MSc Environmental Management (Conservation)

We’ve offered our innovative Environmental Management course with a specialisation in Conservation since 2013. With this Masters degree, you’ll gain the scientific knowledge and learn the approaches for conservation science and practice.

You’ll get the opportunity to specialise in particular areas with the selection of relevant modules and in your research project. Areas of potential specialisation include:

• Ecosystem services
• Environmental economics
• Conservation conflicts
• Habitat and biodiversity management
• Application of geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing

You’ll get plenty of practice in environmental conservation and management field skills, as there’s a compulsory residential field trip which takes place in the Cairngorm National Park. We also offer a two-week field course on tropical ecology and conservation in Gabon. Find out more about the Gabon field course.

This course is relevant to both recent and mature graduates who are seeking a career in environmental management and conservation science, either in governmental or non-governmental organisations. Graduates from this course are knowledgeable in the broad field of conservation science. They have skills in collecting and analysing relevant data for sustainable decision-making, as well as transferable skills relevant to future employment at national and international level.

Top reasons to study with us

1. Take a residential field module and immediately begin to learn practical skills.
2. You’ll get the opportunity to specialise in particular areas aligned to your interests.
3. The University of Stirling is a hub for conservation activity in Scotland.

Course objectives

Our course will give you:

• An understanding of the scientific principles that underpin environmental management.
• An understanding of the ecological, economic, social, political and legal frameworks for conservation.
• Sound training in the relevant practical, investigative, research and all-encompassing skills that are the most sought after by employers.

Course details

You’ll take three modules in each semester followed by a dissertation. Each module is worth 20 SCQF credits at level 11 and the dissertation is worth 60 credits.

If you meet the requirements of the taught course you’ll qualify for the Diploma and may proceed to the MSc. This involves completion of a three-month Research Project, often in collaboration with an outside agency. Students frequently choose a topic complementary to their option selection, allowing them to develop a high level of competence in aspects of environmental management relevant to their future employment.

Teaching

Delivery will include a mixture of conventional lectures, workshop sessions, field excursions, student-led debates and oral presentations.

Fieldwork

You’ll take a residential field module and immediately begin to learn practical identification, surveying, measuring and sampling skills.

Assessment

Various means of assessment will be used as appropriate to the content and outcomes of the individual modules. For example, the Field Techniques module is a practical skills-based course, so assessment will be based on testing these skills and on a collection of specimens put together by the student. Other modules are based on lectures and seminars and have a more traditional mix of essay assessments and exams

Classroom hours

Contact hours in all modules will be 27 to 30 hours.

Full-time students are expected to be on campus most days of the week, and part-time students should ensure that they are available for two to three days each week.

The residential Cairngorms National Park field course takes place in early October over six days and the Gabon field course is during the last two weeks of February.

Course director

Dr Nils Bunnefeld
+44 (0) 1786 467804
nils.bunnefeld@stir.ac.uk

Dr Nils Bunnefeld is a leading researcher in conservation science and a member of the Tropical Ecology and Conservation Group.

Fees - 2020/2021

• Home/EU: £8,500
• Overseas: £18,950