About the course

The MPhil in Environmental Change and Management aims to give you a broad appreciation of major processes of environmental change and of the people and institutions involved in environmental management. The course seeks to produce environmental leaders who are interdisciplinary and analytical in their approach to environmental issues, and competent and aware decision makers.

The MPhil is a two year course. The second year is devoted to researching and writing a thesis of up to 30,000 words (either as a single monograph or two academic papers). In the first year, you will take the coursework associated with the MSc in Environmental Change and Management. This course has three overarching aims, to.

• examine the nature, causes and impacts of major types of environmental change. How do these changes operate and interact on global, regional and local scales? How do they relate to critical social and ecological systems?
• examine the economic, legal, cultural, and ethical underpinnings of environmental responsibility and systemic solutions, including mitigation, adaptation, remediation, enhanced resource stewardship and other sustainable responses to environmental change at different scales and within different organisational contexts; and
• empower environmental leaders to address the world’s most pressing environmental problems through an understanding of and training in the key analytical and practical skills, and in a broad appreciation of earth systems and societies in relation to environmental change.

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the School of Geography and the Environment and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the School of Geography and the Environment.

Assessment

You must pass the examinations set at the end of the first year in order to proceed into the second year of the MPhil. In the first year there are also two assessed essays linked to elective courses.

The second year is devoted to researching and writing a thesis of up to 30,000 words. The research topic will be devised in your first year and, once approved, a supervisor will be allocated to you. The thesis accounts for half the marks for the degree. In addition, in the second year you will take a further elective course, assessed by a submitted essay.

Graduate destinations

ECM alumni are pursuing careers with a wide range of organisations. Examples include government departments (eg Japan's Ministry of the Environment, Ontario Ministry of Finance), non-governmental organisations (eg the Carbon Trust, World Wildlife Fund), business organisations (eg McKinsey and Company, Ericsson Enterprise) and international agencies (World Food Programme, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). Some students use the course as a starting point for pursuing PhD (DPhil) research.

There is an ECM alumni network with over 700 alumni in 70 countries. The department's Alumni Office helps alumni keep in touch with each other and organises alumni events.