MSc Environmental Governance

The University holds regular events throughout the year, including webinars and the annual on-campus Master's Expo, all of which offer the opportunity to find out more about our facilities and courses from our academic and admissions staff.

We also attend a number of education fairs both in the UK and overseas throughout the year.

For more details on how you can meet us, visit our events page: https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/masters/meet-us/ .

Please submit the following documents with your completed application form:

• copies of official degree certificatesand transcripts of your previous study, showing the subjects taken and grades obtained. Ifthese documents are in languages other than English, please provide official translations;
• copies of English Language Certification, eg IELTS, TOEFL iBT or Pearson test score report, if available at the time of application;
• your CV.

Ensure that you enclose all the necessary documents to avoid any delays.

MSc Environmental Governance tackles some of the most pressing environmental issues of our time, examining how governance and policy shape the way we produce, share, and consume the world’s resources.

The course is unique in its breadth and scope, drawing on the wide range of expertise in the Society and Environment Research Group (SERG), to examine the multiple, interacting facets of environmental governance, including energy, climate and decarbonisation; water, sanitation and flooding; nature, biodiversity and conservation; transport, housing and planning; and conservation, resilience, and sustainability.

You will consider the whole spectrum of approaches to regulating human use of the natural world, from the production, distribution, to consumption of resources, applying key analytical approaches, from political ecology to sustainability transition.

This course will equip you with the skills to critically apply cutting-edge sustainability and environmental theories across different scales and global contexts. With an interdisciplinary approach, you'll learn to understand and challenge the systems that influence our environment today.

You’ll benefit from working closely with world-leading researchers and internationally recognised experts in environmental governance, political ecology, cultural environmental geography, science and technology studies (STS), Marxist political economy, and urban sustainability. Visit the SERG Research Group page to find out more.

What unites all the researchers in SERG is a collective emphasis on justice and equality. While policy design and technological innovation are critical for addressing the climate and nature crises, wider, deeper, social, political, and economic change will also be necessary.

Alongside academic learning, you’ll engage with real-world practitioners and collaborate with external organisations on live policy challenges.

Whether you're looking to build a career in environmental regulation, policy and management, pursue further academic research, or deepen your professional expertise, this course provides a strong foundation for making a meaningful impact.

And where better to study Geography than Manchester? Once the world’s first industrial city, today it’s a thriving 21st-century hub and pioneer in climate and nature policy innovation, surrounded by three National Parks.

The city, and its surroundings, provide a rich and diverse setting for hands-on fieldwork throughout your course, for the Metabolic Manchester fieldcourse and dissertation projects.

• Learn from real-world practitioners and liaise with external organisations on live policy problems.
• Consider approaches to regulating human use of the non-human world, from market-based to non-market approaches.
• Tackle environmental resource questions using case studies from the 'first', 'second' and 'third' worlds.
• Study different social spheres of environmental governance - production, distribution and consumption.
• Benefit from a highly interdisciplinary course, exposing you to ideas and practices developed in a range of subject areas.

• Geography has been studied at Manchester for more than 125 years, and we're one of Europe's best-equipped universities for the subject.
• We’re home to world-class academics in Geography and other areas of the University contributing to the programme, including the Manchester Urban Insitute , and the Manchester Environmental Research Institute .
• Researchers from the Tyndall Centre and Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI) also contribute to the teaching programme and organise public talks and seminars that Environmental Governance students are free to attend.
• Join the Manchester University Geographical Society (MUGS) a society run by Geography students for Geography students.
• Be a part of a multidisciplinary postgraduate community. Each year we welcome students from physical, natural, and social science backgrounds, creating an intellectually rich and rewarding learning environment.

Course units involve a range of formative and summative assessments, including individual and group work, oral presentations, essays, project work and reports.

Coursework is designed to allow you to pursue your particular areas of interest.

In the summer semester, you work independently to undertake dissertation work based on primary and/or secondary data, or else a more philosophical/theoretical dissertation.

We encourage you develop research in collaboration with members of the Society and Environment Research Group (SERG) and external organisations.

“The lecturers’ knowledge and passion for their subjects made every class engaging, while the mix of core and optional modules gave me the flexibility to explore my interests. Whatever your academic background, you will feel well-prepared for diverse career paths; this master’s has been a truly worthwhile experience!”

Rebecca Lewis , 2024/25 Environmental Governance Student, who joined from a legal background

“As an international student from China, the MSc Environmental Governance programme has been an incredibly rewarding experience. The engaging field trips brought environmental governance to life, while the lecturers were always supportive and approachable, and created an inclusive learning environment where international students felt heard and valued, making this a truly memorable programme.”

Yi Yao , 2025/26 Environmental Governance student, joining from a background in applied mathematics

We're one of Europe's best-equipped universities for Geography, with outstanding computing, laboratory, cartography and library facilities that are used for teaching and research and are available for our students, including:

• world-leading Physical Geography Laboratories with a wide range of advanced capabilities for studying water, soils, sediments and microplastics, including major and trace elemental analysis, spectroscopy, microscopy and X-ray Fluorescence;
• a Geocomputational Suite supporting world-class work in GIS and Remote Sensing, with access to UAVs, and survey tools;
• a Geography Virtual Reality lab for undertaking human and physical geography research;
• advanced computing for social sciences coding development.
• The Geography Department is located in the newly renovated Rutherford Building, where Ernest Rutherford and colleagues discovered the atomic nucleus and ‘split the atom’ in 1919.

The University's Main Library is the largest university library system in the UK and is a great place to study. It is also home to the University Map Collection, comprising around 100,000 maps of every part of the world.

For more information visit our Facilities webpage .

MSc Environmental Governance responds to a growing need for social, economic and political experts in the environmental field, and our graduates are highly employable in what is an expanding sector.

Our graduates have strong employment prospects, possessing theoretical knowledge, political understanding, and practical research skills, preparing you for careers in either the public, private or voluntary environmental sectors, in consultancy or international NGOs, or for further research on environmental governance within a university or think-tank environment.

Recent graduates have gone on to very wide range of successful careers, including in areas like:

• environmental management;
• planning;
• business development;
• education;
• consulting;
• marketing, media and communications;
• project management;
• research.

Recent example employers include GMCA, United Utilities, UK Civil Service, Net Zero Commission, IIED, Water Research Centre, National Wildlife Federation, Arts Council England, Resource Concepts Inc., CDP, Chester Zoo, NHS Sustainability, Seddon, Arcadis, BT Group, Social Value Portal, Local Government Association, and Lake District National Park Authority.

Careers support

The University has its own dedicated Careers Service that you have full access to as a student and for two years after you graduate. At Manchester you will have access to a number of opportunities to help boost your employability .

Careers support for international students

The Careers Service provide specialist resources, advice and events for international students to help with career planning and making the most of your time while studying in Manchester.

• Working in the UK after study
• Working during study
• Professional and alumni networks for international students

Global networks

The University of Manchester is proud to have the largest global alumni community of any campus-based university in the UK.

International alumni groups are a great way to keep in touch with fellow Manchester graduates in your country, and provide an opportunity to build professional and social networks.