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MA in Environment, Society & Development
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Programme Director
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nuigalway.ie
Welcome class of 2012-2013!
| On behalf of all my colleagues, I would like to warmly welcome you to the MA in Environment, Society and Development at NUI Galway. As the year progresses, the MA will be a challenging and demanding programme but one which we hope you will both enjoy and gain from enormously. One of the leading geographers in the world, the late
Neil Smith, was the inaugural external examiner (the current extern is
Katie Willis from Royal Holloway), and all colleagues are dedicated to engaging you at the very highest levels of research and teaching excellence.
Semester 1 begins in the week of September 10th with the following schedule for your 3 modules in the semester:
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MA Overview
| Global issues of environmental security, geopolitics and development have never been so important. A war on terror with no end in sight, the Kyoto Protocol, and the World Social Forum have brought questions of Western interventionary practices, environmental sustainability and neoliberalism to the fore.
The MA in Environment, Society and Development is designed to enable students to synthesize both theoretical and practical concerns in bringing critical thinking to environment-society relations in the field. The programme involves engagement with a number of core areas in critical human geography, including issues of geopolitics, development, governance and political ecology, and exposes students to vital global challenges that encompass a complex and dynamic mesh of environmental, social and economic processes. |
Programme Objectives: From Theory to Field-Based Learning
| Running through the MA is an overarching aim to impart understanding of how different philosophical and ideological approaches to environment-society relations influence policy formulation and implementation. In this context, our hope is to empower students 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 students intersect with the development work of UN agencies, CSOs and NGOs. In connecting with the work of UN agencies like the United Nations Development Programme, a key challenge for students will involve thinking through the scalar nature of all forms of development, in which initiatives on the ground are framed by broader geopolitical, economic and institutional structures that both enable and hinder development in complex ways. |
The MA in ESD class of 2013 during fieldwork in Mostar, Herzegovina:
.JPG)
The MA in ESD class of 2012 on fieldwork in Sarajevo, Bosnia:
Career Opportunities
| The programme will prepare students for a range of workplaces including government departments, non-governmental organizations, planning and project management agencies and specialist research and policy institutes. The emphasis on transferable and problem-solving skills is further reflected in the focus on field-based learning practices that are embedded in all modules. Each year, in particular, students gain enormously from the experience of working on the ground in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a variety of international development practitioners and local community actors.
Since its inception, the programme has been a huge success with registered students from Ethiopia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Sri Lanka, UAE, the UK and USA. Many have gone on to work in NGOs, UN agencies and a range of development and planning contexts, both nationally and internationally. In addition, many of our students have gone on to pursue PhD research. In terms of a critical human geography Masters, the depth and breadth of the programme puts students in a very strong position in applying for PhDs, and post-MA we strongly encourage applications, internationally, nationally and here at NUI Galway, where Geography has strong research clusters in Geopolitics and Justice and Planning and Sustainability. |
Recent Students
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Diego Andreucci (MA, 2009-2010): "What I like the most about the MA in Environment, Society and Development is the fact that it is theoretically broad and academically stimulating whilst at the same time being very much engaged in practical, political and ethical issues in a variety of geographical contexts on the ground" |
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Sinéad Burke (MA, 2010-2011): "I like the MA in Environment, Society and Development as it is an opportunity for academic growth and personal development which works by challenging a group of students to critically and creatively question wide-ranging theoretical concepts, whilst also providing practical research skills to assess the relationships between political, social and economic systems in geographically diverse spaces and places" |
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Elaine Williams (MA, 2011-2012): "I thoroughly enjoyed the MA in Environment, Society and Development. Not only does it theoretically and thematically inform students on key geographical concerns of interventionism and development, but most importantly it gives them the tools to practically apply critique on the ground. Gaining friendship and confidence in a hugely supportive environment is all part of the process too" |
Programme Content
| Module | Semester | ECTS |
| TI 701: Conceptualising Environment, Society and Development | 1 | 10 |
| TI 702: Geography and Geo-graphing | 1 | 10 |
| TI 703: Geopolitics and Security | 1 | 10 |
| TI 704: Environment and Risk | 2 | 10 |
| TI 705: Managing Development | 2 | 10 |
| TI 706: Field-Based Learning | 2 | 10 |
| TI 707: MA Dissertation | May-August | 30 |
Programme Assessment (90 ECTS)
| Students are required to complete all modules for a 90 ECTS Masters. Assessment shall be in the form of continuous assessment, essays, oral presentations and other projects. Students must also submit a dissertation in the range of 15,000-20,000 words based on original research. The topic for dissertation will be agreed, after consultation, with individual supervisors. The MA shall not be awarded to any candidate who does not achieve a pass mark in the dissertation module. At the end of the academic year, the 'Neil Smith Graduate Research Award' will be presented to the best overall student, and each student will present a poster based on her/his MA research at the
Annual Symposium in Environment, Society and Development.
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The Neil Smith Graduate Research Award
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The
Neil Smith Graduate Research Award will annually recognize the most outstanding student on the MA in Environment, Society and Development. Given the central research and field-based learning element in all modules, this prestigious award is presented annually to the student achieving the best overall mark on the programme, and is designed to encourage the continuation of graduate research at doctoral level, and especially in the context of existing priority research clusters in Geography, including 'Geopolitics and Justice' and 'Planning and Sustainability'.
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Programme Application
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All particulars of how to apply including information re: fees and funding can be found here; for further course info. see here.Applications to the programme are made online via the Postgraduate Applications Centre.For all non-EU applicants please also contact the International Affairs Office.For information on NUI Galway's Taught Masters Scholarships 2013/14, see here and here.For details of NUI Galway's Student Assistance Fund click here; see also the HEA Student Grant Scheme.
Applications for 2013-2014 are now open.
Entry Requirements
NQAI Level 8 overall degree (2.2) with a 2.1 in Geography or related discipline, or equivalent (prior learning in terms of relevant work experience is also recognized).
Selection Criteria
Places are limited and selection is based on 3 criteria: - 1. Academic Record 2. Letters of Recommendation 3. Personal Statement.
Discipline of Geography
National University of Ireland, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland
Tel.: +353 (0)91 49 2643
This page was last updated Monday, April 29, 2013