The application of scientific knowledge, policy and engineering to solve environmental problems and address sustainability.

This single-year course is the longest running and most successful MSc programme in the field.  Our alumni and current students maintain strong links through a mentoring network with unparalleled reach and our students go on to influential positions driving sustainability throughout the world. 

During the course our students acquire a diverse range of discipline-specific problem-solving frameworks for tackling contemporary environmental issues. A major emphasis of the course is on the way that human society and natural environments function and on the compatible tools, alternative technologies and policies for sustainable environmental management. MSc Candidates also learn to appreciate that successful projects depend, at least in part, on belonging to a network of experts aiming to advance personal and collective environmental goals. We emphasise a friendly and supportive learning environment.

The first term is taught across specialisations and consists of core elements that underpin effective understanding of sustainability issues. This term provides exposure to, and a strong understanding of, critical elements in the natural and human worlds such as environmental law, policy, economics, biodiversity and climate change.  In this we combine the natural and social sciences in a truly interdisciplinary manner, providing a foundation for graduates to demonstrate their ability to identify and resolve environmental and sustainability issues in a holistic way.

The specialist options in the second term are designed to cater for a variety of individual interests and career requirements. These options form the basis of our application system and during this second term you will work in groups of 20-25 students and in smaller groups within this to grow the expert knowledge and collaborate on real-world problems.

In addition to the interdisciplinary course modules, we help students to create strong links with industry, business and regulators, delivering invaluable interaction between scientific/technological training and industrial experience. This can come through the external experts who present throughout the taught terms or through collaborative supervision of the final term's research projects. These projects address human, technical and environmental challenges and many contribute to the evidence base for future action.