Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2022*
Key features
- Gain broad-based, vocationally focused training led by expert academic staff with industry experience, in an enthusiastic and interactive learning environment that includes a residential field course.
- Tailor your studies for the career you want – from environmental agencies and consultancies to local or central government and research – and take your place shaping the pioneering policy and projects of the future.
- Focus on the aspects of sustainable environmental management that you feel most strongly about, with an individual research project and accompanying dissertation.
- Work side by side with experts from across the Faculty of Science and Engineering and Plymouth Business School – which were rated as ‘internationally excellent’ in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014.
- Benefit from our local, national and international sector connections as part of a respected and active research community that includes groups such as the
Marine Institute – the first and largest of its kind in the UK. - Add value to your qualification by studying on a programme accredited by the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA)* – the benchmark for high-quality programmes recognised internationally by learners and employers.
- Balance your work commitments and further education with the opportunity to study part-time for a masters-level qualification.
- A diverse and respectful place in which to work and study is fundamental to everything we do. Find out more about
equality, diversity and inclusion in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Science .
Course details
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Programme overview
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Exploring topics that span the natural and social sciences, you’ll gain vital insight into the whole spectrum of environmental management issues – from law and ethics to impact assessments, freshwater environments and climate change to contaminated land, river basin plans to marine regulations. We've designed the programme flexibly to equip you with an in-depth understanding of the essential theories, as well as practical fieldwork and industry experience. During the first two semesters of this one-year programme, you’ll study a range of core and optional taught modules – from international environmental policy making to options like climate change: science and policy or economics and the environment. These modules are designed specifically for this degree and you also undertake a placement, complemented by fieldbased experiential learning to provide an interdisciplinary foundation to environmental management. In the final semester you’ll complete an independent dissertation project.
Throughout your studies, we’ll support you in gaining the research and professional skills to help you get the most from the programme – and launch a successful career.Core modules
GEES521
MRes DissertationThe student will complete an independent research project that they have designed. The record of the research will include project aims, research problem to be addressed, methodology, data analysis, interpretation, discussion/synthesis and conclusions, in the format specified and to a professional standard. The student will defend the work in a viva voce with the External Examiner.
GEES536
Environmental Knowledge: From Field to StakeholderThis module reviews qualitative and quantitative research methods relevant to professional and academic investigations in the field of policy-making, planning, management and consultancy in the built and natural environments. It encompasses the complete lifecycle of research (design, planning, data collection, knowledge dissemination and application), including stakeholder engagement across these stages.
Optional modules
ENVS5003
Ecological Survey Evaluation and MitigationThis module will examine UK and European nature conservation policy, species and habitat protection, ecological survey techniques and habitat mapping. Taught survey methodologies will follow statutory and developer guidelines for both protected species and habitat survey. Case study examples will be used to highlight environmental consultancy approaches to compensation and mitigation.
GEES515
Professional Practice in the Environmental SectorThis module examines the place of sustainability and environmental management in modern business practice, and prepares students for professional work experience in semester 2. It also provides students with a critical understanding of the principles, ethics and methods of environmental law and regulation, and examines the role of economics in characterising and addressing human interaction with the environment
GEES516
Science, Society and Environmental GovernanceThis module provides students, firstly, with a critical understanding of key debates in the principles, ethics and methods of both scientific and societal understandings of environmental issues. Secondly, the module makes a critical examination of the systems of governance and policy-making that have been established to regulate resource management, environmental degradation and nature conservation.
MATH513
Big Data and Social Network VisualizationSophisticated analytics techniques are needed to visualize today's increasing quantities of Big Data. Up-to-date R tools including dplyr for data manipulation, ggplot2 for visualization, and knitr/LaTeX for document presentation are studied. These are applied to database interrogation, social network visualization and sentiment analysis. The module provides considerable experience of writing professionally documented R code using RStudio.
Every postgraduate taught course has a detailed programme specification document describing the programme aims, the programme structure, the teaching and learning methods, the learning outcomes and the rules of assessment.
The following programme specification represents the latest programme structure and may be subject to change:
Entry requirements
Fees, costs and funding
Student | 2024-2025 | 2025-2026 |
---|---|---|
Home | £10,400 | £10,700 |
International | £19,800 | £20,400 |
Part time (Home) | £580 | £590 |
Tuition fee discount for University of Plymouth graduates
- 10% or 20% discount on tuition fees for home students
- For 2024/2025 entry, a 20% discount on tuition fees for international students (International alumni who have applied to the University through an agent are not eligible to receive the discount)
Postgraduate scholarships for international students
How to apply
When to apply
Before you apply
- evidence of qualifications (degree certificates or transcripts), with translations if not in English, to show that you meet, or expect to meet the entry requirements
- evidence of English language proficiency, if English is not your first language
- a personal statement of approximately 250-400 words about the reasons for your interest in the course and outlining the nature of previous and current related experience. You can write this into the online application form, or include it as a separate document
- your curriculum vitae or résumé, including details of relevant professional/voluntary experience, professional registration/s and visa status for overseas workers
- proof of sponsorship, if applicable.
Disability Inclusion Services
International students
Submitting an application
What happens after I apply?
Telephone: +44 1752 585858
Email: admissions@plymouth.ac.uk
Admissions policy
Dr Claire Kelly – MRes Sustainable Environmental Management graduate
"From my masters research (disturbance to marine wildlife in UK waters), the best bit was getting a paper published as a lead author (with my supervisors as co-authors) which was picked up by the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee."
The Worshipful Company of Water Conservators Award
Celebrating 50 years of geography
Research community
As part of the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, we contribute to a strong collective of research groups – so you’ll benefit from insights into work at the forefront of the sustainability sector.
Academic staff
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Professor Ian Bailey
Professor of Environmental Politics
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Dr Tim Daley
Associate Professor of Physical Geography
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Dr Paul Lunt
Associate Professor in Environmental Science
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Dr Kim Ward
Lecturer in Human Geography
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Dr Souran Chatterjee
Lecturer in Energy Transitions -Environmental Management & Sustainability
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Dr Jessie Woodbridge
Lecturer