Skip over navigation
Students must take 60–70 credits (MA pathway) or 40–50 credits (MSc pathway) of optional modules. For both MA and MSc pathways, at least 40 credits must be from the “list of prescribed optional modules” given below, and the other credits may come from the “other optional modules” list.
Please note that the above programme structure is subject to formal approval.
Environment, Politics & Globalisation
|MA/MSc
|Part Time, Full Time
| Admissions status: OpenSTRUCTURE OVERVIEW
Core programme content
Core module (MA & MSc pathway: 60 credits):- 7SSG5009 Dissertation in Environment, Politics and Globalisation (60 credits) (must Take and Pass)
Compulsory modules (MA & MSc pathway: 60 credits):
- 7SSG5002 Practising Social Research (20 credits)
- 7SSG5147 Globalisation and the Environment (40 credits)
Compulsory module (MSc pathway: 20 credits):
- 7SSG5150 Advanced Quantitative and Spatial Methods in Human Geography (20 credits)
Indicative non-core content
Optional modules (MA pathway: 60–70 credits; MSc pathway: 40–50 credits):Students must take 60–70 credits (MA pathway) or 40–50 credits (MSc pathway) of optional modules. For both MA and MSc pathways, at least 40 credits must be from the “list of prescribed optional modules” given below, and the other credits may come from the “other optional modules” list.
List of Prescribed Optional Modules Specific to this Programme:
- 7SSG5070 Environmental Internship (20 credits)
- 7SSG5073 Environmental Actors and Politics (20 credits)
- 7SSG5148 Consumption, Globalisation and Sustainability (20 credits)
- 7SSG5149 Disasters and Development (20 credits)
- 7SSG5153 Critical Geographies of Terrorism (20 credits)
- 7SSG5165 Environmental Science and Policymaking (20 credits)
- 7SSG5168 Community, Vulnerability and Disaster Risk (20 credits) (Prerequisite: 7SSG5149 Disasters and Development, either through taking the module fully or through auditing)
- 7SSG5178 Tourism, Conservation and the Environment (20 credits)
Other Optional Modules Available to Students on this Programme:
- Any Level 7 (Masters) modules offered in the Geography Department, including from the list of prescribed optional modules given above. Please click here for a full list of the modules offered in the 2013/14 academic year.
- Any Level 7 (Masters) modules offered in the KCL India Institute on the MA Modern India.
- Any Level 7 (Masters) modules offered in the KCL China Institute on the MSc China & Globalisation and MSc Governance in Contemporary China.
- Any Level 7 (Masters) modules offered in the KCL Brazil Institute.
- Up to 20 credits of Level 7 modules from any KCL Departments or Institutes outside of Geography.
Please note that the above programme structure is subject to formal approval.
FORMAT AND ASSESSMENT
Specialist taught modules assessed mainly by written coursework, oral presentations, lab work and practical sessions. The three-month written dissertation is compulsory and is based upon work conducted overseas or in the UK.MODULES
More information on typical programme modules.
NB it cannot be guaranteed that all modules are offered in any particular academic year.
NB it cannot be guaranteed that all modules are offered in any particular academic year.
Module code: 7SSG5147
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 40
Semester: Full-year
This module provides a practical and theoretical underpinning to the MA degree; to enable students to ask fundamental questions about the nature of the global environment; to be able to make links between the key ideas of globalisation and the global environment; to better understand the changing environmental role of the state; to appreciate the basis for global environmental governance.
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 40
Semester: Full-year
This module provides a practical and theoretical underpinning to the MA degree; to enable students to ask fundamental questions about the nature of the global environment; to be able to make links between the key ideas of globalisation and the global environment; to better understand the changing environmental role of the state; to appreciate the basis for global environmental governance.
Module code: 7SSG5002
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 1 (autumn)
This module enables students to derive a greater understanding of the relationship between methodology and method and the related notions of epistemology and ontology. The module is a mix of lectures and tutorials and enables students to develop skills in the appropriate use and application of quantitative and qualitative methods, which will have been worked through in tutorial sessions. The module lays the conceptual groundwork for the design of the dissertation and enables students to appreciate the connections between epistemology and the students particular programme of study.
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 1 (autumn)
This module enables students to derive a greater understanding of the relationship between methodology and method and the related notions of epistemology and ontology. The module is a mix of lectures and tutorials and enables students to develop skills in the appropriate use and application of quantitative and qualitative methods, which will have been worked through in tutorial sessions. The module lays the conceptual groundwork for the design of the dissertation and enables students to appreciate the connections between epistemology and the students particular programme of study.
Module code: 7SSG5150
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 2 (spring)
This module is designed to cultivate in students an appreciation of, and degree of comfort with, key statistical methods used in human geography research. Moving from basic summary statistics, the course will examine standard aspatial measures and, ultimately, weighted spatial statistics. The course does not require recent mathematical study, but it is expected that enrolled students will have a passing familiarity with mathematical notation and will have some basic level of comfort working with tabular data and numbers. The module is structured as a combination of lectures and practicals in a computer lab; the aim is to introduce a set of related statistical concepts and then apply them to the study of small area data taken from the Census and/or Business Registry & Employment Survey. Ultimately, it is expected that students will be working in Excel, SPSS, and ArcGIS to develop an analysis of fine-scale demographic change between 2001 and 2011 across the Greater London Authority area.
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 2 (spring)
This module is designed to cultivate in students an appreciation of, and degree of comfort with, key statistical methods used in human geography research. Moving from basic summary statistics, the course will examine standard aspatial measures and, ultimately, weighted spatial statistics. The course does not require recent mathematical study, but it is expected that enrolled students will have a passing familiarity with mathematical notation and will have some basic level of comfort working with tabular data and numbers. The module is structured as a combination of lectures and practicals in a computer lab; the aim is to introduce a set of related statistical concepts and then apply them to the study of small area data taken from the Census and/or Business Registry & Employment Survey. Ultimately, it is expected that students will be working in Excel, SPSS, and ArcGIS to develop an analysis of fine-scale demographic change between 2001 and 2011 across the Greater London Authority area.
Module code: 7SSG5168
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 2 (spring)
This module aims to enable students to understand the social construction of vulnerability to natural hazards at the micro level; appreciate the theoretical and empirical links between the reduction of disaster risk at micro level and issues of development at the local and international scale; facilitate understanding by students of the linkages between household and individual vulnerability and livelihoods in the local and macro economy; develop a critical awareness of the role of development failures in local patterns of human vulnerability and disaster risk and encourage critical reflection on the management of disasters through humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction approaches, especially the linkages between scales.
Prerequisite: 7SSG5149 Disasters and Development, either through taking the module fully or through auditing.
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 2 (spring)
This module aims to enable students to understand the social construction of vulnerability to natural hazards at the micro level; appreciate the theoretical and empirical links between the reduction of disaster risk at micro level and issues of development at the local and international scale; facilitate understanding by students of the linkages between household and individual vulnerability and livelihoods in the local and macro economy; develop a critical awareness of the role of development failures in local patterns of human vulnerability and disaster risk and encourage critical reflection on the management of disasters through humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction approaches, especially the linkages between scales.
Prerequisite: 7SSG5149 Disasters and Development, either through taking the module fully or through auditing.
Module code: 7SSG5148
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 2 (spring)
This module provides students with an appreciation of the theoretical and empirical links among consumption, globalisation and sustainability from the perspective of political ecology. It enables students to develop a critical awareness of the role of the middle-class and rich people in global patterns of consumption and enviro-social sustainability and facilitates an understanding of the moral economies of global consumption networks.
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 2 (spring)
This module provides students with an appreciation of the theoretical and empirical links among consumption, globalisation and sustainability from the perspective of political ecology. It enables students to develop a critical awareness of the role of the middle-class and rich people in global patterns of consumption and enviro-social sustainability and facilitates an understanding of the moral economies of global consumption networks.
Module code: 7SSG5153
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 2 (spring)
The aim of this module is to provide students with an appreciation of the theoretical and empirical links between geographical theories and insights and the phenomena of terrorism; facilitiate understanding by students of the spatiality of the phenomena of terrorism and geographical perspectives on understanding the root causes of terrorism; enable students to develop a critical awareness of the role of spatial organisation, spatial strategies of power and spatial discourses in influencing the pattern of terrorism by state and non-state actors and encourage critical reflection on counter terrorism approaches and how might strategic interventions at the discursive and policy level, help reduce vulnerability to terrorist acts in addition to confronting the root cause of terrorism.
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 2 (spring)
The aim of this module is to provide students with an appreciation of the theoretical and empirical links between geographical theories and insights and the phenomena of terrorism; facilitiate understanding by students of the spatiality of the phenomena of terrorism and geographical perspectives on understanding the root causes of terrorism; enable students to develop a critical awareness of the role of spatial organisation, spatial strategies of power and spatial discourses in influencing the pattern of terrorism by state and non-state actors and encourage critical reflection on counter terrorism approaches and how might strategic interventions at the discursive and policy level, help reduce vulnerability to terrorist acts in addition to confronting the root cause of terrorism.
Module code: 7SSG5149
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 1 (autumn)
This module aims to provide students with training in critical social science with which to examine the causes of natural disaster associated with climate change and other extreme events and the ways in which natural disaster risk and recovery are managed. The module exposes students to vulnerability and capacity assessment methodologies, and management approaches including community based risk management. There is a particular, but not exclusive focus on Africa, Asia and Latin America. Theoretically the module draws from the political ecology of disaster and hazardscapes work.
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 1 (autumn)
This module aims to provide students with training in critical social science with which to examine the causes of natural disaster associated with climate change and other extreme events and the ways in which natural disaster risk and recovery are managed. The module exposes students to vulnerability and capacity assessment methodologies, and management approaches including community based risk management. There is a particular, but not exclusive focus on Africa, Asia and Latin America. Theoretically the module draws from the political ecology of disaster and hazardscapes work.
Module code: 7SSG5073
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 1 (autumn)
This module enables students to understand the main problems and opportunities of environmental actors with regard to environmental policy formulation and implementation. It gives students an insight into the pertinent debates surrounding the role of different environmental actors in the environmental management process and enables them to understand debates surrounding differences between environmental policy-making in advanced economies and the Third World and why different environmental actors are pursuing different agendas with regard to environmental policy and politics.
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 1 (autumn)
This module enables students to understand the main problems and opportunities of environmental actors with regard to environmental policy formulation and implementation. It gives students an insight into the pertinent debates surrounding the role of different environmental actors in the environmental management process and enables them to understand debates surrounding differences between environmental policy-making in advanced economies and the Third World and why different environmental actors are pursuing different agendas with regard to environmental policy and politics.
Module code: 7SSG5070
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 1 (autumn); Semester 2 (spring);
This module enables students to understand the main opportunities and constraints facing the policy-influencing capacities of environmental organisations, through the medium of an internship placement with an NGO, consultancy or local government office. Students gain insights into the workings of environmental organisations and a feel for the day-to-day working practices of environmental actors. While on placement students learn how to collect/process environmental information relevant to the activities of environmental organisations, and subsequently put together a structured and coherent report reflecting on their practical experience.
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 1 (autumn); Semester 2 (spring);
This module enables students to understand the main opportunities and constraints facing the policy-influencing capacities of environmental organisations, through the medium of an internship placement with an NGO, consultancy or local government office. Students gain insights into the workings of environmental organisations and a feel for the day-to-day working practices of environmental actors. While on placement students learn how to collect/process environmental information relevant to the activities of environmental organisations, and subsequently put together a structured and coherent report reflecting on their practical experience.
Module code: 7SSG5165
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 2 (spring)
The aims of this module are to deepen students’ understanding of the relationships between science and environmental policy formulation and the issues and challenges that may arise and to develop practical skills in knowledge transfer.
At the end of this module, students should have:
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 2 (spring)
The aims of this module are to deepen students’ understanding of the relationships between science and environmental policy formulation and the issues and challenges that may arise and to develop practical skills in knowledge transfer.
At the end of this module, students should have:
- Understanding of the interactions between scientific research and environmental policy formulation
- Ability to anticipate the issues and challenges that may arise when students are engaged in the policymaking process
- Practical skills in knowledge transfer
- Improved written and oral communication skills
Module code: 7SSG5178
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 2 (spring)
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester: Semester 2 (spring)
This module introduces the relationships between tourism, conservation and the environment covering the history, current scale, scope and operation of these ideas in contemporary society. It introduces a range of critical social theories for understanding tourism, conservation and the environment and applies these to the analysis of a number of substantive environmental and social issues in contemporary tourism, through seminars, practitioner talks and field visits.
KEY FACTS
Programme leader/s
Dr Alex Loftus
Awarding institution
King's College London
Credit value (UK/ECTS equivalent)
UK 180/ECTS 90
Duration
One year FT, two years PT, September to September.
Location
Strand Campus.
Student destinations
Students on this programme have gone on to: undertake further graduate study as research students; work as research assistants for international consultancies, charities and government agencies; occupy senior management positions; teaching; journalism.
Year of entry 2013
Offered by