Environment and Development

Are you ready to explore some of the world's most pressing challenges?

Understand the link between the environment, development agendas, and justice issues for today and the future.

Our MSc Environment and Development enables you to critically evaluate the inter-relationships between development and the environment, with an abiding concern for social and environmental justice.

What will I learn?

You will learn about issues that are inherently transboundary, multi-generational and multi-faceted. Our approach to understanding these issues will centre on questions of justice and inequalities.

Attempts to understand and address interconnected issues such as climate justice, gender and social equity, and biodiversity conservation, must pay close attention to their contested, political and ideological nature and how they differ across places and scales.

That is why our MSc foregrounds society and nature as inherently linked, historical contexts as highly relevant to current debates, and global capitalism as an underlying force of change. It will consider the increasingly diverse set of actors, practices and processes driving environment and development issues, and question the power of these to direct agendas and actions.

The MSc has relevance in both the 'Global South' and 'Global North', drawing attention to relationships of inequality and marginalisation as they occur for particular environments and sections of society worldwide.

It will provide you with a unique critical perspective as it draws on expertise from across the University, especially from development geography, social and political sciences, and environmental studies.

You will explore societal and environmental issues through different theoretical and conceptual lenses, examining the interplay of sociocultural perspectives, economics and governance, development debates and ecological dynamics.

There is much diversity in what you can study and conduct research on. Our flexibility enables you to develop your interests at an advanced level in an area you are most passionate about. We will challenge you to cultivate reflective critical thinking that is cross-cutting and globally relevant.

Is the MSc for me?

The MSc provides a strong basis for engaged citizenship in the world, enabling you to contribute to world debates and actions for reducing inequalities and working towards social and environmental justice and more sustainable practices.

The MSc Environment and Development will suit a range of students, including those with practical experience in the broad field of environment and development, either as practitioners, volunteers or activists.

It is suitable for students from various undergraduate disciplines, from the environmental and natural sciences to the social and political sciences and humanities.

We are fortunate to attract a wide range of students from around the globe, and we celebrate that diversity and the opportunities for learning that it brings.

When to apply

Due to high demand for this programme, we operate a series of early application deadlines.

We strongly recommend you apply as early as possible.

For dates and details, please refer to Application Deadlines and How to apply on our website.

You should also avoid applying to more than one degree. Applicants who can demonstrate their understanding and commitment to a specific programme are preferred.

If you plan to apply to more than one programme, you should discuss your choices with us before you submit your application. Where possible, we may make an alternative programme offer if you have been unsuccessful in your chosen programme.