Escalating rates of environmental and climate change are forcing us to re-evaluate our management of agricultural and natural habitats. The competing demands on agricultural land for food production and for bioenergy provision must be reconciled with environmental stewardship and mitigation of climate change. This MSc provides a timely and integrated perspective on environmental bioscience, management, societal matters and regulation as these relate to issues such as sustainable production of food and provision of ecosystem services.

Core Modules

• Environmental Protection, Risk Assessment and Safety
• Soil, Sustainability and the Environment
• Biosciences, Politics and Social Acceptability
• Project/Work Placement/Dissertation
• Environmental Accounting
• Climate Change
• Organic and Low Input Systems
• Biological Invasions in Changing Environments
• Biodiversity, Conversation and Ecosystem Services
• Microbiomics and Metagenomics
• Challenges of Global Food Security

Optional Modules

Previously, a selection of the following options have been offered:

• Marketing Management
• Business Strategy
• Habitability in the Universe

Our optional module lists are subject to change each year to keep the student learning experience current and up-to-date. You can find the most up to date list on the Life Sciences website.

Teaching

You will be taught by a multidisciplinary teaching faculty including staff from Life Sciences and Warwick Business School, joined by lecturers with internationally acknowledged academic, industrial and government expertise.

Teaching is via facilitated sessions, including interactive lectures, short question and answer sessions and interactive workshops/tutorials and field visits. Individual and team learning will be used for case study analysis.

Contact hours and class sizes

Depending on the module contact hours vary between 15-25 per week and class sizes vary between 5 to 90 students.

Assessment

Assessment is continuous and varies between modules. It typically includes essays, seminar presentations, practical reports, oral evaluation and assessed group work. You will undertake an individual project during the third term and there is an option to undertake a work-based placement as part of your project. Your project/placement will be assessed by a seminar presentation and either a 15,000 word thesis or a 6,000 word journal article.

Skills from this degree

You will gain:

• The ability to evaluate the impacts of climate change locally and globally
• The ability to understand and evaluate the factors contributing to soil, air and water quality and recognise their roles in food production and society values
• Understanding of the roles different land management practices have on local, regional and global ecosystems
• Transferable skills including team working, communicating with peers and sector specialists, organising, planning and oral presentation
• Research skills including scientific report writing, evaluation of environmental accounts, problem solving, data analysis and project work

Minimum requirements 2:ii undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a related subject

English language requirements Band A
IELTS overall score of 6.5, minimum component scores not below 6.0

International Students
We welcome applications from students with other internationally recognised qualifications. For more information please visit the international entry requirements page.

For up-to-date information concerning fees, funding and scholarships for Home, EU and Overseas students please visit Warwick's Fees and Funding webpage.

Warwick alumni are also eligible for an additional School of Life Sciences 10% tuition fee discount.

Additional Course Costs

All students in Life Sciences are strongly encouraged to buy a computer, at an approximate cost of £600.

Students are expected to have suitable clothing for field trips, including waterproof coat and footwear.

Scholarships

Up to two SLS Excellence Scholarships may be awarded as a 50% reduction of course fees, across all Masters courses. Awards will be based on past academic achievement and experience, motivation for study, extracurricular activities and vision for the future.

Graduates from the School of Life Sciences taught Masters courses have gone on to work for employers including: Pfizer; Severn Trent Water; Eurofins Agroscience Services; Novartis; Philips Healthcare; Rothamstead Research; NGO Client Earth and Public Health England. They have pursued roles such as: research associate, science editor, regulatory affairs officer, marketing manager, business and financial project management professionals, environmental health professionals, agronomist, and climate change consultant.

Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant offering impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:

• Careers in Life Sciences Networking Event
• Careers in Science
• Warwick careers fairs throughout the year
• Mock Interviews for Life Sciences students
• Interested in Careers in Scientific Publishing

There are a number of different ways to visit the University of Warwick throughout the year. We host bespoke PG visits, where you can talk directly with your chosen department and explore our campus through a personalised tour. Some departments also host their own events and open days, where you can learn more about your department or course of study. To find out more about all of these opportunities, visit our Postgraduate Visits page.