):
PDSUWOTPAD
Available:
Part-Time
Intake:
Autumn/Fall
Course Start Date:
September
Duration:
1 Year, Part-Time
Award:
Professional Diploma
Qualification:
NFQ Level 9 Minor Award
Faculty: Kemmy Business School
Course Type: Taught, Professional/Flexible
Fees: For Information on Fees, see section below.

Contact(s):

Name: Claire Harnett
Email: PDSustainableWork@ul.ie
Express Interest

Register your interest here for more information or to be notified when applications are open.

Brief Description

Shape the Future of Work: Create more Sustainable Workplaces

Introducing the Professional Diploma in Sustainable Work - the cutting-edge programme designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge needed to navigate a rapidly changing business landscape. It offers a unique opportunity to gain expertise in sustainable business practices and digital transformation, giving you and your organisation a competitive edge. By enrolling in this programme, you can effectively lead your organisation through the digital age challenges, providing solutions to current challenges with digital transformation and business sustainability.

This programme is an ideal fit for you if:

  • You are a people, project or line manager trying to navigate the challenges we experience in this new post-Covid world, such as digital transformation and hybrid work.
  • You are a current or aspiring HR professional tasked with developing new work policies and practices and supporting your organisation's aim to build more sustainable workplaces.
  • You are looking to advance your career by increasing your knowledge and skills in how the world of work is changing, to ensure sustainable team performance during digital transformation, lead workplace initiatives on new ways of working, drive sustainable business change projects or better advocate for employee groups and better work practices.

Take advantage of this opportunity to gain a strategic edge in the market and lead the way towards a sustainable future of work.

(M) Microcreds available:
Modules listed within the Programme Content with an (M) beside them are MicroCreds and can be taken independently.

This innovative and industry-responsive programme at the triple-accredited Kemmy Business School, brings together the latest thinking in workplace research, trends and practices and explores them through the current context of digital transformation and sustainable business. Co-created with industry in our Kemmy Business School WorkFutures Lab, this online, flexible Professional Diploma brings you the latest case studies, industry insights, and internationally renowned work and employment research at a pace that suits working professionals.

You will learn about emerging technologies and how they present opportunities and challenges. You will also learn how to create sustainable workplaces and improve and advance your people management and HR knowledge. You will develop new techniques and strategies to leverage the many opportunities the new world of work can offer organisations, their people and the world around us. This is also a unique opportunity to network with like-minded professionals and engage with academic and industry experts.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN...

Sustainable Business
How to manage social, economic, and environmental sustainability concerns now facing the industry and their impact on your business.

Emerging Technologies
Learn about existing and emerging technologies and digital transformation (for non-technical professionals).

New Ways of Working
Understand how we create work, complete tasks, interact with our professional networks and teams and behave in virtual or hybrid work settings.

The Employment Relationship
Identify the many elements that shape and influence our employment relationship, work identity, work values, preferences, motivations, and the employee voice, inclusion, and well-being.

Shaping the Future of Work
Learn how to engage with key stakeholders to advocate and influence a corporate strategy inclusive of society, organisational stakeholders, teams, and people.

Innovative Studio-Based Learning Project
All of our Professional Diplomas at UL@Work provide a novel opportunity to be part of a cross-disciplinary Future-Focused project team. You will learn how to work in an online studio environment with other working professional learners completing professional diplomas in areas such as Strategic Leadership, Digital Futures and Innovation, AI, Data Analytics and Cybersecurity. This is a unique opportunity to learn how to work within a cross-disciplinary project, evolve your skills as a 'T-Shaped Professional', and engage in a virtual, online project team in a moderated learning environment.

Download the programme flyer HERE

MODULES

Semester Title
Autumn 2023 Future-Focused Professional - Portfolio 1
Autumn 2023 Introduction to Emerging Technologies (M)
Autumn 2023 Sustainable Organisations and Decision-Making
Spring 2024 Digital Transformation of Work and the Employment Relationship 
Spring 2024 Designing Work into the Future
Spring 2024 Future-Focused Professional - Portfolio 2

(M) A MicroCred is a single module within a larger further award (eg. Certificate, Diploma, Masters). By taking a micro-credential you may be eligible to apply for a credit exemption should you progress to study for a further award.

Applicants are expected to hold a Level 8 degree (NFQ or other internationally recognised equivalents). Experience in decision-making, or managing people is desirable. 

Alternative Entry Route:

In accordance with the University's policy on the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), candidates who do not meet the minimum entry criteria may be considered under a RPL Application.

WHAT TO INCLUDE WITH YOUR APPLICATION:

  • Qualification transcripts and certificates
  • A copy of your birth certificate or passport
  • A copy of your CV
  • If your qualifications have been obtained in a country where English is an official language this will suffice. 
  •  If this is not available, the following additional documents must be provided:
  • English translation of your qualification(s)/transcripts AND
  • English language competency certificate
  • Please click here for Further Information on English Language Requirements

EU - €5,250

Non EU - €5,250

Further information on fees and payment of fees is available from the Student Fees Office website. All fee related queries should be directed to the Student Fees Office (Phone: +353 61 213 007 or email student.fees.office@ul.ie.) 

Please click here for information on funding and scholarships.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Us?
Engaging in Professional Education at the Kemmy Business School  starts with you. Our programmes align with the latest professional and industry needs and are always anchored by international research and best practice. Each programme is carefully co-designed with industry. Critical academic thinking sits alongside practitioner insights drawn from our longstanding strategic partnerships across the Atlantic Corridor and beyond. In choosing professional education at the Kemmy Business School, you will have a range of flexible learning options designed to complement your personal and work life to empower you to take the next step in your career.

What are the Benefits for me and my Organisation?
On completion of the Professional Diploma in Sustainable Work, you will be able to:

  • Demonstrate a systematic understanding of contemporary and emerging social, economic, environmental, and technological developments and challenges associated with the future of work and employment.
  • Appraise conceptual, theoretical, and empirical foundations of sustainable and inclusive work and employment in an era of digital transformation.
  • Critically evaluate the opportunities and difficulties that the future design of work and management of people may present.
  • Make informed judgments and evidenced-based decisions on complex sustainable work and employment issues.
  • Use various business media to communicate ideas, insights, analyses, and policies to peer and practitioner audiences.
  • Engage with key internal and external organisational stakeholders to influence and advocate for a sustainable and inclusive approach to work design and employment.
  • Take responsibility for the design of sustainable work and employment initiatives.
  • Self-evaluate and take responsibility for your own continuing professional development as a 'T-shaped' professional.
  • Provide insightful, original, and creative viewpoints of sustainable work initiatives informed by cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research and knowledge.

Who should be interested in this Programme?
This innovative programme is ideally suited to people managers, line managers, supervisors, HR professionals, and those tasked with leading out on sustainable business transformation or strategic change projects related to digital transformation, and anyone advocating for employees and sustainable workplaces.

What is the weekly learning and time commitment?

  • One-Week Online Induction - Before starting the programme, all learners participate in a one-week online induction programme. This introduces the virtual learning environment, the course content, your lecturers and peers. The induction proves particularly useful for those returning to third-level education after a break of several years, helping to ease you into the programme and make you feel confident and motivated about beginning your modules.
     
  • Module. Break. Repeat. - This Professional Diploma takes approximately 9 months, typically running from September through to May each year with a 6-week break-in December/January. It is delivered online, allowing you to learn at your own pace, but the average time commitment each week is around 10-15 hours. The programme is made up of four 6-credit modules and two 3-credit modules by the Futures Professional Project outlined above in the Programme Content. Each module of learning lasts 7 weeks. 
     
  • A Learning Pattern for Professionals
    • Within each core module there will be a number of live lunchtime sessions, typically lasting one hour.
    • For the Future Focused Professional modules, there will be 6 evening sessions during the Semester, which may last up to two hours each.  Some of these sessions will be dedicated to groupwork involving students from other PD programmes.
    • Each week you will engage with online videos from your lecturers or industry experts, listen to podcasts and draw from a range of business cases and other materials designed to build our knowledge and insights around that week's topic.
    • You will complete short online activities each week. These may include writing a blog on a business issue, contributing to a Discussion Forum, or writing up knowledge or insights you have developed from your research on a particular topic. Activities may be individual or with a peer group, and will draw from the provided content, your own research of the topic, or other resources from within your business, such as a real work example.
    • Individual work is entirely self-paced, however, group work requires each peer group to establish their own schedule, either during work hours, in the evening, or over weekends as appropriate to the needs of the group.
    • From time to time, you will complete a learning assessment. We ensure that these are relevant to your own professional or work context, such as exploring a relevant business case, completing an audit of something in your workplace, or developing a new strategy or approach relevant to you.

Who can I contact for more information? 

For more information on this programme, email PDSustainableWork@ul.ie