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Environment and Development at The University of Edinburgh - UCAS

Course options

2024 - 2025
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There are other course options available which may have a different vacancy status or entry requirements – view the full list of options

Open days

22May
The University of Edinburgh - Postgraduate Online Learning Open Days
Postgraduate

Course summary

Are you ready to explore some of the world's most pressing challenges? Understand the link between the environment, development agendas, and global inequalities for today and the future. Our MSc Environment and Development enables you to critically evaluate the multiple dimensions of the inter-relationship between development and the environment, with an abiding concern for social and environmental justice. What will I learn? Our teaching approach encourages you to reflect upon your role as both researchers and professionals in transformations towards social and environmental justice, considering the ethics of engagement in an unequal world. 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. Some issues you may explore:

  • gender and social equality
  • environmental justice
  • international development and justice
  • critical sustainability
  • climate justice
  • diminishing natural resources
  • biodiversity conservation
  • disaster vulnerability and adaptation
You can explore other environmental issues through optional courses and your dissertation. Attempts to understand and address these interconnected issues 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. Reputation, relevance and employability You will be taught by world-leading researchers and experienced practitioners working in environment and development fields in various sectors from non-government organisations (NGOs), consultancies, or state organisations. Guest speakers and teaching staff will provide insights into real-world applications. We will challenge you to cultivate reflective critical thinking that is cross-cutting and globally relevant. Is the MSc for me? The MSc Environment 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. 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. 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.

Modules

See our website for detailed programme information.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for individual programmes vary, so please check the details for the specific programme you wish to apply for on our website. You will also need to meet the University’s language requirements.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

No fee information has been provided for this course

Additional fee information

Tuition fees vary between degree programmes. Find the specific fees for your chosen programme on our website.
Environment and Development at The University of Edinburgh - UCAS