Global food security means ensuring that everyone, everywhere, always has access to an affordable supply of safe and nutritious food. Today, up to a billion people remain undernourished, while many others face health issues linked to over-consumption. This interdisciplinary module explores the wide range of local and global factors that influence food availability, accessibility and utilisation. You’ll examine what makes a diet healthy and how access to key nutrients can be improved, for example through fish consumption or crop biofortification. The module also looks at how climate change affects food production, by influencing key biological processes like photosynthesis and reproductive development. You’ll explore the complex interplay between food, water and energy security, and assess the environmental footprint of the global food system, recognising the diverse needs and priorities of local communities who depend on food-producing regions.

Delve into the fate and behaviour of chemical contaminants in different environmental systems, while considering relevant fundamental principles and processes.

You will support theory through case studies taken from recent peer-reviewed sources. You will gain an understanding of the fundamental principles relating to the fate and behaviour of contaminants in the environment. This will be specifically relating to the movement of chemicals between and within environmental media, specific biological, chemical and physical processes controlling the fate of contaminants in soil, water and air, and the prediction of the spatial and temporal behaviour and impact of contaminants using well-established models.

At a generic level, you will gain skills for reviewing scientific literature, formulating robust scientific arguments and using a range of information resources for research projects.

Chemical contamination is one of the ten ‘planetary boundaries’, which, according to some of the world’s most eminent scientists, should not be crossed. The reasons are self-evident; a contaminated world is an unsafe world – for society and the environment. Even the most advanced nations suffer, directly or indirectly, from pollution, whether the source is thousands of kilometres away or just down the street.

Through a combination of lectures and workshop-based activities, you will gain an understanding of the scale of the pollution problem, the fate, behaviour and impact of pollutants in the environment, especially in terrestrial systems, the processes developed to assess the risk and potential impact of pollution, and how we use scientific understanding to reduce the impact of pollution on the environment and society.

The knowledge and skills that you will gain from this module will support your ambitions for further research or employment in the regulatory and private sectors.

Take a critical, yet hands-on approach to exploring the role of eco-innovation as a pathway towards sustainable development.

Through action-learning, you will identify and address complex real-world sustainability challenges by developing your own eco-innovation proposals – viable ideas with the potential to reduce human impact on the environment whilst simultaneously delivering the economic and social ambitions of the global sustainable development agenda.

Working in small teams, you will combine key sustainability concepts and business planning approaches to develop effective eco-innovations. Throughout, you will gain valuable transferable skills including team working, problem analysis and framing, and effective oral and written communication to professional and non-academic audiences.

By the end of the module, you will be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of the forefront of eco-innovation for sustainable development, along with practical skills and increased confidence to help you drive change in real world professional environments.

How do we make the decisions that will stop climate change, reverse the biodiversity crisis, keep our rivers clean and cope with a host of other environmental issues while providing the jobs, houses, renewable energy and other things we need for a high quality of life? This module will introduce you to the fast-moving world of environmental decision making through Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and the new approach of Environmental Outcome Reports (EORs). We take a practical approach, including site visits, to see how information is gathered and processed on plans, programmes and projects that may have a significant effect on the environment, and we explain the process, law, and key players right through to a decision. This practical approach helps you to gain confidence so that you’re ready to create and present a case either for or against a scheme.

This field-based, interdisciplinary module puts you at the heart of environmental sustainability case studies right on our doorstep in Lancaster. These may include:

• Pollution at Windermere
• Habitat restoration in the Cumbrian Lake District
• The energy transition from coal mines to renewables
• Innovative waste management schemes
• Local food initiatives

With each case study, our academic and research staff work alongside external stakeholders in the identification, assessment, and remediation of environmental challenges.

Our most pressing environmental sustainability challenges include biodiversity loss, climate change, waste and pollution management, uncertain food security and dwindling resources. There is an ever-increasing demand for graduates versed in these complex issues, whose critical thinking and original, creative problem-solving can make a difference.

You’ll gain both first-hand knowledge relevant to careers in environmental sustainability, and experience in effective communication that cuts across disciplinary boundaries and brings together the University, the private sector, and the wider public.

How are we transforming the way we supply and use energy to achieve our climate targets? On this cross-disciplinary module, you will look at the major changes underway within our energy system.

Examine decarbonisation pathways in electricity, transport and heat, whilst considering supply and demand dynamics and carbon removal. As part of this, you will investigate real-world challenges at the forefront of the discipline, including how to govern the energy system, economics, societal engagement, and energy security. You will gain real-world insight into complex related issues via interactions with energy professionals, using the University energy system as a case study.

The dissertation allows you to conduct an independent research project that is at the forefront of the discipline, focusing on a specific topic relevant to your degree programme and interests. Throughout, you will receive one-to-one support from an academic.

This is the largest piece of work that you will complete during your degree and depending on your subject area, will enable you to develop skills including:

• Formulating a research question
• Contextualising it within research literature
• Identifying and using appropriate research methods and techniques to address your question
• Collecting and analysing data
• Interpreting and communicating your findings

You will be expected to present your findings in an extensive report akin to a research paper. In this, you will demonstrate your ability to conduct rigorous, independent research whilst working effectively with others, attributes valued by future employers.

Explore fundamental soil processes, from the physical, to the chemical and biological, the value of sustainable soil management, and the challenges faced by soils in the light of global change.

You will gain an advanced understanding of the research that underpins our knowledge of soil formation, soil structure and soil chemistry, together with the cycling of nutrients, water and carbon within soils.

You will additionally examine soil biology and biodiversity, and the interaction between soil microbes, and soil biota and plants with respect to soil processes. Finally, you will critically assess the role of soils in addressing sustainability challenges, such as climate mitigation.

Explore in-depth aquatic ecology, focusing on both freshwater and marine ecosystems. You will examine key ecological concepts such as species interactions, energy flow, nutrient cycling and ecosystem functioning across different aquatic environments. The module will explore how physical, chemical and biological factors shape the structure and dynamics of both marine and freshwater habitats. Through case studies, fieldwork and practical applications, you will investigate the ecological processes in lakes, rivers, coastal zones and oceans and develop skills in data analysis, biological monitoring and conservation strategies. Special attention will be given to the conservation and management of aquatic habitats, with a focus on sustainable practices. You will develop a broad understanding of aquatic ecology and the skills required to address contemporary challenges in both freshwater and marine environments.

Catchments are increasingly understood as complex and highly interconnected systems. This presents significant challenges for those who manage land and water resources within catchments, but also a range of novel and timely research opportunities. In this context, you will gain an understanding, through practical experience, of key research and management challenges that may face catchments in the future. You will draw on the latest land and water management frameworks used in catchments across the UK and Europe as a basis.

After analysing these frameworks and identifying significant challenges, you will use a combination of field, laboratory and data analysis techniques to investigate research questions focused on the condition of land and water resources within catchments. Case studies will be drawn from the English Lake District, including work within Windermere’s catchment at the heart of a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This module will introduce you to the increasingly holistic approach to conservation, emphasising the interplay between ecological and social systems, that recognises human behaviours, economic pressures and cultural values alongside biological factors.

You will discover how conservation is as much about human behaviours and values as it is about species and biological diversity. You will also begin to understand that conservation science has come to recognise the complex nature of environmental challenges, requiring a blend of knowledge from various disciplines. While the foundations of conservation are still in traditional biology, the incorporation of social sciences, economics and law are increasing.

You will explore the need for collaboration across diverse stakeholders. Through case studies, you will learn to apply interdisciplinary frameworks to real-world scenarios, to recognise and engage with the often-conflicting values and priorities. On completion of the module you will be prepared for careers in conservation organisations, government agencies and research institutions, empowering you to become effective agents of environmental change.

Advances in environmental science increasingly rely on diverse data collected through a wide range of sensors and instruments. This module equips you with the skills to access, process and interpret varied digital datasets, using modern techniques and software underpinned by scientific rigour. You’ll learn how to critically assess data quality, recognise potential errors and apply methods to minimise their impact. Through real-world examples drawn from across the environmental sciences, you’ll gain confidence in working with complex, multi-source data and understand the value of integrating different data streams.

Employers in the ecology and conservation sector place significant value on field skills as they are essential for effective, hands-on data collection and analysis. You will gain knowledge of identification of plants and animals to different taxonomic level depending on the group. The module also focuses on practical methods of sampling populations, monitoring habitats and assessing biodiversity and ecosystem services, which are crucial for understanding ecosystem health and supporting conservation efforts. You will also develop sampling protocols, collect data from the field and use analytical techniques to address ecological questions. The module has a strong field component taking advantages of the natural habitats both in campus and the protected landscapes near Lancaster.

Build a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the data analysis and programming techniques that increasingly underpin environmental and Earth sciences and are equally relevant to research and employment. To begin, you will be introduced to methods for using computer programming for analysis and visualisation of environmental science data. Using a modern programming language (e.g. Python) and interactive development environments (e.g. Jupyter Notebook), you will then develop the skills necessary to use programming in conjunction with large datasets and modelling systems that feature throughout environmental science.

You will explore the fundamental tools of programming, running code in interactive development environments, editing, commenting, debugging, and using variables, loops, conditional statements and functions. Once you have mastered these tools, you will develop proficiency in programming for statistical analysis, hypothesis testing and data visualisation, and gain experience in planning and implementing tasks at a professional level.

Develop a critical understanding of the core concepts, tools and strategies used in managing natural resources and the environment. This module places strong emphasis on tackling the complexity, uncertainty and conflict that often characterises real-world environmental challenges. You’ll explore a range of management approaches suited to rapidly changing or ‘turbulent’ conditions and examine contemporary environmental issues through both academic and policy lenses. By engaging in constructive debate, you’ll refine your ability to evaluate competing arguments and evidence and demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of alternative management frameworks.

We introduce you to the fundamental principles of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing and demonstrate how these complementary technologies may be used to capture/derive, manipulate, integrate, analyse and display different forms of spatially-referenced environmental data. We blend theory-led lectures with hands-on practical sessions using state-of-the-art software. Alongside core subject knowledge, you'll build transferable skills in synthesising geographical data, developing problem-solving strategies, managing your time effectively and presenting analysis through innovative graphical formats.

Geological hazards, especially earthquakes, landslides and volcanic eruptions, endanger lives and livelihoods – disproportionately in vulnerable areas – and cause economic losses and infrastructure damage. Effective hazard management requires detailed understanding of the underlying physical processes, use of appropriate monitoring techniques to assess hazards and rigorous policymaking. In this module you’ll learn, via numerous case studies, how the boundaries of our knowledge of geological hazards are advanced by ongoing research. You’ll gain understanding of why landslides occur and the geomechanical models underpinning slope failure analysis and why faults slip. You will look at the probabilistic models used in seismic hazard assessment and how volcanic unrest and eruption relates to physical processes in magmatic systems. You will gain employability-relevant experience of geological hazards, which integrates field, remote sensing and modelling approaches and includes a site survey of a local landslide. You will thus develop systematic and creative approaches to identifying and solving problems.

Through this module, you will explore the shift in humanity’s relationship to the living world and its irreducible, but novel and creative, ‘global’ dimensions of environmental sustainability.

Confronted by unprecedented global environmental challenges, the current response is too superficial and slow. Addressing these problems demands acknowledging their multidimensional nature by situating them in regard to other extraordinary global challenges: socio-technical, cultural, geo-political. Indeed, pressing issues of ‘global’ environmental sustainability are inseparable from an ongoing, turbulent process constructing the ‘global’ – even the ‘planetary’ – as a new horizon of collective action and responsibility

Starting with China’s ‘ecological civilisation’, you will then rethink sustainability from other perspectives from across the world (e.g. south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America) and diverse sectors of society.

Altogether, this requires profound transformation of multiple core concepts of socio-environmental understanding and ways of thinking, including integration of worldviews beyond dominant Western perspectives.

Groundwater is the largest freshwater reservoir on the planet; in many parts of the world it is the main (or only) source of freshwater. Groundwater is not only a major source of drinking water, it sustains river flow, plays a critical role in food security and can also influence the structural properties of the ground. In this module you will learn how we can access this water reservoir and how natural and human-influenced disturbances can impact on the availability of groundwater and its quality. You will also be given in-field training on groundwater investigation techniques and gain hands-on experience of using groundwater models to tackle practical problems. You will also learn about some topical issues related to groundwater resources, globally.

Develop your understanding of the ecological principles of habitat management for biodiversity conservation and how these can be applied to manage a range of priority habitats in the UK. Looking at a range of habitat types you will critically examine the construction of their habitat management plans. Following this you will gain experience in writing such a plan with specified conservation objectives, threats identified and management actions defined. You will learn how to take into account the dynamic nature of ecosystems and conflicts of interest in land use. The module is taught by a mix of lectures and workshops on campus and excursions to local nature reserves where you will interact with reserve managers and take part in field activities.

Explore debates around ‘Environment’ and ‘Development’ through a critical geographical lens. Trace the evolution of discourse at intersection of these issues, movements and policies, critically situating notions such as sustainable development against the backdrop of changing geographies of global inequality.

You will draw on critical environmental studies, political ecology and post-development, as you tackle themes that include climate politics, rural development and food sovereignty, neoliberal conservation approaches and their discontents, indigenous knowledges, environmental justice movements, and post-growth approaches.

Through a combination of lectures and workshop activities, gain the necessary insights and theoretical tools for understanding critical debates around environment and development, while also training how to construct reasoned arguments through critical evaluation of evidence, understanding theory-practice relationships, and writing in an academic register.

Through a combination of lectures, workshop and field-based activities, you will gain a ‘whole system view’ that cuts across disciplines. With a foundation in ongoing research, this will enable you to refine your skills in critical thinking and creative problem solving.

Your new knowledge and skills will provide a springboard for further study or employment focused on a major societal challenge.