Take on this interdisciplinary MA and explore how research in the humanities can be applied to make a difference as we respond to the ever-growing global environmental crisis.
The MA in Environmental Humanities explores how research in the study of the humanities disciplines can be applied to make a difference and boost the effectiveness of our response to the ever-growing global environmental crisis.
The course takes up elements from modules in departments including Anthropology, English Studies, Geography, History, Modern Languages and Cultures, Philosophy, and Theology and Religion to provide you with a firm grounding for either carrying out further research at a higher level or making a game-changing contribution to tackling environmental and climate issues.
The course is centred around two core modules. Environmental Humanities: Frameworks and Debates introduces the relevant methodological approaches and explores the innovative ways in which the arts and humanities are able to join or challenge scientific and technological responses. The second module, Climate and Energy: Intensive Study gives you an overview of current climate science and the social, political and economic aspects of energy usage.
You can structure the remainder of your course around your areas of interest. This includes an interdisciplinary dissertation and further modules chosen from topics as varied as environmental philosophy, approaches to environmental history, cross-cultural understandings of nature, and religious understandings of living in a time of crisis, as well as the opportunity to take a language module.
Our intention is to serve the societies in which we all live by producing thoughtful, critical and engaged citizens who will contribute positively in a rapidly changing and complex world. We will provide you with the tools for analysis, interpretation and expression, tools to discuss and compare models of human life and its flourishing, and tools for imagining the future.
Course structure
All the MA programmes offered by the Faculty of Arts & Humanities consist of three components:
a Major Research Project to the value of at least 60 credits
Core Modules to the value of 0-90 credits, depending on the programme
Elective Modules, making up the total number of credits to 180; some of these modules will be defined as Recommended Electives for particular programmes.
For students studying the MA in Environmental Humanities, the InterdisciplinaryDissertation (your Major Research Project, 60 credits)) is carried out on a substantial topic in any discipline or disciplines represented in your programme of study. You will choose the topic under expert guidance, bringing together theories and concepts from modules across the course.
You will also be required to take the following 30-credit core module:
Environmental Humanities: Frameworks and Debates introduces current, cutting-edge and emergent topics and debates within interdisciplinary research in the environmental humanities. It also enables you to understand how the histories of environmental degradation and climate change are interlinked with inequalities around gender, race and class.
Finally, you will choose 90 credits of elective modules from across the Faculty of Arts & Humanities or beyond, so that your total number of credits adds up to exactly 180. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of your programme, some modules will be specifically recommended to you by your Programme Director.
The course is delivered through a mixture of seminars, discussion classes, lectures and tutorials, with formal teaching sessions supported by your own preparatory study and independent reading outside the set contact hours.
Core subject matter is delivered through the lectures with the subsequent group sessions all giving you the opportunity for further discussion and understanding.
The academic environment for your learning experience is supportive and relaxed with the programme director available to offer academic advice and guidance.
The course culminates in the interdisciplinary dissertation on a subject of your own choice. You will receive regular one-to-one guidance from a supervisor with subject expertise as you make progress.
Assessment
Assessment involves a variety of evaluation methods that will measure your progress through the course.
The methods used will depend on the modules you choose but will reflect the flexible nature of the course: for example, assessment may include group presentations, essays, short pieces of writing aimed at a public audience, or a short podcast. You will also be required to produce a dissertation of 15,000 words on a subject of interest to you.
Entry requirements
You will be expected to have an upper-second class degree, or the equivalent from a recognised national or international university; normally this will need to have a strong essay component.
You will also need to provide a personal statement of no more than 500 words. In your personal statement you should indicate why you are interested in this programme, include any relevant background experience you may have, and tell us anything else you think it would be helpful for us to know as we consider your application.
The tuition fees shown are for one complete academic year of study, are set according to the academic year of entry, and remain the same throughout the duration of the programme for that cohort (unless otherwise stated).
There is an array of career options possible that include professions in national, international and local government agencies, sustainability management, policy research, corporate responsibility and sustainability, environmental journalism and writing, environmental tourism, environmentally-oriented NGOs and charities and conservation work. The MA in Environmental Humanities also offers enhanced suitability for business graduate programmes in sustainability.
Employers often value Masters graduates in arts and humanities for their understanding and ability to communicate, flexibility, as well as their analytical and synthetic competence.
No information is available at present - please consider using our Ask Us facility for assistance.
Department information
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
This programme is led from the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, bringing in modules from that Faculty but also building on modules from other Faculties that will serve the wider suite of programmes. We are proud that our Faculty of Arts & Humanities is recognised as a world leading Faculty, and our work is intended to enrich, shape and transform lives. We nurture thoughtful, critical and engaged citizens for a rapidly changing and complex world.
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