Overview

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."
Read article.

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)

Entry Requirements

Candidates should have an upper second class degree (2.1) or above in a natural, environmental, physical, management or social science subject. 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.

This programme is especially well suited to students with an enthusiasm for environmental debate and concern over the future sustainability of human and environmental systems. Therefore applications are welcome from graduates with environmental studies, geography, politics, development studies or biology backgrounds. Graduates from other disciplines with relevant work experience in the fields of environment and/or development are also likely to benefit from this 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

School Scholarships

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

This programme, when completed on a full time basis, is a 12 month programme split into three semester:

• Introduction to Sustainability
• Research Methods
• Two Optional modules (see below)

• Critical Perspectives in Environment and Development
• Environmental Governance and Sustainability
• Two Optional modules (see below)

• Research Project

Semester 1

• Global Inequalities and Development (Part 1)
• Business, Environment and Sustainability
• Climate Change: Physical basis
• Environmental Economics and Policy

• Global Inequalities and Development (Part 2)
• Environment-Development Overseas Field Course
• Standards and Tools for Business, Environment and Corporate Social Responsibility
• Tools and Techniques in the Analysis of Society, Economy and Environment
• Climate Change: Impacts and Adaptation
• Climate Change Mitigation

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

When undertaken on a part-time basis the programme runs for two years with two taught modules completed in each semester.

Course Leaders

Dr. Susannah Sallu is Programme Manager of this course. She is an expert in the fields of geography and environmental science with a PhD in Geography from Oxford University, an MSc. in Environmental Technology from Imperial College, London and a BSc. (Hons.) in Tropical Environmental Science from Aberdeen University. Susannah has over 10 years experience working in academic and applied sectors on environment-development and sustainability issues.

Susannah has particular interest and expertise in interdisciplinary research, and works largely in the developing world, particularly Africa, on the following issues: Social-ecological dynamics, resilience and vulnerability, Ecosystem services and rural livelihoods, Coping and adaptation to environmental dynamics and climate variability/change, Natural resource management, biodiversity science conservation, Environmental governance and poverty issues, Local knowledge processes and social learning, Participatory management and decision making,  Politics of environmental science and sustainability.

For more information see: http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/people/s.sallu

Industry Links

Students are encouraged to develop links and to collaborate with institutions in the environment and development sectors, particularly during dissertation research. Past students have collaborated with UK-based and International charities, governments, universities, research institutes and businesses. Research conducted by staff within the Sustainability Research Institute frequently draws on wide national and international networks, which students can tap into.

Student Profiles

On this page you can find out more about our former students:

• Daniel Strosnider
• Graduate 2010
• Indrajit Bosse
• Gloria Namande
• Georgina Turner
• Jami Dixon
• Alice O'Rourke