Course summary

Green criminology is an expanding area of interest that speaks to contemporary concerns about sustainability, climate change, environmental justice, biodiversity, and nonhuman animal harm. The MRes in Green Criminology and Environmental Crime draws on Liverpool Hope University's significant research strength in green criminology, and offers an innovative programme for aspiring academic researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners with an interest in a subject at the cutting edge of contemporary criminology. As the first programme of its type in the UK, this unique course aims to give students a robust grounding in the study of green criminology, nonhuman animal victimology, and environmental justice. Across two taught modules and an original research dissertation you will engage with in-depth subject teaching in this area, as well as advanced quantitative and qualitative research skills, and the ethics and practicalities of conducting research on environmental crime. This will build towards the production of an original research dissertation that explores a contemporary issue in line with the course content. By providing you with a world-leading understanding of the core issues in this field, and the skills to produce high-quality original research, it will allow you to pursue careers in and around criminal justice and environmental policy or practice, advocacy, or to engage in advanced academic study via further postgraduate research qualifications. During the programme you will study Green Criminology and Environmental Crime (30 credits - compulsory) This module will critically explore key contemporary concepts and issues in the fields of green criminology and environmental crime. It will critically consider relevant theories and perspectives, such as ecological and species justice, to support analysis of the nature and drivers of environmental and nonhuman animal harms and possible responses to them. This exploration will be situated within local, national and international contexts and politics, including inequality and development, human rights, the animal industrial complex, consumerist societies, and the legacies of colonialism on indigenous communities and the Global South. Approaches and challenges relating to green criminology research will also be considered. Advanced Research Methods (30 credits - compulsory) This module will provide students with an overview of the advanced social research methods that provide the foundation for their dissertation research. It will cover a range of relevant topics and skills, including quantitative and qualitative research methods, research design, ethical issues in research, sources of data collection, and the use of specialist software. Extended dissertation (120 credits - compulsory) The extended dissertation offers students the opportunity to produce a longer piece of original research on a topic related to the core subject focus of the degree programme. This may draw on themes introduced in taught modules, or may alternatively speak to interests and/or topics from outside the core programme syllabus. Produced under the guidance and oversight of a member of academic staff through regular one-hour one-on-one supervisory meetings, the 30,000-word extended dissertation will involve the collection, analysis, and presentation of results from original primary and/or secondary research. In so doing it will provide a test of the student's knowledge and understanding of ethics, research practice, planning, and time-management.