The programme draws on the expertise of leading anthropologists to explore a wide range of human-environment relations and contemporary environmental issues. The programme fosters an understanding of how humans interact with their environment and how it becomes meaningful in different ways to different people, with a focus on areas such as conservation, landscape, relations with animals and plants and indigenous rights. There is a strong emphasis on how these different perceptions and meanings influence the political, economic and ecological dimensions of environmental issues, from conflicts over predators to debates over water management. In addition to building an informed understanding of the issues, the programme also encourages students to examine and question underlying assumptions about the possible causes and solutions to environmental problems, how people relate to other beings that share our environment and the contribution that social sciences can make to understanding environmental relations.

The programme is designed for students who seek to deepen their understanding of human-environment relations, who wish to develop vocational skills in the environmental field, or aim to carry out postgraduate research. The programme will be of interest to you if you are an anthropology graduate but will also be attractive if you have studied biology, ecology, environmental sciences or geography and wish to develop a social science dimension to your thinking and approach.