Environmental Science in UK

What can the arts, humanities and social sciences do to cultivate a deeper understanding of relationships between society, culture and the environment?

This programme brings multiple disciplinary perspectives into dialogue with the ecological sciences, conservation and environmental thought. Drawing on wide-ranging and world-leading staff expertise, this interdisciplinary MA will enable you to build key skills in communication, research and critical and creative thinking invaluable for building more environmentally responsible societies of the future.

This course provides high-level research training in the latest developments in the conservation of ecosystems and the environment.

This cutting-edge interdisciplinary programme, which covers the physical, life and social sciences, is designed to develop the solid theoretical grounding, skills and real-world experience that employers are looking for.

It also provides an understanding of how to ensure that research has real-world impact. This will best prepare students for a career in research and possible PhD studies.

This MRes is offered as a 12-month full-time programme, or a two-year part time option, which may particularly appeal to those candidates already in employment in a relevant field.

This one-year part-time diploma is ideal if you're looking to reinforce or advance your career in environmental management. You'll study for a respected professional qualification under our expert teaching staff.

Graduating makes you eligible for non-chartered membership of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (MCIWEM) and specialist membership of the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (SIIRSM).

The NERC-Oxford DTP in Environmental Research is a four-year DPhil programme which offers a novel training environment across three broad science streams. Researchers in the DTP work across disciplines and at the cutting edge of environmental  research, to advance knowledge and find solutions to pressing environmental challenges in collaboration with outside partners. You will carry out your research projects in one of nine departments after an initial training period.

Our MSc Environmental Science for Sustainability is a skills-based programme that focuses on giving you the practical and technical skills that are widely used by the environmental science and sustainability sectors. The teaching covers the theoretical background to environmental science, environmental impact assessment, cost benefit analysis as well as practical training in computer, field and laboratory technical skills for the collection, analysis and interpretation of environmental data to evaluate environmental change.

The BSc Ecological and Environmental Sciences with Management is for those who are passionate about interactions between humans and the natural world, and our impact on the planet.

It will uniquely position you to address some of the biggest environmental challenges facing our planet, such as:

• rapid climate change
• the over-exploitation of natural resources
• environmental degradation

This programme allows you to combine your interest in the environment with an understanding of business and management. It is particularly relevant if you are seeking a career in policy-making, consultancy or in the management of natural resources.

Management courses

You will be able to study management courses from:

• the University of Edinburgh Business School
• the School of Economics
• from Schools across the College of Science and Engineering

Our Environmental Bioscience in a Changing Climate MSc provides a timely and integrated perspective on sustainability of food production, energy and ecosystems. Study at the University of Warwick's School of Life Science, ranked 2nd in the UK for Agriculture (Research Excellence Framework 2014).

Despite the phenomenal technological progress of the 20th century, most people still live with the acute and chronic consequences of age-old hazards such as floods and earthquakes. This MSc is aimed at those interested in engaging with the natural and social dimensions of environmental hazards, including disasters and climate related risk.

You will receive specialised scientific training in the physical hazards that pose large risks to communities living throughout the world, from climate change and meteorological risks to flooding, earthquakes and landslides. On this course you will receive theoretical and practical training for understanding and quantifying risks and hazards. You will also learn about how hazards persist over long periods of time instead of merely as single events, but are composed of many smaller sub-events or how their effects are widespread.

With almost 20 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity worldwide, and projected to increase fifteen-fold by 2040, the offshore wind energy market is booming, and it urgently needs qualified people to further succeed in being the leading sustainable energy source.

We offer a uniquely well-rounded, offshore wind-focused MSc, taught by staff having internationally leading expertise and track record in both wind turbines offshore engineering and electric and electronic engineering, unparalleled in the world.

This course is designed for ambitious graduates with a background in engineering, maths or physics who want to gain in-depth and industrially relevant knowledge in offshore wind energy.

Our MSc Global Environmental Politics and Policy combines critical social theory and detailed empirical analyses to explore contemporary global environmental politics and policy.

It draws together the research and teaching expertise of our Departments of Politics and Geography to deliver an ambitious curriculum, addressing conceptual and practical issues of climate change, resources, global scarcity, violence, demographic change and environmental crisis, together with an in-depth examination of key areas in contemporary environmental policy. The cross-disciplinary content of the course means you can choose from a wide variety of specialised option modules across the two departments.

Core modules explore the relationship between population, environment, economy and human values, as well as key areas of environmental policy and law, and introduce you to recent public policy, empirical data and case studies. You then choose option modules from a wide variety of topics, including climate change, gender, development, global governance, nationalism, population change, war and conflict, and public policy, and write a dissertation on the subject that interests you most.

You’ll have access to the resources of three top Queen Mary schools – Geography, Biological and Chemical Sciences, and Business and Management – drawing on the strengths of each as you develop both environmental expertise and business acumen.

You’ll investigate the relationships between physical and ecological systems and how these relate to human activity, covering topics such as evolution, climate change, environmental pollution and river science.

You’ll spend time in our state-of-the-art labs, analysing samples and simulating environmental processes. In the final year you’ll design your own project with guidance from our experts, developing the skills to become a researcher in your own right.

You’ll also build practical skills for the corporate world by studying economics, management, marketing, human resources and financial accounting.

You will participate in UK-based fieldwork and will have the option to go on international field trips, for example to the Netherlands, Canada, Croatia or South Africa.

The International Marine Environmental Consultancy (IMEC) course brings together core ecological skills and the business elements required to compete in this growing sector.

Our expert academic staff maintain an extensive network of industry contacts.

You'll complete a four-month consultancy project. This provides opportunities for developing a proposal to collaborate with a world-leading marine consultancy.

This interdisciplinary course attracts a wide range of honours graduates. Your background skills may come from:

• geography
• the law
• politics
• marine biology
• the environmental sciences

You should have an interest in the marine environment and its management. You'll also need a professional, committed attitude which is essential.

This course forms the basis of the taught components of the Marine Science suite of postgraduate qualifications, such as our Marine Ecosystems and Governance MRes.

These courses share the same modules in the first semester. This helps create a supportive, collaborative, student cohort that often works together on interdisciplinary projects.

Taking care of our planet for future generations is our most important responsibility.

By studying Environmental Science at Ulster you will gain the knowledge and skills to address issues such as climate change, conserving animal and plant diversity, environmental impacts of development and the management of water and air quality.

If you enjoy science or geography and have an interest in environmental issues, this course is for you.

Environmental Science is a broad and multidisciplinary subject exploring processes that impact the wide range of habitats, ecosystems and environments on Earth. The course at Sheffield was one of the first degree programmes of its kind to be established in the subject. In recent years, awareness about the complexity of the natural environment and the impacts of human activity has accelerated. This has led to the growth of environmental science as a major international discipline helping to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our planet.

Environmental issues represent a pressing concern for global government, businesses and societies, and there is a high demand for environmental specialists in all these areas. Sheffield remains at the forefront of the discipline. This is demonstrated by our graduates who are pursuing careers in industry, research, conservation, ecology and many other sectors across the world.

This programme is suitable for those wishing to carry out a short, in depth research project, and not attend taught programmes. The MSc by Research programmes consist of induction courses, an eight-month research project and a period to write it up. The degree is carefully tailored to your interests, and can be particularly suitable for people undertaking research in a work-based context wishing to gain an academic qualification.

You’ll explore the relationship between people and their physical environment at every scale, from personal space in offices to climate change awareness. You’ll gain the knowledge and skills to support the design, management and use of environments that benefit human function and health. 

You’ll address issues around architectural psychology, social change and sustainable development, while reviewing the major theoretical formulations and models within environmental psychology. We’ll also give you an insight into qualitative and quantitative research methods, including the use of statistics, ensuring you have a solid foundation to collect, analyze and interpret data. 

You’ll select one optional module to delve into topics, including applied psychology and public policy, chronic conditions and psychological aspects of healthcare. 

You’ll also complete a research dissertation that will allow you to carry out research on important topics in the field. Previous student projects have ranged from climate change perceptions to privacy in open-plan offices, biophilic design, and the emotional and cognitive benefits of nature engagement. We’ll match your interests with the expertise of our academic staff, ensuring you get the best support. 

This Master’s programme will offer social and cultural perspective on questions of environmental and other global change taking place in the world around us. It will offer students a range of theoretical approaches and methodological tools from human geography and the social sciences to learn how to address multiple and cross-cutting crises, ranging from migration to climate change, human security to global inequality.

Take on the challenge of creating sustainable energy systems. 

To avoid catastrophic climate change, global carbon emissions must be brought to zero within a few decades. This requires a transformation of the global energy system, beginning now. On this MSc, you learn to contribute to this challenge. You’ll gain the skills and confidence to develop and deliver energy and climate policy with impact. With climate change as a focus, you’ll explore the role of policy and innovation in transforming energy systems, while sharpening your analytical and decision-making skills.

You’re taught by globally recognised faculty from the University of Sussex Business School. This course draws on expertise from SPRU – Science Policy Research Unit and the Sussex Energy Group, one of the largest energy policy research groups in the world. You’ll explore the opportunities and challenges of creating sustainable and low-carbon energy systems throughout the world.

Our approach is interdisciplinary, practical and applied. The course gives you an essential foundation for careers in government, international organisations, the private sector and NGOs.

Contemporary environmental challenges - from climate change to plastics pollution, deforestation, habitat and species loss, pandemics and growing environmental injustices - affect us all across diverse scales, cultures and geographies. They increasingly demand new ways of thinking, grounded in cutting-edge research, to enable us to move forward into more equitable and sustainable futures.

This course was created in response to this need. It brings together internationally recognised research groups and scholars from the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment to provide you with a critical appreciation of these multiple, intersecting challenges and the nature and politics of potential solutions.

Through a range of core and optional modules, you will engage with:

• contemporary human geography thinking around environmental challenges, knowledges and futures
• the emergent, interdisciplinary concept of the Anthropocene and its applications
• contemporary and paleo-climatic and earth systems modelling
• and the pernicious challenge of pollutants e.g. plastics in the environment.

You will have the opportunity to develop skills in GIS, Earth Observation and Remote Sensing, as well as a range of creative geographical methods, and in the real world application of these tools to the management of diverse environmental challenges. You will gain high-level skills in research design and implementation through an individual dissertation, and you will gain a firm grounding in ethics and the development of equitable research partnerships.

Large global changes, and climate change in particular, are having significant impacts on the environment. The study of impacts and mitigation/adaptation measures in the marine environment requires a truly interdisciplinary approach. It is essential that scientists, engineers and environmental decision-makers understand the fundamentals of the causes, impacts and management measures involved in dealing with such important issues. The programme specialises in the challenges facing the marine environment and is part of the University's programme of teaching and research in climate change related issues. There are a variety of optional courses available but the core courses are listed below.