Contemporary global challenges demand the linking of environmental issues to the conventional foci of development: health, urbanisation, poverty, food security and migration. They also demand an understanding of how the world's resources of water, energy, land, and minerals are allocated and managed, and how contestations over these distributions play out.
You will be taught by world-class experts from the School of Geographical Sciences, ranked 15th globally for Geography (QS World University Subject Ranking 2026), the MSc in Global Development and Environment is aimed at talented graduates seeking to develop or enhance their expertise in development and environment to address these challenges.
The foundational programme unit is Global Development and Environment: History, Theory, Practice. You will also be required to undertake a policy-focused unit, developing your practical skills by working in small teams to address real-world policy and management challenges facing external clients including public agencies, private organisations and NGOs.
A third core unit, Sustainability, Risk and Resilience in the Urban Age, will introduce you to issues facing our urbanising planet, including migration and global urban governance. Subject to availability, you will choose three additional units dealing with topics ranging from research methods to postcolonial critique, environmental policy, GIS and remote sensing.
Unit availability can only be confirmed on an annual basis, therefore any choices made by part-time students at the outset of the programme for their second year of study will be provisional.
Visit our programme catalogue for full details of the structure and unit content for our MSc Global Development and Environment.
Please note this master's programme requires group work and regular class presentations.
You will typically need an upper second-class honours degree or an international equivalent in any arts, humanities, social science, science or professional degree (medicine, architecture, planning or engineering). We will also consider applicants with other degree subjects on a case-by-case basis if applicants have completed one undergraduate module with a focus on development or environmental studies.
Relevant development-focused modules include those with titles containing "development" or closely related themes. Modules that explore issues relating to politics, society, economics, governance, inequality, or social change in developing countries or the Global South.
Environmental modules include those with titles containing "environment", as well as modules focused on topics such as agriculture, climate change, conservation, energy and renewable energy systems, environmental policy, forestry, natural resource management, sustainability or water resources.
We will also consider applicants with other degree subjects on a case-by-case basis if they have at least six months paid work experience/internship in a policy-facing role, a government department in the UK or overseas, development or environmental consultancies, multilateral organisations or NGOs.
We will consider your application if your interim grades are currently slightly lower than the programme's entry requirements and may make you an aspirational offer. This offer would be at the standard level, so you would need to achieve the standard entry requirements by the end of your degree. Specific module requirements would still apply.
We will also consider your application if your final overall achieved grade is slightly lower than the programme's entry requirement.
If your achieved grade is lower than our entry requirements, your application may be more likely to receive an offer if you have additional relevant work experience or qualifications. If you have at least one of the following, please include your CV (curriculum vitae / résumé) when you apply, showing:
See international equivalent qualifications on the International Office website.
Read the programme admissions statement for important information on entry requirements, the application process and supporting documents required.