Methodologies for Chemical Imaging in X-ray and Electron Microscopes

For 2015 we have refreshed our suite of programmes. MSc Climate Change and Environmental Policy was formally MSc Sustainability (Climate Change) and MSc Sustainability (Environmental Politics and Policy). We feel that the new title better reflects the increased range of optional modules and potential pathways the programme now provides.

Course Overview

This programme provides a unique combination of training on the physical, social and policy aspects of climate change and on broader environmental policy. It provides students with a solid foundation in the physical science of climate change, climate change impacts, adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, and with a critical understanding of the policy tools that can be used to promote environmental protection.

This MSc combines modules taught at the School of Earth and Environment, with optional modules from the School of Geography and the School of Politics and International Studies, and the specialist dissertation gives students a chance to examine the detail of an issue of their choice. The programme provides cutting-edge research led teaching drawing on the latest research undertaken at the School of Earth and Environment.

Four lead authors of the IPCC, which advises world governments on how to tackle the evolving and complex issue of climate change, teach on the programme or undertake research at the School of Earth and Environment. The School also co-hosts the ESRC funded Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (CCCEP) which brings together some of the world's leading researchers on climate change policy from many different disciplines.

Excellent Career Prospects

Climate change is one of the biggest environmental challenges we face. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released in September 2013 indicates that warming in the climate system is unequivocal and that limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Other environmental problems linked to growing energy needs, environmental pollution, degradation, and food security make environmental protection a growing concern for policy makers. The programme has been designed to equip students with both the conceptual and applied understanding of critical issues in climate change and environmental policy and governance to form interdisciplinary environmental managers and experts with a strong science, policy and governance foundation to develop and drive innovative approaches to tackling environmental problems in government, private sector and non-for profit organizations operating from the global to the local level.

The course begins in late September and consists of:

(a) 2 terms of lectures and seminars;

(b) Approximately four months (May to September) of individual work leading to the submission of a dissertation early in late August;

When completed on a full time basis, this MSc is a 12 month programme split into three semesters. When undertaken on a part-time basis the programme runs for two years with two taught modules completed in each semester.

Semester 1:

• Climate Change: Physical Science Basis
• Research Methods
• Environmental Policy and Governance
• One optional module (see below)

Semester 2:

• Climate Change: Impacts and Adaptation
• Climate Change Mitigation
• Two optional modules (see below)

Semester 3:

• Research Project

Optional modules semester 1:

• Introduction to Sustainability
• Business, Environment and Sustainability
• Introduction to Ecological and Environmental Economics

Optional modules semester 2:

• Standards and Tools for Business, Environment and Corporate Social Responsibility
• Critical Perspectives in Environment and Development
• Tools and Techniques in Ecological Economics
• Environment-Development Overseas Field Course
• Terrestrial Biosphere in the Earth System
• International Relations and the Environment
• Environmental Assessment

SOEE5540M Climate Change: Physical Science Basis

This module introduces the students to the physical science base on climate change. The module includes sessions on the global climate system, carbon cycle, radiative forcing, past climates, climate modelling, climate predictions, and the handling of uncertainty in climate change research. The module lays down the foundation for understanding the physical science base on climate change, which is important for understanding climate mitigation and adaptation.

SOEE5471M Environmental Policy and Governance

This module examines the multiple pathways through which human-environment interaction is governed. It covers how structural forces and multiple actors at multiple scales shape and constrain environmental governance and sustainability processes and outcomes, and presents how the alleged limitations of conventional state-led environmental protection have given way to a proliferation of 'hybrid' modes of governance where state-market-civil society distinctions blur. It looks at changing modes of environmental governance within and between the international, regional, national and local scales of analysis. The course illustrates these ongoing processes through the use of practical examples from both developed and developing countries.

SOEE5550M Climate Change: Impacts and Adaptation

This module gives an overview of climate change impact assessment and predictions, and key concerns and strategies of adaptation to climate change. It covers climate impact causation, impact assessment methods, sectoral and regional climate change impact predictions, environmental risks and hazards, vulnerability assessment, adaptation strategies, and adaptation policy frameworks. It also strengthens the students' ability to disseminate and critique literature on impacts of and adaptation to climate change and develop and judge measures to adapt to climate change.

SOEE5561M Climate Change Mitigation

This module outlines the relative significance of main sources of greenhouse gases and the potential, technologies and strategies for reducing them. It leads students to develop knowledge of different sources of greenhouse gases, their relative significance, ways to reduce them, and to understand the key challenges for controlling the emissions of greenhouse gases from different sources. The students will also be familiarised with critical political issues related to mitigation such as governance of CDM for poverty alleviation and social consequences of offsetting mechanisms.

SOEE5010M Research Methods

This module examines the relationship between philosophy and research practice, as well as different disciplinary and interdisciplinary research paradigms and strategies. By the end of this module students should understand relationships between theory, conceptualization, method, hypotheses or research questions, evidence and measurement. The students will become familiar with appropriate methods and have the research skills relevant to their dissertation projects.

Candidates should have an upper second class degree (2.1) or above in an environmental or social science, management or economics 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. 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. English Language Requirements IELTS band: 6.5 IMPORTANT NOTE: Since April 2014 the ETS tests (including TOEFL and TOEIC) are no longer accepted for Tier 4 visa applications to the United Kingdom. The university might still accept these tests to admit you to the university, but if you require a Tier 4 visa to enter the UK and begin your degree programme, these tests will not be sufficient to obtain your Visa. The IELTS test is most widely accepted by universities and is also accepted for Tier 4 visas to the UK- learn more.