Lancaster Environment Centre

This programme provides a solid grounding in the interlinked fields of current Environmental concerns and Development issues, the integration of which is critical if sustainable development is to be practiced in the UK and worldwide. The extensive breadth of disciplines covered within LEC provides a research environment that allows this programme to offer a large variety of modules in both environmental and development specialisms, taught by staff who are internationally recognised in their fields. The course would be of interest to anyone whose interests or career aspirations are directed towards addressing the challenges faced in safeguarding the planet’s ecosystems and improving the social and physical environments in which impoverished communities live. The programme is suitable for students with both a natural or social science background as the choice of modules allows the programme to be tailored towards an individual’s interests and focus.

Students will graduate with either an MA or an MSc, depending on their choice of dissertation topic. Dissertation topics are offered in both environmental and developmental themes, with options for fieldwork both in the UK and abroad. We currently have dissertation projects on offer in Asia, Africa and South America, usually working with universities and NGOs in the host countries (for example The University of Zambia; The University for Development Studies, Ghana; Green Living Movement, Zambia; University of Dhaka, Bangladesh; Tribhuvan and Kathmandu Universities, Nepal; Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata and Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India; Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, China, to name but a few). This optional overseas dimension to the programme provides vital experience for those intending to enter employment in the overseas development sector. Partial financial support is available for some overseas dissertation projects.

This programme offers an excellent opportunity for students to combine a depth of focus in their chosen specialism, with a breadth of focus in environmental and developmental issues. Such interlinked knowledge is a key requirement for anyone interested in following a career path addressing environment and development issues, in the private, public, or not-for-profit sectors.

Core Modules

• Dissertation Project
• Perspectives on Environment and Development
• Research Methods (for MA stream only)

Optional Modules

• Air Quality and Climate
• Behaviour of Pollutants in the Environment
• Biological Effects of Air Pollution and Climate Change
• Catchment Protection (Field course)
• Chemical Risk Assessment
• Climate Change and Society
• Consequences of Toxicological Effects
• Conservation Biology
• Conservation and sustainable development in the Brazilian Amazon
• Contaminated Land and Remediation
• Crop Protection
• Data Analysis and Interpretation
• Data Analysis and Programming Skills
• Data Assimilation and Integration
• Environment and Culture
• Disaster Management
• Ecology, Conservation and Culture
• Environmental Aspects of Renewable Energy
• Environmental Auditing
• Environmental Justice
• Environmental Management
• Environmental Radioactivity
• Environmental Sampling and Analysis for Trace Organics
• Environmental Toxicology
• Flood Forecasting and Flood Risk Management
• Food Security, Agriculture and Climate Change
• Food Security and Environmental Issues in China (TBC)
• Geoinformatics
• Geological Hazards
• Globalisation and Democratisation (TBC)
• Groundwater Resources and Protection
• Habitat Management
• Health and Environment
• International Environmental Law
• International Summer School: Food Security and Environmental Issues in China
• Lake Ecology
• Low-carbon energy use
• Modelling Environmental Processes
• Numerical skills
• Pollution Microbiology
• Right to Adequate Food as a Human Right
• Sustainable Soil Management
• Sustainable Systems
• Sustainable Water Management: Concepts, Governance and Practice
• The Rights of Peoples
• Toxicological Mechanisms and Measurements
• Using the NVC
• Water Quality Modelling
• Wildlife Monitoring Techniques
• Wildlife Population Ecology