Environment Society & Development

Addressing core global development goals

Global issues of development, security and the environment have never been so important. The Covid-19 pandemic, the broader overstepping of ecological boundaries and the threat of climate change have brought questions of neoliberal economic production, environmental sustainability and human security to the fore. If you would you like to acquire the critical thinking and field-based learning skills that are essential in addressing these challenges, then the innovative and award-winning MA in Environment, Society and Development (MA-ESD) is for you.



Engaging vital overlapping environmental and security challenges

The MA-ESD will engage you on a critical exploration of the various practices of development and security that define our contemporary world, and ultimately how that critique can enable more informed, participatory and transformative interventionary practices. The programme involves engagement with a number of core areas in international development, critical security studies and political ecology, and will expose you to global concerns that encompass a complex and dynamic mesh of environmental, geopolitical and economic processes. On the programme, you will gain enormously from the field experience of working on the ground in an international development context, and as a graduate you will have the ability and ambition to activate a wide range of expert critical knowledges in shaping a more sustainable world.



Field-based learning and civic engagement

In embarking on your career and in following your passion for urgent global development issues, would you like to draw upon the experience of working with the United Nations and a range of NGOs in the challenging international development context of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)? A core element of the MA-ESD programme will involve you working and intersecting with communities, the UNDP and other development practitioners in BiH. You will gain vital experience of civic and community engagement in bringing critical thinking to development practice.

Running through the MA is an overarching aim to equip you with both critical and practical expertise in environment-society relations, with a firm eye on developing your abilities to influence policy formulation and implementation in a range of interventionary contexts. Our hope is to empower you to become critically informed by, and ethically engaged with, the various geopolitical, social, economic and environmental processes that shape the world in which we live. The practical emphasis of the MA is reflected in a field-based learning module in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where you will intersect with the development work of the European Union, UN agencies and various NGOs.



Modules:

• TI6131: Introduction to Development (10 ECTS)

• TI6125: Research Methods and Mapping (10 ECTS)

• TI6126: Critical Geopolitics and Security (10 ECTS)

• TI6127: Environmental Risk and Resilience (10 ECTS)

• TI6128: Development and Justice (10 ECTS)

• TI6129: Field-Based Learning (20 ECTS)

• TI6130: Research Project and Dissertation (30 ECTS)



Part-time option

In Year One students take 30 ECTS of taught modules including TI6131 and two other modules from TI6125, TI6126, TI6127 and TI6128. In Year Two students take a further 30 ECTS of taught modules including TI6129 (20ECTS) and one other module from the above list, and also complete a 30-ECTS research dissertation module TI6130.



Please see Course Web Page above for module details.

QQI Level 8 degree at H2.1 in relevant subject and H2.2 overall; GPA 3.0, or equivalent international qualification. IELTS score of 6.5, or equivalent, if applicable.



Selection is based on academic record, statement of intent and letters of recommendation. Prior learning via relevant work experience is also recognised.



Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

Prior learning via relevant work experience is also recognised.

Applications must be completed online at: https://nuigalway.elluciancrmrecruit.com/Apply/Account/Login.



An application requires a registration fee of €35. You will be asked to upload proof of identification, academic transcripts, a personal statement, an academic reference and documentation to fulfil the English requirement (where English is not your first language).

1 year full-time,

2 years part-time

Next start date September 2024

Closing Date Offers are made on a rolling basis.

Career Opportunities

MA-ESD graduates have gone on to work in key governmental, planning and public policy roles in their home countries, and in a wide range of UN agencies and other national and international NGOs. They have also added richly to the work of environmental agencies and specialist policy institutes throughout the globe, as well as pursuing PhD research in leading academic departments worldwide.