Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Environmental Humanities (MA) (2023 Entry)

Environmental Humanities students sitting on grass, surrounded by lots of daffodils

Explore our Environmental Humanities taught Master's degree.

Warwick is a thriving hub of Environmental HumanitiesLink opens in a new window research and teaching. The Environmental Humanities MA at Warwick draws on renowned expertise across the English Department, the wider Arts Faculty and specialist centres across the University to enhance your knowledge of the ways in which culture engages with the crucial environmental and ecological issues of our age.


Course overview

The MA in Environmental Humanities at Warwick will introduce you to major debates around climate change, the Anthropocene, energy, sustainability, ecological futures and environmental justice. Drawing on a combination of seminars, research projects and fieldwork, you will deepen your critical understanding of key ecological concepts and methods, while developing your competence in analysing the implications and developments of the global environmental crisis and ongoing climate emergency. As important, you will be given the opportunity to think creatively about ways of connecting theory and practice.

Considering your position as a scholar and environmentally attuned global citizen, this MA will immerse you in the study of cultural responses to ecological questions from across the globe. You will take a core module in the history, theory and methodology of Environmental Humanities, choose from a range of modules that address various perspectives on climate change, environment, sustainability and ecology, and undertake fieldwork or write a dissertation on an (approved) topic of your choice with a specialised supervisor.


General entry requirements

Minimum requirements

65% in an undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a related subject.

Applicants may be required to provide a writing sample and/or personal statement to demonstrate suitability for the course.*

*For example, those applicants from a non-Humanities background but with strong elements in Environmental Studies


English language requirements

You can find out more about our English language requirementsLink opens in a new window. This course requires the following:

  • Band C
  • IELTS overall score of 7.5, minimum component scores of two at 6.5/7.0 and the rest at 7.5 or above.

International qualifications

We welcome applications from students with other internationally recognised qualifications.

For more information, please visit the international entry requirements pageLink opens in a new window.


Additional requirements

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Core modules

Critical Environments

Critical Environments introduces key topics, concepts, methodologies and theoretical debates in the emergent field of environmental humanities, with special attention to its interdisciplinary origins. It allows students to navigate their own subsequent pathways through the MA in Environmental Humanities, depending on individual research interest. You will develop an informed perspective on a variety of areas, from debates over nature to the cultural registration of natural ecologies, histories and trajectories of pollution and waste, ecopoetics, the emergence of the Anthropocene, the energy humanities, ecological imperialism and more, all analysed through a world-ecological lens unique to Warwick Environmental Humanities. The module will provide a focused understanding of the cultural challenges in responding to such topics as climate change, environmental despoliation, species extinction, media ecology and truly sustainable futures.

Dissertation

The Dissertation offers you the opportunity to pursue your own research interests. You can develop any idea you’ve discovered in your modules or write on a completely new topic that matters to you. Our students choose an array of topics within the broadly conceived boundaries of ‘environmental humanities’: we’ll discuss your plans with you to make sure an available member of our teaching staff can support your topic.

Students often use their MA dissertations as springboards for PhD projects and have sometimes gone on to publish their work in scholarly journals.

You are also able to fulfil the dissertation requirement by opting for an extended fieldwork project, which will allow you to carry out your research using a combination of qualitative data-gathering and written analysis.


Optional modules

Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:

  • Petrofiction: Studies in World Literature
  • World Literature in the Anthropocene
  • Ecopoetics
  • Early Modern Ecologies
  • The Caribbean: Reading the World Ecology
  • Culture and Global Sustainable Development
  • Ecological Futures: Transdisciplinary Approaches
  • Ecologies: Science, Media and Culture
  • Managing Creativity for Sustainable Development
  • Urban Data
  • Media, Policy and Markets

For more information, please visit the Environmental Humanities webpageLink opens in a new window on the English website.

Teaching

The MA in Environmental Humanities comprises the core module, Critical Environments, three further optional modules, and a Dissertation of 16,000 words or an equivalent fieldwork project. You can take one of your three optional modules from outside of the Faculty, including from the Centre for Global Sustainable Development (GSD), the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM), or the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL).

For more information, please visit the Environmental Humanities webpageLink opens in a new window on the English website.


Class sizes

Seminars consist of 5 to 12 students.


Typical contact hours

Contact hours comprise 4 hours of seminars a week, 2 office hours per member of staff, weekly reading groups, workshops and research seminars, and one-to-one Dissertation or fieldwork supervision in terms 2 and 3.


Assessment

All essays are marked by two members of staff. The standard length for essays in modules on this course is 6,000 words; the Dissertation is 16,000 words. Marks are given out of 100.

For more information, please visit the Environmental Humanities webpageLink opens in a new window on the English website.


Reading lists

Most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library. If you would like to view reading lists for the current cohort of students, you can visit our Warwick Library web pageLink opens in a new window.


Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you, and you will be able to choose your optional modules when you join us.

Your career

Graduates from these courses have gone on to work for a range of employers, including: Deloitte; International Institute for Environment and Development; TeachFirst; The Times; V&A Museum; Yale University Press. They have pursued roles such as: arts officers, producers and directors; higher education teaching professionals; journalists, newspaper and periodical editors; management consultants and business analysts and marketing associate professionals.

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:

  • Understanding Assessment Centres
  • Careers following your English and Comparative Literary Studies Degree
  • Discovering Careers in the Creative Industries
  • Careers in Publishing and Journalism
  • Freelancing
  • Careers in the Public Sector
  • Warwick careers fairs throughout the year

English and Comparative Literary Studies at Warwick

Have the freedom to follow your own path.

We’re fond of freedom at Warwick. Freedom to learn, through an enormous array of modules to suit your interests, and through a range of innovative assessment techniques. You’re also free to explore the award-winning Warwick Arts Centre on campus, or you can travel further afield and visit the home of Shakespeare in Stratford or immerse yourself in the poetry scene in Leamington Spa and Birmingham. You can build your skills in public engagement with the Warwick Institute of Engagement and become involved in our exciting international consortia, including EUTOPIA and the Monash Warwick Alliance.

In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, the Department ranked among the top 10 in the country for research environment: a great place for graduate study.

Find out more about us on our website.Link opens in a new window


Our Postgraduate courses

Tuition fees

Tuition fees are payable for each year of your course at the start of the academic year, or at the start of your course, if later. Academic fees cover the cost of tuition, examinations and registration and some student amenities.

Taught course fees  Research course fees


Fee Status Guidance

We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.

Do you need your fee classification to be reviewed?

If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.

Find out more about how universities assess fee status

Additional course costs

As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad.

For departmental specific costs, please see the Modules tab on the course web page for the list of core and optional core modules with hyperlinks to our Module Catalogue (please visit the Department’s website if the Module Catalogue hyperlinks are not provided).

Associated costs can be found on the Study tab for each module listed in the Module Catalogue (please note most of the module content applies to 2022/23 year of study). Information about module department specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below:

  • Core text books
  • Printer credits
  • Dissertation binding
  • Robe hire for your degree ceremony

Scholarships and bursaries

Scholarships and financial support

Find out about the different funding routes available, including; postgraduate loans, scholarships, fee awards and academic department bursaries.

Living costs

Find out more about the cost of living as a postgraduate student at the University of Warwick.

Find out how to apply to us, ask your questions, and find out more.

Taught course applications

Here is our checklist on how to apply for taught postgraduate courses at Warwick.

Research course applications

Here is our checklist on how to apply for research postgraduate degrees at the University of Warwick.

After you’ve applied

Find out how we process your application.

Applicant Portal

Track your application and update your details.

Admissions statement

See Warwick’s postgraduate admissions policy.

Join a live chat

Ask questions and engage with Warwick.

Postgraduate Open Day

Our Postgraduate Virtual Open Day will help you find out more about your course of interest, as well as general topics like applying to Warwick, accommodation, careers and funding.
Please register your interest to be the first to hear when booking opens.

Postgraduate fairs

Throughout the year we attend exhibitions and fairs online and in the UK. These events give you the chance to learn about our Master's and PhD study routes, and the wider context of postgraduate study.

Find out more

Live chats

Every week, you can connect directly with representatives from Warwick, who will be answering your questions on applying to and studying postgraduate studies at Warwick.

Sign up for Live Chats

Departmental events

Some academic departments hold events for specific postgraduate programmes, these are fantastic opportunities to learn more about Warwick and your chosen department and course.

See our online departmental events

Connect with us

Want to hear more about postgraduate study at Warwick? Register your interest and find out more.