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Overview

This course is aimed at people who want to pursue a career in environmental science and management. It is normally taken as a full-time twelve-month Masters degree. We also offer a Diploma and a Postgraduate Certificate, as described in Content and Structure.

This course provides a firm grounding, through its core modules, in the fundamental principles of environmental science and their application to environmental management. It prepares students for jobs in environmental consultancy and business, in government and non-governmental organisations, and in environmental research, either in the UK or overseas. A wide choice of optional modules allows students to structure their degrees according to their own specific interests in environmental science, ecology and conservation, and environmental policy and economics. Through its emphasis on research, environmental assessment methods, and the application of critical thinking to specific case studies, the course equips students to analyse and tackle the complex, multi-faceted problems that characterise environmental science and management.

The approach to both teaching and research within the Environment Department emphasises the value of multi-disciplinary approaches to address policy-related problems. This is strengthened through close links with its two associated research institutions:  FERA and the Stockholm Environment Institute. The course benefits from input from staff from these institutions in the form of case-study based teaching and supervision of dissertation projects.

Content

All Environment degree programmes have a 'modular' structure, where each module comprises a 10 credit unit or multiple of this. A 10 credit module is equivalent to 100 hours of work, typically comprising 20-25 contact hours with staff, and 75-80 hours of private-study, for a lecture-based module. Modules involving field and laboratory classes may have greater proportions of contact time.

Students must accumulate 180 credits for the MSc in Environmental Science and Management; this comprises 120 credits from taught modules and 60 credits for a dissertation – an independent study module. Of the taught modules, 80 credits form the compulsory core of the degree programme; the remaining 40 credits are optional modules chosen by students. During the first two weeks of term, students can attend more optional modules than is required in order to help them decide which ones they want to select.

For the Diploma in Environmental Science and Management, students must accumulate 120 credits from taught modules only; there is no requirement to undertake an independent study module. For the Postgraduate Certificate in Environmental Science and Management, students must accumulate 60 credits from a compulsory set of core modules (see structure).

Structure

Environment module

Compulsory/
Optional

 Autumn Spring Summer
MSc ESM Dissertation C     60
Climate change: science C 10

 
Environmental contaminants* C 15 15  
Environmental science and management group case study C 10 10 
Research methods in environmental science and management* C 5 5
Tools for environmental assessment* C 10    
Agriculture and environment O 10  
Biodiversity and conservation biology O 10  
Climate change and carbon management O 10
Current issues in atmospheric science O 10  
Environment and health O 10
Environmental law and policy O 10
Ocean and coastal processes O 10  
Protected areas: design implementation and management O   10  
Spatial analysis O 10  
Wildlife management O   10  

* indicates compulsory module for Postgraduate Certificate

Teaching staff

For 2011-12, the course leader will be Prof. Mike Ashmore. Mike was appointed to a chair in Environment in October 2004. His research is primarily related to air pollution and its environmental and health impacts. He has worked with a range of national and international agencies, and has contributed widely to the use of environmental science in air quality management. He also leads the regional OPAL project, which aims to increase people’s involvement in, and understanding of, their local environment. His research work is divided between the Environment Department and the Stockholm Environment Institute, for whom he works 20% of his time.

Mike will be assisted in running the course by Dr. Sylvia Toet, who has recently been appointed as a Lecturer in the Department. Sylvia is a systems ecologist interested in carbon, nutrient and pollutant exchange between ecosystem compartments to tackle environmental issues associated with pollution and global change. She uses an experimental approach to unravel the importance and drivers of ecosystem processes, particularly those involving gaseous compounds, using stable isotopes. She joined the Department in 2004 and her research currently focuses on responses of methane and carbon dioxide fluxes to elevated ozone concentrations in peatlands and grasslands.

In addition to Mike and Sylvia, the Departmental staff listed below contribute to the course. We expect to appoint a new Lecturer in Environmental Chemistry and Health during the summer who will also contribute to the course.