MSc Environmental Change and International Development

About the course

This course brings together geography, environmental and development studies expertise to engage with the challenges of environmental change in the Global South. You'll explore contemporary theory, policy and practice. There are three elements to your study: training in development research methods and professional skills, training in specialised subject areas, and a placement-based research dissertation.

Core modules

• Ideas and Practice in International Development
• Research Design and Methods in Development
• Professional Skills for Development
• Key Issues in Environment and Development
• Understanding Environmental Change
• Field class
• Dissertation with Placement

Optional modules

• HIV/AIDS
• Living with Climate Change
• Global Inequalities
• Spatial Techniques in Environmental Analysis
• Environmental Process Fluxes
• International Health: systems and policy
• Issues and International Perspectives in Mental Health
• Gender Relations, Health and Health Care
• Understanding Cultural Difference
• Cities of Diversity
• Cities of the South: planning for informality
• Managing Conflicts in Protected Areas

Teaching

• Seminars
• Lectures
• Workshops
• Reading groups

Assessment

• Coursework assignments
• Dissertation

How we teach

Our staff are active researchers at the cutting-edge of their fields. That research informs your course. As well as the usual lectures and seminars, there are practicals, lab classes, field trips and research projects.

Your career

You'll develop the skills to work in private or public sector research, or join the civil service.

Recent graduates have started careers in consulting or with organisations like CAFOD, the Environment Agency and the British Library. Many of our graduates stay on to do research. We have a high success rate in securing funding for those who wish to study for a PhD with us after finishing a masters.

Study with the best

The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise puts us in the UK top ten for geography. This is a vibrant postgraduate community, with strong international links.

Our research partners are global, from UK universities to institutions in southern Africa, Denmark, Iceland, Australia and the USA. Our teaching is invigorated by work from several interdisciplinary research groups, like the Sheffield Centre for International Drylands Research (SCIDR) and the Urban and Regional Policy Research Institute.

Our research partners are global, from UK universities to institutions in southern Africa, Denmark, Iceland, Australia and the USA.

Facilities and equipment

A new £1m Sediment-Solute Systems lab enables geochemical analysis of aqueous and solid phases, especially in the context of biogeochemistry. We have equipment for chromatography, UV spectrometry and flow injection/auto analysis.

Our sample preparation facilities enable digestion, pre-concentration by evaporation under vacuum, and tangential flow filtration. There are alpha and gamma counters, a laser particle sizer and a luminescence dating lab. Field equipment includes automatic water samplers, weather stations, data loggers and environmental process characterisation sensors.

We have high-quality petrological microscopes for examining geological samples. We have labs for spectrometry and for palaeontological preparation, and you’ll also have access to specialist facilities in other departments at the University.

Laptops, camcorders, tape recorders and transcribers are available for your fieldwork. Our postgraduate computer labs have networked workstations for GIS research and climate modelling, ARC/INFO, ERDAS software and specialist software for remote sensing. GIS facilities are also provided by the £5m Informatics Collaboratory for the Social Sciences.

Our recently refurbished building has brand new study areas for postgraduate students and a café.

Apply now

You can apply for postgraduate study using our Postgraduate Online Application Form. It is a quick and easy process.

Postgraduate Online Application Form