MSc in Environmental Change and International Development

The MSc in Environmental Change and International Development is an exciting new course for 2010, and brings together expertise from geography, environmental and development studies to engage with the challenges of environmental change in the Global South.

The course explores contemporary theory, policy and practice within environmental change and international development. Following the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 environmental considerations have become central to development policy and management. There is an expanding need for policy makers, planners, and managers to be critically aware of, and practically adept with, the contemporary understandings of environmental change and its relevance to development. The course provides specialised teaching to equip students with the skills and critical understanding to take on these challenges in the international development workplace. A distinctive feature of the course is its applied emphasis to ensure that students engage with the complexities of environmental change and development as played out in everyday life in the Global South.

  • The core fieldtrip to a country in the Global South provides students with practical field skills in a unique environment.
  • The placement-based dissertation offers students the opportunity to work within a development organisation in Europe or the Global South whilst conducting their dissertation, gaining valuable experience for future careers.

The MSc in Environmental Change and International Development provides high quality, in-depth teaching dedicated to preparing students both for further academic studies and those developing or continuing their careers in development and environmental research and practice in the public and private sectors. The programme is driven by our practical engagements with development as well as by theory, making this course of interest to both recent graduates and those with existing professional experience. Students from, or with work experience in, the Global South are particularly encouraged to apply. We are looking for students who will respond positively to the intellectual challenges this degree programme will present, and who will use the experience to inform their professional practice on graduation.

Course Structure

The MSc in Environmental Change and International Development comprises three elements that make up 180 credits worthy of study:

  1. Training in development research methods and professional skills for the workplace, including core field class (60 credits)
  2. Training in specialised subject areas (60 credits)
  3. A placement based research dissertation (60 credits)

The core modules that make up the course are:

GEO6801 Ideas and Practice in International Development
GEO6802 Research Design and Methods in Development
GEO6803 Professional Skills for Development
GEO6806 Key Issues in Environment and Development
GEO6807 Understanding Environmental Change
GEO6804 Field class
GEO6805 Dissertation with placement

The optional modules are:

GEO6808 HIV/AIDS
GEO6809 Living with Climate Change
GEO6019 Global Inequalities
GEO6606 Spatial Techniques in Environmental Analysis
GEO6603 Environmental Process Fluxes
HAR618 International Health: Systems and Policy
SCS657 Practice and Evaluation in International Development

The research training and professional skills modules provide grounding in key research skills and techniques applicable to a wide range of research situations, whilst the specialised subject modules are designed to develop a sophisticated understanding of and critical engagement with environmental change and international development. The MSc dissertation with placement is completed over the summer months in the final stages of your study.
Scholarship Opportunities