Overview

The MRes Sustainability Research is designed to provide training appropriate to research careers in rapidly changing academic departments, businesses, and national or international institutions. Primarily, by enabling students to produce a substantial piece of independent research, this degree provides a wide-ranging and systematic training in research skills, a deeper understanding of sustainability research and, by providing very useful management skills, gives students the ability to define, plan and complete research projects. Thus, this programme provides students with skills and competences necessary for acceptance as professionally trained researchers in a range of subject areas relating to sustainability.

Excellent Career Prospects

Students graduating from the MRes Sustainability have recently gone on to undertake PhD study, work in environmental consultancy, and follow careers within business, government and the NGO sector.

Other Courses of Interest

• MSc Sustainability (Business, Environment and Corporate Responsibility)
• MSc Sustainability (Environmental Consultancy and Project Management)
• MSc Sustainability (Environment & Development)
• MSc Sustainability (Ecological Economics)
• MSc Sustainability (Environmental Politics & Policy)
• MSc Sustainability (Transport)
• MSc Sustainability (Climate Change)

Entry Requirements

Candidates should have an upper second class degree (2.1) or above in a relevant discipline across the social or natural sciences. Equivalent international qualifications are also acceptable.

Mature applicants without a first degree or with a lower degree classification may be considered on the basis of their relevant industry experience and their potential for benefiting from the programme.

Applicants whose first language is not English, or whose degree is not from a UK institution, will need to satisfy language requirements determined by the School. Please click here for more information.

Not sure if your International/European degree meets our requirements? Find out more information here.

Fees & Funding

For Programme fee information visit our fees page.

There are twelve SEE Excellence Scholarships available (various awards for International/Home and EU), for full information visit the School's Scholarships page .

Postgraduate Scholarships at Leeds

Visit the University of Leeds Scholarship Web Page: http://scholarships.leeds.ac.uk/

Other Funding Sources

Students in the past have secured funding through a career development loan, for details visit the UK Government Website

Cost of Living in Leeds - Useful Links

Cost of living in Leeds - Leeds University Union guidance

Unipol Student Homes - Unipol Housing Leeds provides student accommodation directly to around 2,000 students including 194 student families in self-catering provision. Information on accommodation costs and 'find a home' events can be found via this website.

Course Structure

Students study core modules in Environment Research Philosophy and Design, and Quantitative and Qualitative Methods. They are also required to specialise in one of the following five areas:

1. Business, Environment and Corporate Responsibility – This focuses on the intersection of business activities and environmental systems, providing students with the ability to evaluate environmental programmes within or for business organisations.
2. Climate Change - This provides students with a solid foundation in the physical science of climate change, climate change impacts, adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, as well as situating climate change within broader debates on sustainability.
3. Environment and Development - This focuses on theoretical and practical issues relating to the goal of sustainable development at a range of scales from the local to the global.
4. Ecological Economics - This focuses on socio-economic approaches and tools for assessing the consequences of current production, lifestyle and policy choices, and of sustainable alternatives.
5. Environmental Politics and Policy - This provides a critical understanding of the political structures and processes that generate decisions on environmental policy at scales from the global to the local.

An independent research project on a topic selected by the student comprises the remaining 50% of course.

Full details of the programme structure and the content of the modules are given in the University programme catalogue.

Course Leaders

The course is taught by staff from the Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) within the School of Earth and Environment and is managed by Professor John Barrett.

Dissertations will be supervised by appropriate members of staff according to topic