MSc Environmental Management

Compulsory modules

Environmental and Waste Management

Examine how environmental and waste management are applied in professional settings and understand motivations for businesses and organisations. You’ll study environmental impact assessments and explore systems for minimizing environmental issues.

Ecosystem Services & Nature-based Solutions

Discover the role of ecosystem services, their consumption, management, and conservation, and explore nature-based solutions. Our researchers will share cutting edge information and knowledge and introduce you to case studies on the topic.

Skills for Independent Learning and Research

Familiarise yourself with the academic standards and integrity expected at postgraduate level. Gain skills and intellectual abilities to prepare yourself for the research project and for future career pathways.

Field Class

Gain hands-on experience in monitoring and assessing environmental issues in a real-world setting with a weeklong field class in a UK national park. You’ll learn how to identify, document, and evaluate the impact of human activities on the environment through essential field research techniques.

Research Project

Acquire the skills needed to devise, carry out and report a natural/social science-based project.

Optional modules

Quantitative Analysis of Environmental Data

Explore commonly used statistical and graphical techniques for environmental data analysis. Acquire the skills to interpret and apply outputs from both classic and modern statistical methods using Minitab, along with freely-available remote-sensing toolboxes.

Concepts and Practices of Communication 

Discover and analyse how social and technological change in development contexts is influenced by communication processes, and explore the theories of communication for development, as well as how to design and implement communication strategies and interventions. You'll learn how to critically assess communication channels and approaches, while honing your ability to use communication effectively in development practice.

Soil Ecology Environment and Sustainability

Explore the diversity of organisms living in soil, their adaptations to the soil habitat and their impact on the wider environment, with an emphasis on the role of soil (micro)organisms in global cycling of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, and their benefits on environmental sustainability. Through the associated laboratory work, you'll also gain practical experience of isolating, culturing and observation of soil organisms, and methods for measuring biologically-mediated biochemical processes. 

Environmental Consultancy

Collaborate within a team to execute a real environmental consultancy project and present findings to a panel of regulators and industry practitioners. You’ll gain valuable experience for your portfolio, showcasing competencies to future employers.

Environmental Pollution 

Acquire insights into the sources, transport, and toxicity of key environmental contaminants. You’ll learn to assess the impact of contaminants and interpret environmental data using contemporary methods. 

Preparing for Floods

Explore key aspects of flood preparedness, spanning local to global scales, and encompassing flood forecasting, warning systems, response strategies, incident management, and community resilience building. You’ll also attend interactive seminars and visit the operational centre of the Global Flood Awareness System.

Air Pollution: Effects and Control

Explore human-induced air pollution and the controversies on its effects and control measures. You’ll also gain an understanding of the science-politics interface in decision-making about air quality.

Climate Change

Examine the nature of climate change, its impacts, and methods of adaptation with respect to various parts of the world and different environments and communities.

Resource and Environmental Economics

Gain an understanding of resource and environmental economics, and learn how to apply economic principles to real world problems at the intersection of people, the economy, and the natural environment.

These are the modules that we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods. 

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.