Nature, Society and Environmental Governance MSc

This course is grounded in the conviction that responses to political and environmental challenges requires researchers and practitioners trained in the social sciences, with the ability to think flexibly across disciplinary and sectorial boundaries. It will enable you to develop a theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded understanding of the dynamic relations between environment, society and policy. To this end, the course draws on the methods and approaches from across the social sciences, including fields such as human geography, anthropology, environmental economics, science and technology studies, and corporate environmental management. It also facilitates dialogue between researchers and practitioners concerning contemporary issues of environmental policy and politics.

The specific objectives of the course are to provide broad and critical engagements with key debates in the environmental social sciences, focussing on the relations between nature and society, science and politics, and urban natures; to foster an understanding of the applied practices of environmental policy and the challenges of real-world environmental governance; to develop your conceptions of, and skills in, the methods and practices of contemporary environmental social sciences, providing critical foundations for further study by research; to integrate you into world leading research in the School of Geography and the Environment by providing core teaching and supervision by research-active staff; to enhance your personal and professional development.