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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.