The Alternative Economics Society aims to make university economics courses more realistic and relevant to modern society. We believe that current mainstream theories don't properly give the full picture of how economies actually work, so we will take a critical approach to them and also study alternative thinkers and theories. Through this we hope to gain a better understanding of economics, and its implications for issues facing the world today from inequality to climate change to the financial crisis.As we grow in a broader realisation of economic theory, we also hope to promote these ideas and raise discussion among other students, with the eventual hope of negotiating possible changes to the curriculum with course reps and the department.We are part of a UK-wide student movement with these common objectives; the first prominent society was Manchester's Post-Crash Economics Society. Other groups (who we are not affiliated to but find relevant significance in much of their work) include the global academic network Rethinking Economics, and our own university's Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute.