Program Overview

This innovative course is one of very few in the UK that integrates social and natural sciences, combining a strong interdisciplinary foundation with a specialist environmental lens in the study of international development. You’ll take core modules that seek to understand critical contemporary themes in environmental and natural resource management – including climate change, sustainability, food and water security, coastal ecosystem management and forest conservation, and environmental hazards – and you’ll focus specifically upon the links between the environment, policy, human rights, and the wellbeing of individuals and communities. You’ll obtain key practical skills training, including research and data analysis skills, alongside field experience and project-based fieldwork.  

In addition to this environmental focus, you’ll gain a broad grounding in the key issues, organisations and practices of development, fusing insights from environmental sciences with those from across the social sciences, including economics, media, geography, anthropology, and politics. You can develop your understanding of particular regions in the world, through area modules relating to sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, or Latin America, and you can pursue your emerging interests in other aspects and perspectives of development.

The result is an extremely flexible degree programme that you can tailor to suit your particular interests, and that allows you to combine an interdisciplinary foundation with your niche specialism.   

By studying with us, you’ll join our close-knit academic community, made up of experts from across multiple disciplines, all housed within the School of International Development. As such, you will not only learn from our world-renowned environmental scientists within the School, but you can benefit from a truly vibrant, interdisciplinary environment.  

We are amongst the best in the world for researching, teaching, and practicing development. Come and study with us and help us to create a fairer world.