Program Overview

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BSc (Honours) Climate, Sustainability and Environmental Management with Foundation Year

Course summary

This applied course will prepare you to tackle critical global challenges, with specialist knowledge in topics of critical importance. You’ll become a catalyst of change, harnessing practical skills relevant to business, the public sector, research and non-governmental organisations.

How you learn

On this course you’re able to specialise in critical areas for green careers, building your education around your ambitions. Crucially, the course is centred on applied, real-world experience, developed through employers, international partnerships, and civic activities within the local community.

Learning and assessment is focused on hands-on, skills-based learning – taking a positive, solutions-based approach to the existential challenges posed by complex connections between the natural world and society. You’ll benefit from both classroom and real-world training – preparing yourself to face a future that demands urgent action.

High-quality teaching will be delivered by academics who conduct cutting-edge research – many of whom have professional experience in the environmental sector. Their specialisms include social patterns of resource consumption, rewilding and ecology, and environmental geoscience.

You learn through:

• Outdoor learning
• Work placements
• Site visits
• Laboratory work
• Residential field trips
• Workshops
• Seminars
• IT sessions
• Lectures
• Online learning
• Debates and discussions

Key themes

This course is designed to ignite your passion for change. With inclusion at its core, the course takes an anti-colonial, international approach to climate, sustainability and environment teaching and learning. By bringing together natural and social sciences, you’ll explore a range of interconnected themes crucial to understanding and addressing the climate and biodiversity emergencies.

Pathway themes include:

• Energy, resources and consumption
• Environmental change
• Sustainable societies
• Nature’s recovery

Within these themes, topics include the energy transition, conservation and habitat management, adaptation and mitigation for a low-carbon future, sustainable waste and resource management, social and environmental justice, and disaster risk reduction.

You’ll also have the opportunity to study and work abroad, with the possibility of funding through the Turing scheme.

Course-level support

At every level of study, students are given the opportunity to thrive, culturally, personally and professionally. Throughout your learning journey, you’ll experience a range of dedicated support, such as:

• Access to specialist support services to help with your personal, academic and career development
• Access to our Skills Centre with one-to-ones, webinars and online resources, where you can get help with planning and structuring your assignments
• Access to support, resources, employer events and opportunities from your Careers & Employability Team

Modules

Year 1

• Contemporary Issues In Social Science 1
  • Credits: 60
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • This module examines a number of contemporary themes and issues relevant to the study of psychology, sociology, social policy, politics and international relations, geography, and sustainable environmental management.
• Contemporary Issues In Social Science 2
  • Credits: 60
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • This module examines a number of contemporary themes and issues relevant to the study of psychology, sociology, social policy, politics and international relations, geography and sustainable environmental management.

Year 2

• Building A Sustainable Future
  • Credits: 20
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • Module aim: To develop an understanding of the pathways to a sustainable future for people and planet.
• How Did We Get Here? Climate Change From Deep Time To The Anthropocene
  • Credits: 20
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • Module aim: This module will develop key foundational knowledge of Earth System Science, climate change through deep and historical time, the concept of the Anthropocene, and social drivers of the climate emergency.
• Skills And Tools For Tackling Global Environmental Challenges
  • Credits: 60
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • Module aim: This module will enable you to develop techniques and professional skills which build a foundation for your future studies and career.
• Under Pressure – The Impacts Of The Climate Crisis
  • Credits: 20
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • Module aim: The module will introduce you to the interdependence between climate change and biodiversity decline, examining the key drivers of global biodiversity loss and how they directly and indirectly relate to climate change.

Year 3

• Climate Change And Sustainability In Research And Practice.
  • Credits: 40
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • Module aim: This module aims to develop understanding of how to design, plan and co-ordinate research in a range of settings (lab and field) to tackle challenges related to the climate crisis, sustainability and environmental management.
• Fieldwork And Gis For Global Challenges
  • Credits: 40
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • Module aim: To use fieldwork and spatial research toolkits to explore a range of global challenges in distinct geographical contexts.
• Global Climate Emergency
  • Credits: 20
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • Module Aim: The Global Climate Emergency module aims to enable students to learn in a multi-disciplinary and international environment, focussed on introducing the biggest challenge in the world – the Climate Emergency.
• Leave No One Behind: Just Transitions To A Sustainable Future
  • Credits: 20
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • Module aim: To develop an understanding of the spatial distribution of climate vulnerabilities and consumption inequalities, and the initiatives to address them, in order to understand how transition projects will have the most impact in terms of environmental benefit and lifestyle change.

Year 4

• Placement
  • Credits: -
  • Assessment: -
  • Module aim: The aim of this module is to enhance students’ professional development through the completion of and reflection on meaningful work placement(s).
• Independent Discovery And Communication
  • Credits: 60
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • Module aim: This module aims to enable you to gain further research skills with hands-on training in a range of data collection and analytical methods in different environmental areas.
• Living Well In A Low Carbon Future
  • Credits: 20
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • Module aim: This module aims to develop a deep understanding of approaches to developing sustainable societies of the future and the opportunities, challenges and transitional processes involved in changing the way we live.
• Living With Hazard And Risk
  • Credits: 20
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • Module aim: This module aims to provide a holistic and global understanding of the interconnected natural and social elements of Disaster Risk Reduction, by examining a range of climate-related, geophysical, hydrological, and industrial hazards.
• Nature Recovery And Sustainable Resource Management
  • Credits: 20
  • Assessment: Coursework 100%
  • Module aim: This module aims to provide in depth knowledge and understanding of different approaches to nature recovery and natural resource management.

Future careers

This course prepares you for a career in:

• Sustainability consultancy
• Environmental consultancy
• Ecology and biodiversity consultancy
• Climate change governance and policy
• Energy and resources
• Waste management
• Green infrastructure
• Environmental science
• Geospatial modelling
• Wildlife conservation
• Academic research and think tanks
• Teaching

You can also work in climate and sustainability roles in many other sectors, including law, business, finance and management.

Equipment and facilities

We’ve invested over £100m in new facilities to help you study how and when you want. This means 24-hour libraries and study spaces designed by our students.

On this course you will have access to:

• A wide range of field equipment for sampling, surveying, measuring and monitoring the natural environment
• Cutting-edge laboratories for analysing environmental materials and contaminants
• An engineering laboratory with a hydraulic flume
• Various Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software packages and technology
• A bespoke resources room for group work, IT work and quiet study

Where will I study?

You study at City Campus through a structured mix of lectures, seminars and practical sessions as well as access to digital and online resources to support your learning.

Entry requirements

• UCAS points: 64
• GCSE: English Language at grade C or 4 or equivalent, Maths at grade C or 4 or equivalent
• ACCESS: Access to HE Diploma, with at least 45 level 3 credits.

If English is not your first language, you will need an IELTS score of 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in all skills, or equivalent.

Fees and funding

• Home students: £5,760 for the foundation year and £9,535 per year for the degree (capped at a maximum of 20% of this during your placement year)
• International students: £17,155 per year (capped at a maximum of 20% of this during your placement year)

Additional course costs

The links below allow you to view estimated general course additional costs, as well as costs associated with key activities on specific courses. These are estimates and are intended only as an indication of potential additional expenses. Actual costs can vary greatly depending on the choices you make during your course.

General course additional costs

Additional costs for Sheffield Institute of Social Sciences (PDF, 255.2KB)