Environmental Management BSc(Hons)

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Top reasons to choose this course

• Travel and accommodation included in the fees for mandatory residential trips to locations such as Wales and Sicily (go to fees and costs section for more info).
• Learn to develop eco-friendly practices and policies.
• Learn with expert researchers who have research interests in air and water quality.
• Develop field skills on day trips and residential field trip options in every year of the course.
• Specialist facilities including an environment and public health laboratory.
• Work experience throughout the course, including the option of a placement year.
• Flexibility to study the course part-time.
• 100% of our research impact is assessed as ‘outstanding’ or ‘very considerable’ in terms of its reach and significance – 2021 REF

Year 1

Designed to give you a broad understanding of environmental management, our first year introduces key areas like physical geography, data analysis and global environmental challenges, and helps you to develop the academic and field skills needed for your degree. 

Modules

• Exploring Environments: An Introduction to Geographical and Environmental Fieldwork

  On this module you will undertake a UK-based residential field course over three working days, supported by lectures and workshops. You’ll take part in intensive study and field research skills training in different field environments. Themes covered include physical geography, environmental geography/ecology and human geography as well as an introduction to risk assessment, research ethics and working across difference. 

• Statistical and Spatial Data Analysis

  This module introduces techniques used to analyse geographical and environmental data in both the academic and professional worlds. You will develop the skills and abilities needed to display data graphically and visually and assess patterns/relationships through statistical testing and geospatial display and analysis. You’ll become competent in using statistical software to support and hone your skills, as well as in the use and application of geospatial/remote sensing data and associated geographical information systems (GIS) software packages.

• Fundamentals of Physical Geography

  This module provides a theoretical and practical introduction to azonal (tectonic, climatic, hydrological, fluvial, coastal, slope, aeolian, and biogeographical) and zonal (glacial and periglacial) physical geographical systems. You will examine the ways in which these systems interact with and influence human activities, both at the present day and over archaeological timescales.

• Global Challenges: Climate Change and Environmental Degradation

  On this module you will explore global environmental challenges from natural science and social science case perspectives. Case studies will introduce you to topical and current environmental challenges and you’ll examine how some issues may be addressed through interdisciplinary management and mitigation. Alongside lectures, you’ll take part in workshops where you will look at research on contemporary issues developed by students and small group engagement that will help you to deepen your thinking around the subject.

• Academic Learning for Geography and Environmental Studies

  This module will introduce you to academic study, observational and transferable skills for geographers, environmental managers and environmental scientists. You’ll be supported in how to learn at university and, in particular, with learning independently. You will also be introduced to survey design where you’ll learn questionnaire and other survey design techniques as your first step towards independent research design.

• Introduction to Ecology and Conservation

  This module provides an introduction to key concepts and principles in both ecology and conservation science, illustrated with the use of both classic and cutting-edge case studies. Emphasis is placed on the links between ecology and conservation and also between theory and applied research. 

Year 2

Year 2 is where you will start to deepen your subject-specific knowledge and skills. You’ll gain a critical understanding of issues such as those placed on landscapes from sectors including energy generation, flood management, drinking water, historic environment resources and biodiversity as well as environmental pollution, including water pollution and air quality.

You will work on your field skills and develop employability skills relating to environmental management.

Modules

• Environmental Pollution

  This module investigates how society manages pollution in order to protect human health and the natural environment. You will examine changing attitudes to pollution and how environment management and technology can be used for pollution control. You’ll also explore sustainability and technologies in relation to the management of waste, air quality, water, wastewater and noise pollution.

• Sustainable Futures

  This module will introduce you to historical and contemporary debates around sustainability and encourage you to ‘think spatially’ about environmental and social inequalities associated with approaches to sustainability and sustainable development through relevant case studies. Topics might include vulnerabilities and conflicts in water supply systems, food security and food sovereignty. A field visit to Brighton will help you explore pathways to sustainability in practice and provide a firsthand context in which to deepen critical engagement with key sustainable development debate.

• Professional Practice for Global Challenges

  In this module, you’ll develop professional competencies in applying geographical and environmental knowledge and skills to address complex, global challenges. You will take part in a collaborative consultancy exercise to improve your employability skills, including creative problem solving, project management, working in diverse teams and reflective learning for professional practice. Learning will be supported through engagement with employers, alumni and staff associated with the Brighton Works programme.

• Geography and Environment International Field Work

  Geography and Environment International Field Work will give you the opportunity to gain practical experience through a range of geographical and environmental studies in exciting, stimulating and novel environments. In this residential field-based module you will experience qualitative and quantitative field techniques across different physical and socio-cultural landscapes outside of the UK. The module will focus on the full scope of field work, from research design to data collection, analysis and presentation.

• Research Design and Advanced Data Analysis

  This module focuses on growing your understanding of the research process in geography and environmental studies. You will develop data analysis skills, including classification, ordination, parametric and non-parametric statistics and multi-variate analysis, and training will be provided on qualitative methods and approaches such as interviews, focus groups, textual analysis and creative methods. The practical aspects of planning and designing a research project will also be covered so you can design your own research proposal to be carried out in the final year dissertation.

• GIS and Remote Sensing Principles and Practice

  This module will help you develop theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the areas of optical Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and apply this learning to real-world situations in the geographical, geological and environmental sciences. You will be encouraged to engage in spatial and digital computing, remote sensing, data handling and problem solving so you become proficient at using remote sensing and GIS software.

Placement year

A placement year offers you a great opportunity to:

• apply your learning to real-life situations and challenges within a professional environment
• develop your existing skills and gain new ones
• build knowledge of real-world businesses and organisations
• make valuable contacts in industry and commerce
• explore career options, helping you think about what you don’t want to do as well as what you do
• boost your confidence, time-management and organisational skills
• draw on the experience gained on placement to inform your final-year studies
• come back for your final year more focused, more organised and more confident.

Students from our geography and environmental sciences courses have secured placements in organisations such as:

• Department for Energy and Climate Change
• Transport for London
• Field Studies Council
• environmental firms
• consultancies.

Final year 

The focus of your final year of the Environmental Management degree course is your dissertation for which you will undertake live research in a specific area of environmental management.

Modules

Core modules

• Environmental Economics

  Issues surrounding the environment and natural resources are becoming increasingly mainstream in economics. This module follows the year 2 module of the same name and further explores how economic concepts, tools and policy instruments are relevant and are used to understand and manage environmental issues at business and government level.

• Environmental Impact Assessment

  Environmental impact assessment [EIA] is an important phase in the implementation of a development, whether that is a pipeline, housing development, the Olympic park or the proposed HS2 railway. In this module, you will examine the policies and practice behind EIA and the techniques and methodologies designed to consider the environmental consequences of activities. Although focused on UK practice, the module considers the evolution of environmental assessment both in the UK and globally.

• Dissertation

  This Dissertation module enables you to conduct a piece of original research on a topic of your choice. It provides an opportunity for deep learning around a specific topic and for the development of expertise in selected research methods and analytical techniques. You will demonstrate independence of thought and an ability to organise and execute an extensive and in-depth geographical, environmental or archaeological investigation. This is undertaken as the culmination of the honours degree.

Options*

• Water, Sanitation and Health

  Water, Sanitation and Health explores the role of water in the transmission, distribution and control of disease, including its historical context, and categorises the main water-related diseases. You will look at sanitation, public and environmental health, current water-related agents of disease and how these may be affected by climate change. Themed workshops based on emerging water, sanitation and health issues will provide an opportunity for you to develop, debate and present on issues raised in lectures.

• Ecological Impact Assessment

  Using a hands-on approach, this module gives you an overview of Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) processes within the current legal context and requirements. You will adopt the role of consultant and undertake surveys using biodiversity metric tools to complete a Preliminary Ecological Assessment leading to an EcIA, produce a technical report and discuss limitation and mitigation opportunities associated with the assignment.

• Advanced GIS and Remote Sensing

  This advanced module on spatial and digital computing will strengthen the data-handling and critical thinking skills you gained in the GIS and Remote Sensing Principles and Practice module. It will teach you the expertise needed to identify and critically examine geographical and wider environmental issues. The module delivers theoretical knowledge and practical skills to help you retain and reapply geospatial information to unfamiliar contexts, so you are able to develop novel solutions and evaluate outcomes.

• Community Placement

  How does change happen at a local level and how does the changing role of the state, the university and the voluntary sector affect this? How can we participate in making a better world? This module addresses these questions through text-based discussions and a 50-hour placement in a non-profit organisation, providing you with the opportunity to reflect and critically analyse the relationship between universities and the community, and the opportunities and challenges faced by community organisations.

• Political Ecology: Contested Environments

  In this module you will explore global environmental challenges through the lens of political ecology which provides a framework for the critical thinking needed to examine power and the politics of nature-society interactions. You will study themes including resource access; property and ecosystem management; colonial-capitalist natures and the rights of Indigenous people; coloniality, extractivism and conflict; socionatures and urban infrastructures; environmental identities; and political subjectivities.

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Learning facilities 

Our facilities include:

• environment and public health laboratory equipped with bench-top spectrophotometers, membrane filtration equipment, centrifuge and sterilisation equipment for public health microbiology procedures and genetic profiling methods
• soil and water analysis laboratories equipped with a range of spectrometers for different uses, gas chromatographs, pH meters and experimental cells for experimental work into the electro-kinetics of contaminated sediments
• soil and sediment analysis laboratory with drying ovens and Malvern Mastersizer 2000 laser particle size analyser
• hydraulics laboratory equipped with a recirculating flume with sediment transport system and interchangeable weirs, wave tank, a river basin for river/floodplain simulation and two further flumes with interchangeable weirs
• environmental simulation laboratory with hydraulic stream table
• scanning electron microscopy facility with dedicated technician support
• air quality laboratory with instrumentation to understand global atmospheric composition
• computer suites running GIS and other professional software
• equipment for field-based geophysical surveying
• field collection equipment.

Meet the team

Course fees

This course offers a professional placement (sandwich) year in year 3. If you choose to take this placement you will pay a reduced fee during this year. For students starting their undergraduate degree in the 2025–26 academic year, the fee for the professional placement year is £1,500 for UK students and £1,850 for international students. This fee may be subject to small increases in line with inflation.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2025–26.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Brighton Boost – cost of living help for our new undergrad students. Find out about how we can help with your study, accommodation or travel costs and more...
• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• Read our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf) for more on University of Brighton tuition fees.

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