New Master’s Program At The University Of Manchester Is Taking A Fresh Approach To Tackle Climate Change

A new postgraduate course addressing the global environmental crisis and the challenges of building sustainable societies has been launched by The University of Manchester.

According to a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), profound social change is urgently needed to help mitigate the climate crisis and meet other sustainability goals.

The new MA Social Change, Environment and Sustainability course responds to these needs by equipping a generation of graduates and researchers with the skills, knowledge and confidence to lead the transformational processes required. It explores the dynamic relations between social, cultural, socio-economic and socio-technical change and how this impacts the climate and ecological crisis. Students will come away with knowledge of key environmental issues from a social scientific perspective, such as such as biodiversity and the global food system, consumption and the climate crisis and debates around sustainability and economic growth.

The programme is one of only a few in the country that specifically addresses issues of environment and sustainability from the perspective of sociology and social change. This will give students the training and skills to pursue a career in fields such as environmental and sustainability consultancy, communications, corporate social responsibility, government and policy, and the third sector, such as think tanks, charities and NGOs.

The course is led by Dr Daniel Welch, based at the University’s Sustainable Consumption Institute and Sociology Department, and offers valuable perspectives on how social innovation and behavioural change are critical to tackling the environmental crisis.