Everything you need to know...
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What is the fee?
Home: £10,620 for the course
International/EU: £17,725 for the course -
How long will I study?
1 Year
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Where will I study?
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When do I start?
September 2025
Course summary
- Study an interdisciplinary course aligned to professional environmental management.
- Develop your own ideas and competencies for a career in the sector.
- Complete an independent research project into a real-world environmental problem.
- Learn from and alongside active environmental practitioners and experts.
- Explore local and global challenges in climate change and ecological recovery.
Our MSc Environmental Management course prepares you for a career in the environment sector. You’ll tackle global challenges by creatively applying environmental knowledge, critical analysis of evidence and collaborative engagement with wicked problems, in often complex and complicated socio-environmental systems.
Graduate view
'The course helped me understand some of the big environmental issues of the 21st century - climate change and sustainable development – and how we might tackle these. I would definitely say that it helped me get to where I am now in my career.'
Nikky Wilson, MSc Environmental Management, 2017 graduate now working for the Environment Agency
Come to an open day
Find out more at our postgraduate open days. Book now for your place.
How you learn
Your lecturer’s view
This interdisciplinary course prepares you to tackle grand global challenges alongside other graduate students from a broad range of backgrounds.
Applied teaching and learning outcomes are strongly aligned to the development of professional competencies for a career in the water and environmental management sector. Our syllabus is set within the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the latest environmental policy frameworks at international, national and local levels.
You’ll explore and critically assess the core skills, tools, ethics and practices of environmental management. Your learning will be assessed through coursework in a wide and accessible range of forms.
You learn through:
- large group lectures to introduce core themes
- expert practitioner guest speakers
- smaller group seminars and workshops
- IT laboratories and field visits
- practical exercises
- professional skills portfolios
- academic essays
- presentations
- a published book chapter
- a major independent project
Key Themes
You’ll explore primary and secondary data gathering, processing and analysis using Geographical Information Systems. You’ll present and interpret spatial data and its integration in decision-making processes. You’ll also examine modern environmental management case studies from around the world, exploring the ethics, values and motivations that drive action.
You’ll extend your practical skills to core areas of environmental management practice, such as environmental management systems, habitat assessment, water safety planning, life-cycle assessment and multi-hazard disaster risk reduction. You’ll develop your understanding of the major global environmental challenges that environmental managers face, identifying solutions through systems-level change, underpinned by the cultures and dynamics of human-environment relationships.
The course is strongly aligned to environment sector professional standards and competencies. Critical self-assessment, reflective practice and continuous professional skills planning are developed and assessed as a core component of every module. You’ll also complete an independent project – identifying, designing and undertaking research on a subject related to the course material and the range of academic expertise in the department.
Course support
You’ll be supported to gain the applied skills and knowledge to work at the cutting-edge of environmental management across a wide range of sectors – from government to private sector. Our curriculum teaching is supported by a dedicated academic adviser and project supervisor, as well as a wide range of online and in-person study skills support services.
You’ll also be supported to conceive, design, implement and write up a significant piece of independent research work – supervised by professional and academic experts with extensive research experience – with the opportunity to tackle real-world environmental problems posed by practitioner partners.
Course leaders and tutors
Dr Jonathan Bridge
Associate Professor in Environmental GeoscienceI am an environmental geoscientist, researching the ways in which human activity affects the physical environment and try to find solutions to the ways in which the … Read more
Applied learning
Live projects
Our course is intrinsically international in scope, with a historically diverse student body bringing experience from around the world, plus a network of academic partnerships which enable us to engage with live projects and case studies in a wide range of contexts. You’ll have opportunities to work collaboratively alongside cohorts of students in other parts of the world.
Field trips
We work closely with local partners managing environmental projects throughout the Sheffield region, with opportunities to visit sites, understanding management issues and collecting data for analysis in your assessed work. Field classes and site visits have included local nature reserves and urban sites managed by our partners Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust, Yorkshire Water and Sheffield City Council.
Many of our students build on these opportunities and develop independent projects with these partners, which involve more extended fieldwork campaigns to answer a detailed research question.
Networking opportunities
All our modules offer components delivered by guest lecturers from our practitioner partner organisations. You’ll have opportunities to present your work and network with these partners in winter and summer events, which you’ll co-produce with our academic research groups.
You’ll complete short-course style training in industry-standard techniques. You’ll also take part in fieldwork and site visits alongside professional practitioners, offering extensive network-building and short work experience opportunities.
MSc Environmental Management is embedded within our partnership with five major regional environmental organisations involved in long-term management of the Sheffield landscape. Our applied teaching draws on this relationship with Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust, Natural England, Sheffield City Council, Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency, offering opportunities for co-curricular conservation volunteering, technical research projects and professional placements.
Future careers
This course prepares you for a career in the professional environmental management sector, for example as:
- an environment and sustainability consultant
- a conservation project manager (with suitable extra-curricular experience)
- an environment officer in local or national government
- a sustainability lead in the private sector
It also provides a solid base for progressing to further research or teaching in environmental disciplines.
Recent graduates of this course have gone on to work for:
- the Environment Agency
- wildlife trusts
- the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
- AECOM
- renewable energy consultancy
- Derbyshire County Council
- university research departments
- international government departments
Where will I study?
You study at City Campus through a structured mix of lectures, seminars and practical sessions as well as access to digital and online resources to support your learning.
City Campus
City Campus is located in the heart of Sheffield, within minutes of the train and bus stations.
City Campus map | City Campus tour
Adsetts library
Adsetts Library is located on our City Campus. It's open 24 hours a day, every day.
Learn moreLearn more about your department
Natural and Built Environment Facilities Tour
Take a look around the natural and built environment facilities at Sheffield Hallam University with lecturer Camila Bassi.
Equipment and facilities
The course is based in modern, state-of-the-art university facilities in the heart of Sheffield city centre. Classes are delivered in lecture theatres and well-equipped seminar rooms, as well as specialist IT laboratories. Informal work and meeting spaces are distributed throughout the campus and in our well-resourced Adsetts library.
- Specialist IT facilities include GIS software such as ArcGIS, SPSS and Digimap.
- Practical projects may access well-equipped workshop and laboratory resources on campus.
360 tour - Materials Lab
Entry requirements
All students
Normal entry requirements are a minimum 2.2 honours degree or equivalent. You may also be able to claim credit points which can reduce the amount of time it takes to complete your qualification at Sheffield Hallam. Find out more
We may accept applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements depending on their suitability. This may be assessed by • an interview and/or piece of written work • relevant experience • qualifications • commitment to study.
International students
International qualifications are suitable if they are equivalent to a UK 2.2 honours degree.
If English is not your first language you typically need an IELTS 6.0 score with a minimum of 5.5 in all skills or equivalent. If your English language skill is currently below IELTS 6.0 we recommend you consider a Sheffield Hallam University Pre-sessional English course which will enable you to achieve an equivalent English score.
Please contact us for more information.
Additional information for EU/International students
If you are an International or non-UK European student, you can find out more about the country specific qualifications we accept on our international qualifications page.
For details of English language entry requirements (IELTS), please see the information for 'All students'.
Modules
Important notice: The structure of this course is periodically reviewed and enhanced to provide the best possible learning experience for our students and ensure ongoing compliance with any professional, statutory and regulatory body standards. Module structure, content, delivery and assessment may change, but we expect the focus of the course and the learning outcomes to remain as described above. Following any changes, updated module information will be published on this page.
Final year
Compulsory modules
Applied Environmental Management
Contemporary Environmental Challenges
Environmental Perspectives, Policy And Projects
Independent Project
Spatial And Environmental Skills
Fees and funding
Home students
Our tuition fee for UK students starting full-time study in 2025/26 is £10,620 for the course.
If you are studying an undergraduate course, postgraduate pre-registration course or postgraduate research course over more than one academic year then your tuition fees may increase in subsequent years in line with Government regulations or UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) published fees. More information can be found in our terms and conditions under student fees regulations.
International students
Our tuition fee for International/EU students starting full-time study in 2025/26 is £17,725 for the course.
Postgraduate student loans
Up to £12,471 is available in 2024/25 for home students on most masters courses.
Additional course costs
The links below allow you to view estimated general course additional costs, as well as costs associated with key activities on specific courses. These are estimates and are intended only as an indication of potential additional expenses. Actual costs can vary greatly depending on the choices you make during your course.
General course additional costs
Additional costs for Sheffield Institute of Social Sciences (PDF, 154.4KB)Legal information
Any offer of a place to study is subject to your acceptance of the University’s Terms and Conditions and Student Regulations.
