Climate Change, Environmental Processes and Sustainable Futures

Entry requirements

An upper second class degree in any degree, or equivalent international qualification.

A personal statement should describe your interest in Cities and Sustainable Futures and any relevant experience or study.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Anthropogenic climate change is disrupting global environmental processes, creating intersecting environmental crises that affect both human and non-human life. These challenges include: increased frequency and magnitude of hazardous events such as landslides, floods and droughts; land degradation; melting of polar/mountain glaciers, ice caps and permafrost; and rising sea levels.  

This MSc responds to the question of how we can address these challenges in order to develop sustainable futures. The programme brings together state-of-the-art research in environmental processes across diverse systems from polar regions to deserts under changing climates, and advanced approaches to data acquisition, analysis and interpretation. On this programme, you will develop a detailed understanding of the relations and feedbacks between climate change and environmental processes. You will gain advanced-level skills of data collection, analysis, and interpretation needed for decision making under conditions of uncertainty and incomplete data. You will also gain experience of working with partners, alongside the leadership and engagement and communication skills necessary to help you contribute to global efforts to enhance environmental sustainability.

The course is designed to equip students for a wide range of environmental sustainability related jobs across multiple sectors and in different national contexts. Students will exit the programme understanding the impact of anthropogenic climate change on environmental processes at different scales, and equipped with the skills to research, evaluate, propose and lead solutions that foster environmental sustainability.

See more on our Geography Taught Masters course pages.

Topics covered include investigating the causes of climate change and a range of other complex global crises, how environmental processes respond under different climate states and predicting future behaviour of environmental systems. The modules will also develop advanced data analysis skills, practical skills of leadership, engagement and dissemination and allow students to design and execute an extended piece of research on a particular problem.

Year 1 modules

Sustainable Futures (30 credits)

The module introduces the causes of climate change and a range of other complex global crises, and explores emerging solutions around the promise of ‘sustainable futures’, building from the Sustainable Development Goals.

Environmental Data Science (30 credits)

This module will develop advanced data analysis skills such as programming, modelling and GIS, using datasets that allow advanced insight to a range of environmental processes as well as experience in a range of data sources.

Climate and Environmental Change Past and Present (15 credits)

This module will assess how different paleo-environmental records are produced and analysed, and how they can be interpreted to make future predictions that enhance sustainability. It involves fieldwork, as well as lectures and seminars.

Anticipating Future Environments (15 credits)

This module will consider how we can predict the future behaviour of a range of different environmental systems under conditions of uncertainty, synthesising the state of the art and critically analysing current knowledge to enhance sustainability.

Knowledge for Action and Leadership (15 credits)

The module develops practical skills of leadership, engagement and dissemination relevant to creating sustainable futures.

Dissertation or Vocational Dissertation (60 credits)

The dissertation allows students to design and execute an extended piece of research on a particular problem, challenge, or issue at the intersection of climate change, environmental processes, and questions of sustainability. The vocational dissertation option is based on working with a non-academic partner.

Climate Change and Society (15 credits)

The module will expand students’ comprehension of the diverse societal processes underpinning climate change and its impacts in particular places across the globe.

Cities and Climate Change (15 credits)

The module explores how the very nature of urbanization is profoundly connected to the challenges of sustainability and responding to climate change.

Social Dimensions of Risk and Resilience (15 credits)

The module focuses on the social dimensions of risk and resilience with a particular emphasis on environmental hazards and climate change.

Environmental Impact Assessment and Management (from Earth Sciences, 15 credits)

This module aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and its role in sustainable development.

Information for international students

International students who do not meet direct entry requirements for this degree might have the option to complete an International Foundation Year.

Fees and funding

More information is available here: Tuition fees - how much are they - Durham University