Global Sustainable Development BA
2025-26 entryTake an interdisciplinary focus on international development, examining global issues through the lens of social justice and sustainability. You will benefit from innovative practice-based learning, and develop your professional skills in research, ethics, policy analysis and stakeholder management.
Key details
- A Levels AAB
Other entry requirements - UCAS code L800
- 3 years / Full-time
- September start
- Find out the course fee
- Optional placement year
- Study abroad
Explore this course:
Course description
Why study this course?
Hands-on and problem-based learning, through team projects, policy analysis, professional skills building and fieldwork experiences.
To ensure everyone has the chance to carry out fieldwork, all costs for the core residential field classes are met by the school. This includes the costs of travel, accommodation and food during your residential stay.
Get involved in GeogSoc and become part of one of the biggest societies at the University of Sheffield. Over 400 members enjoy socials, spending time in the Peak District, career and academic support, volunteering, sports and more.
Learn to see emerging global issues through the lens of social justice and environmental sustainability – and apply strategies to make real change happen.
In global sustainable development, we show you how to become a globally competent citizen who can make a positive difference to the world around you.
Your tutors are experts in international development and the social sciences who bring an interdisciplinary perspective to their teaching. Together, you’ll add to our understanding of the world’s most complex and challenging problems – from climate change to poverty, from inequalities to security.
Our approach to learning and skills development means you'll be fully prepared for employment in the public, private or third sector.
Modules
A selection of modules are available each year - some examples are below. There may be changes before you start your course. From May of the year of entry, formal programme regulations will be available in our Programme Regulations Finder - including details of the optional modules available in your second and final year.
In your first year, you'll learn the history and key debates of global development, and how challenges of environment, inequality and sustainability are addressed through local and global policy.
You'll develop your research skills and learn about critical perspectives on global sustainable development in your second year. You'll also have the opportunity to tailor your degree to your interests by taking a range of relevant interdisciplinary modules spanning economics, geography, politics and sociology.
In your final year, you'll learn more about global sustainable development on the ground and in practice. You'll develop your professional skills and also undertake independent research for a dissertation on a specialist topic of your choice, and further tailor your degree through a range of relevant optional modules.
UCAS code: L800
Years: 2024, 2025
In your first year, you'll learn the history and key debates of global development, and how challenges of environment, inequality and sustainability are addressed through local and global policy.
Core modules:
- Sustainability in Practice
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This module provides you with an opportunity to build on and apply learning from other taught modules by undertaking a group-based project focussed on issues of global sustainable development. Working in small interdisciplinary teams, you will identify a topic of interest and learn how to focus on a specific issue related to sustainable development. You will learn how to engage with key stakeholders to develop a thorough understanding of the current situation, their aspirations for a more sustainable solution and how to develop a plan of action to achieve change. You will identify appropriate measures of success and change. This module aims to: A1: Develop your knowledge and understanding of how to conduct group-based research on 'real world' sustainability topics; A2: Build your capacity to evaluate a contemporary practice with respect to specific sustainable development priorities and propose relevant responses; A3: Enable you to investigate stakeholder perspectives on sustainability issues and to understand diverse perspectives; A4: Provide you with experience of both conducting a small-scale sustainability quality improvement study including using research methods, analysis, and reporting; A5: Build your capabilities to work as part of a team, sharing and planning responsibilities equitably, communicating effectively and working to deadlines.
10 credits - Climate, Environment and Sustainability
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This module provides you with a foundation to develop your understanding of both the contexts for and key issues around climate, environment and sustainability policy developments. You will be introduced to a range of global and societal challenges, from both physical science and social science perspectives. Examples in the Global North and Global South will include action on biodiversity loss, climate change adaptation and mitigation, water and land-use management and food. You will explore the drivers and existing conditions of environmental issues, their impacts and responses to these, and learn how to question assumptions about environmental processes.
20 credits
This module aims to support you in developing your understanding of interconnected global and societal challenges, at a range of scales and levels, including learning about key environmental and climate issues and trends, equip you with methodological and analytical tools, to both (a) understand historical and contemporary 'solutions' to challenges; and (b) creatively identify contextually appropriate responses, engage you in reflective- and practice-based learning, including chances to conduct research and develop professional skills in exploring interconnected environmental, political, economic and societal aspects of sustainability, and actors involved therein and contribute to your self-reflexivity regarding your principles, assumptions, positionalities and aspirations relating to global sustainable development. - Understanding Inequalities: Policy Responses From Local to Global
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Through this module you will explore the extent, causes, and consequences of social and economic inequalities and how public policy may help to prevent or reduce them. The module adopts a comparative approach focusing on examples in the Global North and the Global South, beginning with a discussion of key concepts and metrics that are used to discuss and measure inequality. We then follow a life-course perspective to trace out the institutions through which inequality is structured, reproduced, and experienced such as the family, the neighbourhood, the educational system, labour markets, and the criminal justice system, attending to the roles of race, class, and gender as axes of stratification in these domains. For each institution and social stratification axis we will be looking at public policy alternatives to tackle and reduce inequalities across them using examples from the Global North and the Global South. The module will also look at the role of international institutions at shaping public policy responses to tackle inequalities worldwide.
20 credits
This module aims to, provide you with an understanding of the various dimensions of inequality worldwide, enable you to critically assess the role of public policy in tackling social and economic inequalities in a comparative perspective and help you develop good presentation, report writing and critical analytical skills. - Analysing Global Challenges
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This module introduces you to core theories and concepts in global politics and global political economy, and, in turn, their application to key issues relating to global development and sustainability. By examining the complex relationships between politics and economics, and contested explanations of them, it familiarizes you with key actors and institutions in the global system working to engender sustainable development, and the real-world battles and conflicts that occur in these arenas. By surveying both classical and critical theories, it demonstrates how different theoretical and conceptual frameworks deepen our understanding of these processes in various domains, including agriculture, energy transitions, and global climate governance. In the process, you will learn about patriarchy, imperialism, Eurocentrism and slavery as well as the class-based, race-based and gender-based nature of trade, production and finance and their ecological implications.
20 credits
The module aims to provide you with basic knowledge of the main theories and concepts used in the fields of Global Politics and Global Political Economy; enable you to apply these concepts and theories to analyse real-life Global Sustainable Development issues; equip you with presentation, writing and analytical skills. - Global Development: History and key debates
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This module provides you with a core grounding in the key historical and contemporary debates encompassing both classical and alternative approaches to international/global development. During this module you will develop an understanding of key theories and ideas which have shaped the evolution of global development as a field of scholarship and practice. Through this understanding you will learn to critically debate different schools of development thinking and the evolving history of the field, from colonialism through to efforts to 'decolonise' the field. You will consider a range of policy approaches and how these have evolved in relation to changing global priorities and debates, including the shift from a discourse of 'international' to 'global' development and its implications.
20 credits
This module aims to:
Introduce you to the concept of development and key debates over its definition and scope, build your understanding of the historical evolution of the idea of development and of associated spheres of policy and practice. Develop your capacities to critically engage with academic literature on development from a range of different perspectives and disciplines and foster your abilities to draw links between development debates and the questions of sustainability and global political economy raised in other L1 core modules. - Knowledges, Power and Interdisciplinarity
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Through this module, you will develop an understanding of the complexities and intersectionalities at play within global sustainable development as a field of study and practice, alongside a range of key transferable, academic and research skills. These skills underpin the ability to think and work in interdisciplinary ways, to question the power behind knowledge(s) and develop critical reasoning skills. Through lectures, workshops and small group tutorials, run by academic staff, you will develop skills in finding, presenting, analysing and critically evaluating complex information, key qualitative and quantitative research methods.
30 credits
This module aims to:1. Introduce you to a range of core skills and methods used in global sustainable development research and practice2. Provide key training in finding, evaluating, analysing and presenting data and information 3. Support you in putting foundational research methods skills into practice4. Develop your skills in self-reflection and an awareness of positionality, ethics, power and social relations inherent to global sustainable development 5. Develop your skills and understanding of the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to framing and tackling key global sustainable development issues
You'll develop your research skills and learn about critical perspectives on global sustainable development in your second year.
You'll also have the opportunity to tailor your degree to your interests by taking a range of relevant interdisciplinary modules spanning economics, geography, politics and sociology.
Core modules:
- Research, Skills and Ethics for Global Sustainable Development
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Ensuring the realisation of global sustainable development requires delivering policies and practices to achieve social and environmental justice. These policies must be underpinned by reliable, robust and ethical research. This module supports you in developing understanding and skills to design, conduct, analyse and present findings from research while being attentive to ethical, moral and logistical concerns. Beginning with understanding the philosophical background to and processes involved in designing research for global sustainable development, the module provides training in key quantitative and qualitative methods (including creative and participatory methods) as well as detailed engagement with the moral, ethical and practical complexities of delivering research. This module is delivered through lectures, small group teaching and practical activities.
30 credits
This module aims to:
Equip you with the knowledge and skills to design conduct and present findings from research and fieldworkDevelop your ethical competencies and awareness in conducting research for global sustainable developmentProvide you with a methods tool kit, and understanding of the appropriateness of these methods for conducting different research activities - Sustainable Development and Global Justice
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Development in the Global South is a major issue of international concern in the 21st century. This module explores contemporary development issues and examines the contribution that geographers, and geographical thought, can make towards understanding inequality, poverty and socio-economic change. Definitions of 'development', 'poverty' and 'the poor' shift and are invested with political meaning which reflect specific geographies and ways of seeing the world: students develop critical understandings of such terminology and the power dynamics implicit within them. This module addresses diverse theories, paradigms and contemporary critiques of development, and explores some of the central issues affecting processes of development. Case examples are drawn from Latin America, Africa and South-East Asia.
20 credits - Global Challenges: Live Policy Analysis
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Through this project-based module, you will build on your knowledge of policy and discourse derived from other L2 modules to engage in a 'live' policy analysis of a prominent global issue related to GSD. You will be supported to select an appropriate current affairs issue relevant to the themes of the course, which you then track through media analysis and investigate through academic reading and any other available data. You will engage in analysis of policy frameworks relevant to a specific problem/challenge, media representation and how this changes over time, proposed solutions and how these are contested, and the role of different stakeholders seeking to promote change in relation to this particular issue. This module aims to:
10 credits
Develop your understanding of policy processes and 'real world' debates on sustainable development issues Build your skills in autonomous working and project management Develop your skills in critically analysing different sources of information Enhance your communication skills through a range of formats - Interventions: goals, policy and advocacy
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Development is sometimes conceptualised as a process, but is also associated with a range of concrete interventions by governments, international donors, NGOs and other actors, which are aimed at stimulating particular kinds of economic and societal change. This module will focus on the forms of intervention, policy and advocacy through which actors and institutions seek to generate change in relation to GSD. You will explore debates on the principles guiding development interventions, such as the role and value of foreign aid, the policy-making process at different scales, and the processes of organizing and advocacy to promote particular agendas and realise goals relevant to GSD. This will include a focus on the process of setting global targets such as the SDGs and implementing these nationally and locally, and will introduce you to the range of key global institutions in GSD associated with different kinds of development and sustainability interventions. The module aims to introduce you to a range of key development actors involved in designing and implementing development interventions, engage you in analysis and reflection of different strategies and approaches to engineering change in a global sustainable development context. It will also help you to understand different policy-making processes at local, national and global scales, including the setting of global goals for development; and foster your self-reflexivity in relation to global sustainable development.
20 credits
Example optional modules:
- International Economics
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This module addresses fundamental questions in International Economics, with a particular focus on the phenomenon known as 'global imbalances'. Many countries, including the world's largest economies, have been accumulating increasingly large external debt positions or external asset positions over the last few decades. This phenomenon has important consequences for the stability of the international economy and is often a concern for policy makers. This module will introduce you to modern, microfounded tools required to understand these imbalances, based on the latest economic research.
20 credits - Culture, Space and Difference
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This research-led module introduces students to the cutting edge of Social and Cultural Geography and dovetails with the Sheffield Geography Department's Culture, Space and Difference research group. The module illustrates the diversity and vitality of contemporary social and cultural geography including some of the philosophical concepts and theoretical debates that have shaped the subject. The module aims to deepen and enrich the ways in which students are able to think about geographical issues, through a critical understanding of concepts and approaches that underpin the substance and methods of contemporary human geography. The module team work with students to develop their own 'photo essays' - which bring the ideas of the module to students' experiences from everyday life.
20 credits - Territory, Power and Policy
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The module introduces you to contemporary debates within political geography. You will develop a detailed understanding of political processes at a variety of spatial scales, from the international, national to the local, from collective politics to individual political behaviour. You will explore questions of power, efficacy and conflict with an emphasis on the spatial and place-specific aspects of politics in relation to issues including: geopolitics and international relations; the state and territoriality; the politics of nationalism and citizenship; civic activism; and individual political participation.
20 credits - Who Gets What? Social Justice and the Environment
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Environmental issues continue to be a key area of contemporary public concern and current political debate. They raise fundamental questions about the relationship between society and environment, and the politics and equity of that relationship. This module provides a geographical introduction to these issues and debates with examples from a range of scales from the global to the local. It also considers the role of stakeholders and how they benefit or are disadvantaged by policy that seeks to address issues to do with the environment-society relationship. The module then develops these core ideas through inter-related sections covering debates focused on different empirical themes.
20 credits
Particular skills will be achieved including: policy analysis, ethical awareness, positive mindset, global awareness and self-awareness. - Ecological Processes, Design & Management
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This module introduces the principles and practice of landscape ecology and ecological design and their application in a variety of contexts. Key ecological concepts such as 'biodiversity' and 'ecosystems services' are introduced and the special nature of urban ecology and its relevance to the design of urban green spaces is explored. Through lectures and site visits the structure and functioning of key UK biotypes, their characteristics and application on the designed landscape are explained, and particular emphasis is placed on the creative application of these in order to deliver ecosystems services and biodiversity. Site based project work is used to allow students to develop their own ecologically inspired concepts and designs for multifunctional green infrastructure that benefits both people and wildlife and to demonstrate their ability to communicate their knowledge of ecological principles and design to different audiences.Knowledge and skills developed will build on modules taken at level 1.
20 credits - Landscape Planning for a Changing World
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This module explores the relationship between landscape,planning, policy and governance at different scales and in different contexts. This ranges from international decision-making frameworks down to individual sites in different contexts. Students will learn about the impact of policy and ideas on landscape and vice versa, and explore the role of landscape planning tools, techniques and methodologies within the wider planning framework. The module will examine how decisions about landscape are made and the effects they have from the strategic to the site scale.
20 credits - The Political Economy of Global Capitalism
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This module will begin by providing students with an account of the major theoretical traditions which seek to interpret and explain the global political economy. These are liberalism and interdependence theory; mercantilism, nationalism and hegemonic stability theory; and marxism, dependency and world systems theory. It then explores different aspects of the contemporary global political economy - finance, development, trade and production - and ends by reviewing the intellectual debate about the meaning of globalisation.
20 credits - Understanding 'Race' and Migration
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This module explores the meaning of 'race' and migration in various social and political contexts. It aims to develop an in-depth understanding of sociological theories of 'race', racism and migration through an exploration of the development of 'race' as an ideology, as a concept influenced by history and politics, and through its relevance in the contemporary context. The module examines how ideas about race and migration help to shape and determine social and political relations. It also explores the role of race and migration as major sources of social divisions and how racism operates in the reproduction of structural inequalities. These issues are explored through sociological theory, as well as policy and practice areas such as theories of racialised identities, immigration regimes, education and criminal justice.
20 credits - Dynamics of Social Change and Policy
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This unit adopts a 'sociological perspective on social policy' to provide a macro perspective on contemporary social and economic transformations in the UK and globally, with a particular emphasis on the challenges posed for social policy theory and practice, as well as the potential to imagine alternative social policy scenarios. Issues considered include: globalisation, neoliberalism, falling fertility and ageing societies, precarious labour markets and migration and mobility. The unit adopts a comparative and international / global perspective, variously emphasising not only the perspectives of International Organisations, but also the challenges faced by other types of welfare regimes.
20 credits - Social Problems: Policy and Practice
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This team taught unit adopts a 'sociological approach to social policy'. Drawing on current examples and comparative references, it explores social and ideological constructions of social problems and the role of the state and other agencies in responses to them. It explores key concepts and themes in social policy and practice such as inequality, justice and fairness; individual versus collective responsibility; and welfare versus social control. It focuses on major contemporary issues, including welfare and work; housing and homelessness; and community participation. The unit aims to equip students with the necessary critical perspective and skills to understand and explore social problems.
20 credits - Cities, Violence and Security
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Introduces students to key examples of violence, conflict and insecurity in urban contexts around the world. The course focuses on efforts to make better and safer places and seeks to develop student understanding of the political, economic and social drivers of human insecurity in urban settings. Examples of urban violence and crime, policing, forced evictions, domestic violence, terrorism, gangs and the rise of gated communities and other modes of design and control to produce securitised urban spaces are discussed and analysed in their effectiveness.
20 credits - City makers
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Drawing on cities from different contexts, this module provides an introduction to the administrative, economic and socio-political contexts in which city making takes place, as well as the role that different groups and interests play in mediating and affecting urban transformation. In doing so, the module will explore questions around the agency of built environment professionals and how the relationships between stakeholders, development projects, finance, activists, and trade-offs in agendas impact the ability of planners and other built environment professionals to pursue the public interest.
20 credits - Tackling the World's Wicked Problems: theoretical tools and applications
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Rising poverty and inequality within and between states, increased droughts, flooding and environmental degradation, armed civil conflicts and war, infectious diseases, gender based violence, institutionalized racism, food insecurity are just some of the pressing problems that the world faces today.
20 credits
What solutions are there?
What sources of knowledge can we draw on to develop ways forward to tackle such problems?
This module will present students with a variety of theoretical perspectives and tools, such as Postcolonialism, and Green Theory, that seek to address the various ‘wicked problems’. Students will be tasked with critically evaluating different International Relations theories and their applications, assessing their utility and ability to practically solve the most pressing problems in world politics.
Global problems arguably require global solutions, and therefore global sources of knowledge. This module will also introduce students to ‘non-Western’ perspectives such as ‘Chinese IR’ and Ubuntu, in the process getting students to examine their ‘problem-solving’ capacities. - Oppression and Resistance
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This module considers oppression and resistance from a variety of perspectives. Although the Enlightenment sought to liberate individuals from social/political domination, it failed to address many forms of oppression at home and was bound to European projects of colonialism. Addressing these forms of violence has been the major project of post-Enlightenment thought and global social movements. This module gives students the historical, theoretical and empirical tools to understand modern oppression and resistance. It explores: the legacy of the Enlightenment, feminism, sexuality, racism, post-colonial and decolonial thought, intersectionality, and social movement case studies such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo.
20 credits
You'll be able to apply to spend a year either working in industry or studying abroad at an accredited institution outside of the UK.
In your final year, you'll learn more about global sustainable development on the ground and in practice.
You'll develop your professional skills and also undertake independent research for a dissertation on a specialist topic of your choice, and further tailor your degree through a range of relevant optional modules.
Core modules:
- Global Sustainable Development on the Ground
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During this module you will gain substantive knowledge and critical understanding of researching global sustainable development through fieldclass-based hands-on research activities. Working collaboratively with external partners and with intensive support and guidance from academic staff you will develop skills in research design and implementation, while exploring the everyday realities and ethics of global sustainable development policies and practices. Addressing questions relating to areas such as social and environmental justice, environmental protection, poverty and power you will gain an understanding of the intersections of local and global sustainable development approaches, with particular attention to local, grass-roots perspectives.
20 credits
This module aims to:
Provide you with substantive knowledge, understanding and skills in researching global sustainable development Enhance your transferable, research, communication and employability skills through in-depth, high-quality field research practice Provide you with a structured and supported experience in addressing the ethical complexities of global sustainable development as a field of research and practice. - Dissertation for Global Sustainable Development
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During this module you will prepare and carry out your own research project on a topic relating to global sustainable development. Under the supervision of a staff member, you will produce a research report in the style and length of an academic journal article. This work will be based upon your own primary data collection and/or analysis of existing secondary datasets.
40 credits
- Professional practice for global sustainable development
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To effectively work towards the realisation of global sustainable development, it is vital to have a key toolkit of professional skills. This module provides key training in a variety of employability-related skills that will equip you to work in various sectors including the public, policy, private and charitable realms. Through the module you will develop specific professional skills, as well as the ability to reflect upon and develop your own skills and practice, and apply analytical tools and critical thinking skills to a professional practice scenario.
20 credits
This module aims to equip you with the knowledge and skills required to work in a range of professional settings linked to global sustainable development. Develop your skills and competencies with regards to both employability and self-reflection and self-development. Develop your critical awareness of professional practice in relation to global sustainable development, including ethical challenges and develop your skills in responding to and delivering on common professional demands, such as competitive tenders and/or consultancies
Example optional modules:
- Economics of Race and Gender
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The Economics of Race and Gender first presents an overview of differential outcomes by gender and ethnicity in the UK labour market and discusses the possible drivers of these differences. It then presents economic theories of discrimination in labour markets before discussing the strategies that economists use to test for discrimination in the real world. The module ends with a discussion of the interplay between economics and psychology as a means to better understand when and why discrimination occurs.
20 credits - Economic Analysis of Inequality and Poverty
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This module will cover the economic theories used for the analysis of inequality and poverty.
20 credits
The theories will be backed by evidence from both the developed and the developing countries. The module starts off by a discussion of issues around measurement of inequality and poverty; the different measures that are used and the inherent assumptions behind these measures. We then move on to explain the existing global trends in inequality and poverty. Different theories are used to explain these trends; for example: role of human capital, poverty traps etc. Finally we discuss the policy response of different countries to address the issues of inequality and poverty, drawing on the specific examples of welfare programmes in the developed countries and the conditional cash transfers in the developing countries. - International Trade
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The first part of the course will cover neoclassical trade theories in which countries trade following their comparative advantage. The second part of the course deals with more recent trade theories based on economies of scale and/or imperfect competition that helps us to explain some recent patterns observed in the data. The third part of the course is an introduction to trade policy and the political economy of trade policy.
20 credits - Decolonising Geographies
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This module examines Indigenous geographies through Indigenous storytelling and film as a way to understand the need to decolonise geography. It examines how race, racism, Indigenous rights, settler colonialism, settler responsibility, white supremacy, land rights, dispossession and genocide shape geographies of place, space and landscape, as well as more affirmative visions of Indigenous futures. Topics covered include geographies of identity, emotions, memory, racism, colonialism, gender, landscape, and visual representation. The aim of this module is to centre Indigenous narratives, voices and knowledge to understand geography differently while simultaneously critiquing the current whiteness of academic geographical discourse. Trigger warning - this module engages with potentially distressing and challenging themes of rape, murder, abuse, loss and violence.
20 credits - Democracy and Citizenship: Dilemmas and Tensions
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This module explores how a geographical approach helps us to analyse issues such as controversial election results, divisive immigration policies, and contentious social activism. The two key concepts of democracy and citizenship are used to engage with contemporary debates and theories to draw out the links between geography, policy and society, and the ways in which these are shaped and responded to by citizens, communities, civil society, and political parties. The module emphasises the critical appraisal and interpretation of a variety of perspectives - including our own. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which these interactions are played out across and through multiple scales, from the global to our everyday lives.
20 credits - Landscape Planning - Urban Regeneration
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This module addresses the patterns and processes of urban development, examining theories and typologies of urban form, the drivers of urban change and urban regeneration. It investigates the relationship between urban form and urban greenspace and the implications for green infrastructure. Students are expected to research and present understanding of a core component of relevant literature, and relate this to examples of urban form, and to devise a masterplan for a previously developed site in Sheffield, drawing on their understanding of history and theory of urban development and using precedent to inform their approach. The course uses a mixture of lectures, field work, workshops and studio based independent study to provide insight into planning and design approaches and languages relevant to successful urban regeneration. It aims to give students knowledge and understanding of the complex planning and design frameworks within which different aspects of urban regeneration take place.
20 credits - Green Infrastructure and Ecological Masterplanning
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This module aims, through a site-based project, to apply the principles of ecological design and sustainable landscape management to a medium-large unit of urban greenspace. The integration of scientific ecological knowledge with creative design skills is central to the module. Emphasis is placed on enhancing biodiversity and developing appropriate vegetation types, while at the same time catering for the needs of site users. The importance of urban green networks and green links is stressed. Emphasis is placed on the use of locally appropriate species and habitats. The module will introduce students to knowledge and techniques applicable to specified topics within landscape ecology, ecological design, and ecological landscape management and enable students to undertake independent research into specified topics and apply their findings to tightly defined design or management scenarios. Specific focus is given to environmental engineering topics such as green roofs and water sensitive design, and their relationship with urban biodiversity
20 credits - Terrorism, Violence and the State
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This module aims to provide students with an understanding of the nature and legitimacy of forms of protest against the modern state. In particular the module focuses on issues of contemporary terrorism. However, in order to understand the nature and motivations of terrorism it is necessary to understand the nature of the modern state and other, non-violent forms of protest such as civil disobedience.
20 credits - War, Peace and Justice
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This module provides a practical and theoretical overview of contemporary war, peace and justice. It explores key conversations, issues and conceptual responses relating to: the challenges and ethics of researching war; the construction of ethics and notions of justice in war and peace; the politics of technology in contemporary warfare; the politics of peace, resistance and pacifism; the politics of war, memory and commemoration; embodied and emotional registers of war; and the politics of death and grievability. Students will explore the practice, experience, representation and cultural imaginary of war in the 21st century and consider implications for peace and justice.
20 credits - Pandemics and Panics: Health, Security and Global Politics
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In today's globalized world, infectious diseases and other health issues have increasingly come to be seen as security threats - a shift that has challenged traditional notions of what 'Security Studies' is all about. This module seeks to provide an understanding of the contemporary politics of health and security, identifying the health issues which have been seen as security threats and the major policy responses to them. The module locates health and disease within the key approaches to Security Studies (including state-centric and human security approaches), and requires students to critically engage with the politics and ethics of securitizing health.
20 credits - Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict
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This module will address when, why, and how widespread sexual violence occurs in armed conflicts. The module will
20 credits
(1) examine how academics and international actors understand and research what sexual violence is and why it occurs in certain conflicts;
(2) assess the international efforts to prosecute and prevent sexual violence in armed conflict; and
(3) undertake in-depth case study analysis to assess the various long-term consequences of sexual violence in armed conflict for individuals, communities, and processes of reconciliation.
Resultantly the module will assess what can be done to address this security issue and its numerous violent consequences.
- Corporations in Global Politics: Possibilities, Tensions, and Ambiguities
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Corporations are ubiquitous, affecting everything from mundane individual consumption choices, to the investment decisions of both weak and powerful states. Importantly, their authority extends beyond the economic sphere and into political, as they shape and execute policies and activities for some of the world's most pressing problems. This module explores the multifaceted political roles of corporations, and challenges students to critically reflect on their implications. Drawing upon international relations, political economy, and global governance literatures, it analyses the corporation theoretically, but also empirically drawing upon diverse case studies ranging from environmental sustainability and development, to war-making and peacekeeping.
20 credits - Water, Climate, Energy
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This module explores the place of water, climate and energy in global politics. Human-induced global climate change is one of the central challenges - perhaps the single greatest challenge - of our age. It is a consequence, above all, of our insatiable appetite for fossil fuel energy resources. And many of its most serious consequences are projected to relate to water, from increased floods and droughts to rising seas. Moreover, water, climate and energy issues are deeply political, in both their causes, and their current and anticipated future consequences. Adopting a political ecology approach, this module introduces and investigates this politics.
20 credits - Peacekeeping, State-building and International Intervention
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This module looks at the way international intervention has changed in recent years. It draws on a number of different areas - humanitarian intervention, peacekeeping, development and state-building. It draws these areas together by exploring what they have in common and how there has been a shift in the way that international intervention deals with these issues. In particular, the international community has moved from direct involvement towards a form of governance that operates from a distance by encouraging local ownership, capacity building and resilience.
20 credits - Practical Politics: How to Make Policy and Influence People
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This course will provide a practical, hands on account of how policy is formulated, implemented and why it sometimes doesn't work. Focussing on environmental politics, the course draws on the experiences of policy experts including civil servants, lobbyists and politicians. It will an assessment that mirrors tasks routinely undertaken by those within or seeking to influence government.
20 credits - Whiteness, Power and Privilege
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This unit explores the importance of studying whiteness in order to understand racism as a system of power relationships. It explains why the construction of whiteness has become a key focus in debates about race and ethnicity and examines critically some of the key themes to emerge in this field of study. This includes exploring the historical origins of 'white studies' and assessing representations of whiteness in literary and visual culture. It also includes exploring the racialised, classed and gendered boundaries of whiteness by examining, for example, the socially and politically constructed categories of 'white trash' and the 'chav'.
20 credits - Protest, Movements and Social Change
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The unit is an introduction to the study of the ways in which protest and social movements drive social change. The unit will take an historical overview, tracing the development of theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of social movements, matched with historical and contemporary case studies of movements from around the world. By focusing on what function movements play in society, as well as how they have been studied, students will be equipped with the tools to both analyse movements, and engage with sociological debates surrounding larger questions of inequality, identity, democracy and social justice.
20 credits - Perspectives on inequalities
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This module is co-taught with local agency, community and family members. It asks students to think about the everyday experiences of inequality. It explores some of the core theoretical frameworks for interrogating inequality, and then explores everyday reality to apply the theories and concepts. The involvement of practitioners, community members and families means that the module is interactive and requires full attendance, in order to ensure a respectful experience for external contributors.
20 credits
The content of our courses is reviewed annually to make sure it's up-to-date and relevant. Individual modules are occasionally updated or withdrawn. This is in response to discoveries through our world-leading research; funding changes; professional accreditation requirements; student or employer feedback; outcomes of reviews; and variations in staff or student numbers. In the event of any change we'll consult and inform students in good time and take reasonable steps to minimise disruption.
Learning and assessment
Learning
You'll learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, practice-based and fieldwork activities.
Practice-based and fieldwork activities
This course contains a mixture of practice-based and fieldwork activities, which are designed to support engagement between theoretical and conceptual ideas, complex global and local sustainable development challenges, and interdisciplinary strategies in policy, programming, planning, and practice.
Each year contains a dedicated module which engages with research and practice:
- year one: engaging with questions of ‘Sustainability in Practice’, you'll design and conduct a project in your local environment (the University of Sheffield and/or city)
- year two: undertaking a ‘Live Policy Analysis’, you'll be supported to engage with current global policy challenges, responses, and outcomes
- year three: as part of the ‘Global Sustainable Development on the Ground’ residential fieldwork experience you'll collaborate with external partners to support ongoing project activities linked with key issues in global sustainable development.
You'll also build skills in research methods, ethics and interdisciplinary teamwork through additional modules.
Assessment
You will be assessed through a combination of coursework and exams. The proportions of these will vary depending on the modules you choose.
Coursework may include essays and reports, policy briefs, stakeholder analysis, and science communication activities such as podcasts, blogs and vlogs.
Our diverse range of assessments ensures that you develop transferable skills and attributes that are prized by employers. As a graduate you will be able to confidently and creatively interpret, present and communicate complex information to a variety of audiences.
Programme specification
This tells you the aims and learning outcomes of this course and how these will be achieved and assessed.
Entry requirements
With Access Sheffield, you could qualify for additional consideration or an alternative offer - find out if you're eligible.
The A Level entry requirements for this course are:
AAB
- A Levels + a fourth Level 3 qualification
- ABB + B in the EPQ; ABB + B in Core Maths
- International Baccalaureate
- 34
- BTEC Extended Diploma
- DDD in a relevant subject
- BTEC Diploma
- DD + A at A Level
- Scottish Highers
- AAAAB
- Welsh Baccalaureate + 2 A Levels
- B + AA
- Access to HE Diploma
- Award of Access to HE Diploma in a Social Science or Arts and Humanities subject, with 45 credits at Level 3, including 36 at Distinction and 9 at Merit
-
GCSE Maths grade 4/C
The A Level entry requirements for this course are:
ABB
- A Levels + a fourth Level 3 qualification
- ABB + B in the EPQ; ABB + B in Core Maths
- International Baccalaureate
- 33
- BTEC Extended Diploma
- DDD in a relevant subject
- BTEC Diploma
- DD + B at A Level
- Scottish Highers
- AAABB
- Welsh Baccalaureate + 2 A Levels
- B + AB
- Access to HE Diploma
- Award of Access to HE Diploma in a Social Science or Arts and Humanities subject, with 45 credits at Level 3, including 30 at Distinction and 15 at Merit
-
GCSE Maths grade 4/C
You must demonstrate that your English is good enough for you to successfully complete your course. For this course, we require: GCSE English Language at grade 4/C; IELTS grade of 6.5 with a minimum of 6.0 in each component; or an alternative acceptable English language qualification
Equivalent English language qualifications
Visa and immigration requirements
Other qualifications | UK and EU/international
If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the school/department.
Graduate careers
Our courses will develop your ability to analyse global problems from a range of perspectives and at different scales.
Our graduates progress to careers in a variety of sectors. These include public sector roles in local government and the civil service, roles as surveyors and environmental consultants in private sector companies, research and teaching roles in the education sector and management roles in NGOs and international development organisations.
School of Geography and Planning
The Guardian University Guide 2024
The School of Geography and Planning at the University of Sheffield is a world leader in teaching and research. We're ranked within the top 100 universities in the world for geography, according to the QS Rankings 2024 and top 10 in the UK for geography by the Guardian University Guide 2024.
We are experts in the fields of social justice and environmental change. We explore our dynamic, diverse world to address humanity’s greatest problems, from food waste to melting ice sheets. Our innovative research and practice-based learning will equip you with distinct, relevant professional skills.
Our high staff-to-student ratio ensures that you receive excellent quality teaching and a high level of pastoral support throughout your studies.
Our BA Global Sustainable Development is a truly interdisciplinary course. It is led by the School of Geography and Planning but incorporates modules and expertise from:
- the Department of Politics and International Relations
- the School of Architecture and Landscape
- the Department of Sociological Studies
The School of Geography and Planning is housed in an award-winning, purpose-built building on the edge of the beautiful Weston Park, close to the Students' Union and central libraries and lecture theatres.
Facilities
We have a well-equipped computer teaching laboratory, postgraduate and undergraduate physical geography laboratories, and image processing facilities which provide an important component for teaching and research in remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS).
School of Geography and PlanningUniversity rankings
Number one in the Russell Group
National Student Survey 2024 (based on aggregate responses)
92 per cent of our research is rated as world-leading or internationally excellent
Research Excellence Framework 2021
University of the Year and best for Student Life
Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2024
Number one Students' Union in the UK
Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2024, 2023, 2022, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017
Number one for Students' Union
StudentCrowd 2024 University Awards
A top 20 university targeted by employers
The Graduate Market in 2023, High Fliers report
A top-100 university: 12th in the UK and 98th in the world
Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025
Student profiles
Fees and funding
Fees
Additional costs
The annual fee for your course includes a number of items in addition to your tuition. If an item or activity is classed as a compulsory element for your course, it will normally be included in your tuition fee. There are also other costs which you may need to consider.
Funding your study
Depending on your circumstances, you may qualify for a bursary, scholarship or loan to help fund your study and enhance your learning experience.
Use our Student Funding Calculator to work out what you’re eligible for.
Placements and study abroad
Placement
Study abroad
Visit
University open days
We host five open days each year, usually in June, July, September, October and November. You can talk to staff and students, tour the campus and see inside the accommodation.
Subject tasters
If you’re considering your post-16 options, our interactive subject tasters are for you. There are a wide range of subjects to choose from and you can attend sessions online or on campus.
Offer holder days
If you've received an offer to study with us, we'll invite you to one of our offer holder days, which take place between February and April. These open days have a strong school focus and give you the chance to really explore student life here, even if you've visited us before.
Campus tours
Our weekly guided tours show you what Sheffield has to offer - both on campus and beyond. You can extend your visit with tours of our city, accommodation or sport facilities.
Apply
Contact us
- Telephone
- +44 114 222 7900
- geography@sheffield.ac.uk
The awarding body for this course is the University of Sheffield.
Recognition of professional qualifications: from 1 January 2021, in order to have any UK professional qualifications recognised for work in an EU country across a number of regulated and other professions you need to apply to the host country for recognition. Read information from the UK government and the EU Regulated Professions Database.
Any supervisors and research areas listed are indicative and may change before the start of the course.