Insects Shaping Society

This breadth subject explores the interactions between insects and humans worldwide and through a multidisciplinary lens. Insects can be harnessed for food, medicine, and construction material. They can inspire architecture and design and have prominent roles in myth and songs and shape language. Insects have inspirated films, performances, music, and visual arts where artists aim to challenge our emotional and aesthetic connection to insects. Insects are both biologically and socially complex, from which important parallels to human biology and societal organisation can be drawn. Despite the importance of insects to humans, insects have been heavily impacted by human leading to enormous insect declines. In this subject, students from disciplines across the university can explore the impacts that insects have on humans and human society by learning from experts across many different fields through a combination of lectures and interactive, hands-on activities. This subject aims to broaden the students' scope in how we understand the multifaceted impacts that insects have on society.