Applicants for this course should have achieved a Good II.i Honours Degree .
If your degree is not from the UK, please check International Qualifications to find the equivalent in your country.
The Masters in Conservation Leadership aims to admit around 20 students each year. The course is designed for graduates with at least three years of relevant postgraduate work experience in conservation, public policy, business or the voluntary sector, anywhere in the world.
Professional experience does not necessarily need to be in the conservation sector.
The course aims to recruit students with a wide range of levels of experience, from highly-motivated younger graduates of leadership potential with at least three years of relevant experience to those in more senior roles.
University Minimum Academic Requirements
Score : Grade A & B (overall score of 193, with no element lower than 185 plus a Language Centre assessment)
Score : Grade A, B, or C (with at least 200 with no element lower than 185).
The Cambridge Masters in Conservation Leadership is a ground-breaking course that equips students with the applied leadership and management skills needed to create positive change in conservation. A unique feature of the course is its delivery by a collaboration between the University of Cambridge and ten leading conservation organisations, which together comprise the Cambridge Conservation Initiative. The Masters in Conservation Leadership is designed for applicants with at least three years of relevant professional experience and clear leadership potential.
The curriculum of this 11-month, full-time degree combines taught modules with hands-on experiential learning through a group consultancy and an individual professional placement hosted by a conservation organisation. The course aims to train students to address the challenges of biodiversity conservation in an integrated and interdisciplinary manner. The goal is not only to develop conservationists with greater awareness of the complex drivers of biodiversity loss, but to develop the ability to act and lead effectively. This includes the development of applied conservation leadership skills across three levels; Leading Self (e.g. personal resilience, self-awareness, career planning), Leading People and Organisations (e.g. strategic planning, human resources, fundraising, project management) and Leading Systems (i.e. how to bring about change in the wider world through incentives, communication, governance and other tools). The course develops the leadership skills of its students by promoting their capacity to understand the links among the drivers of biodiversity loss, and to think innovatively about conservation solutions across organisational and political boundaries and economic sectors. All students also receive 1:1 professional mentoring from a senior conservation leader selected on the basis of their fit to the needs of each student.
The programme aims to:
In particular, the programme will:
Formal coursework is concentrated in the Michaelmas and Lent terms, from October to March.
Students follow a number of substantive modules spread over these two terms. All students complete the same modules to enhance opportunities for peer-to-peer learning within the cohort. Modules will be primarily classroom-based but may include an element of blended online learning. Assessed coursework relating to these modules is completed by the start of the Easter term.
The taught elements of the course offer:
(i) interdisciplinarity across the social and biological sciences;
(ii) integration with management and leadership skills; and
(iii) an emphasis on practice through engagement with conservation professionals.
Professional placements start to be developed during the first two terms in collaboration with potential supervisors. Students work on a specific placement project which addresses a carefully defined conservation leadership challenge. The professional placement is undertaken over the Easter term from April to June, and in the summer, from July to August. There is an assessed oral presentation on placement plans in May, and an assessed placement report is submitted at the end of the placement in August.
The final four months of the degree are spent on a professional placement within a conservation organisation during which students work to address a defined leadership challenge.
The placement aims to:
(i) give students the opportunity to develop applied conservation leadership skills;