Global Development and Environment MSc

University of Bristol

More of the world’s extreme poor now live in middle-income than in low-income countries, and processes such as climate change, transnational migration and globalisation demand a global consideration of the state of the planet. ‘Development’ is now being seen as a global process and activity, rather than something reserved for a subset of countries such as the ‘Third World’ or ‘Global South’.

Contemporary global challenges demand the linking of environmental issues to conventional foci of development (like health, urbanisation, poverty, food security and migration). They also demand an understanding of how the world’s resources (water, energy, land, minerals, demography, etc.) are allocated and managed, and how contestations over these distributions play out.

This programme is aimed at talented graduates seeking to develop or enhance their expertise in the fields of development and environment. You will develop the capacity to critically analyse the large-scale drivers of environmental consumption and stewardship, and how these interlink with and produce developmental outcomes.

You will gain a perspective that is at once global and interdisciplinary while also paying attention to locality (place) and people’s agency in forging a just and sustainable future.

This programme is unique in the UK context; no other UK university offers a programme explicitly linking global development with environmental topics. It builds upon Bristol’s existing research strengths in these fields, with links to the University's Cabot Institute, Perivoli Africa Research Centre, Elizabeth Blackwell Institute, Jean Golding Institute, and Bristol Poverty Institute.