This programme provides interdisciplinary training on issues where the need for economic development and environmental conservation meet. Specifically, it provides training in theoretical and practical issues relating to the ideal of sustainable development at a range of scales from the global to the local in a range of different contexts.

Sustainable development represents the ultimate goal in the application of environmental knowledge and provision of environmental policies and management practices for the 21st century and beyond. It demands integration of environmental, economic and social dimensions interacting on local, national and global scales. To better inform sustainable development interventions it is essential that genuinely interdisciplinary analysts are able to drive new agendas and integrated approaches into thinking, policies and action. This course offers a wide range of interdisciplinary training options to enable students to advance their academic and practical sustainability experience to place them at the forefront of such debates and future careers.

The programme brings together expertise from the Schools of Earth and Environment and Politics and International Studies, and from the practitioner community, to provide a breadth of perspectives.

Students on this programme have priority access onto the optional Environment-Development Overseas field course module.

Excellent Career Prospects

Students from this programme typically develop or continue careers in environment and/or development practice, policy, training or research. The course prepares students for work in both the public and private sectors, and within local, national and international institutions. Some students also proceed to PhD level study after this course.

There are many different potential employers. In government, for example, organisations like the United Nations, the OECD and the European Union are significant employers. In the UK, central government departments such as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and regulatory agencies such as the Environment Agency for England and Wales have important responsibilities relating to sustainability.

Environment and social responsibility are also major areas of activity for multi-national corporations such as BP or Anglo-American and for global brands such as Gap or Nike. Companies such as Yorkshire Water provide environmental services, and many others provide technologies in areas such as renewable energy or transport.

Public sector financial organisations such as the World Bank are increasingly integrating environmental considerations into their activities, as are a growing number of commercial banks, socially responsible investment firms and carbon trading companies.

Mainstream management consultancies such as Deloitte have sustainability divisions, and environmental protection is central for many of the 600 specialist environmental consultancies currently based in the UK.

Environmental organisations such as WWF, Friends of the Earth or the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds all campaign on behalf of sustainability issues, as do many development organizations such as Oxfam and a vast number of community groups with an interest in the environment and development.

Professional bodies such as the Institute for Environmental Management and Assessment (of which SRI is an educational member) support environmental professionals and think-tanks like Business in the Community or the Green Alliance have changed our understanding of many environmental issues.

And, lastly, there is scope for further study and exciting research careers in centres such as the Sustainability Research Institute.

A recent survey of environmental careers from the ENDS Report also found that the sector is booming:

"As it stands, the environmental sector is comparable in size to the UK pharmaceutical and aerospace sectors, but with an important difference: it is projected to grow by 42% by 2010."
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Other Courses of Interest

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